Examining Walkability and Social Capital as Indicators of Quality of Life at the Municipal and Neighborhood Scales

Walkability has been linked to quality of life in many ways. Health related benefits of physical exercise, the accessibility and access benefits of being able to walk to obtain some of your daily needs, or the mental health and social benefits of reduced isolation are a few of the many positive impacts on quality of life that can result from a walkable neighborhood. In the age of increasing energy costs and climate considerations, the ability to walk to important locations is a key component of sustainable communities. While the health and environmental implications of walkable communities are being extensively studied, the social benefits have not been investigated as broadly. Social capital is a measure of an individual’s or group’s networks, personal connections, and involvement. Like economic and human capital, social capital is considered to have important values to both individuals and communities. Through a case study approach this article argues that the generation and maintenance of social capital is another important component of quality of life that may be facilitated by living in a walkable community. Residents living in neighborhoods of varying built form and thus varying levels of walkability in three communities in New Hampshire were surveyed about their levels of social capital and travel behaviors. Comparisons between the more walkable and less walkable neighborhoods show that levels of social capital are higher in more walkable neighborhoods.     

Social Desirability Scales as Indicators of Self-Enhancement and Impression Management

This article presents 2 studies testing Paulhus's (2002) assumption that unconscious self-enhancement and conscious impression management represent separate processes of socially desirable responding (SDR) that can be observed within 2 content domains (egoistic and moralistic bias). In Study 1, we devised egoistic and moralistic SDR scales intended to measure self-enhancement in honest responding and impression management under demands for positive self-presentation. In Study 2, we correlated scores on these scales with external indicators of self-enhancement and impression management. In honest responding, both SDR scales most strongly correlated with self-enhancement indicators, whereas under demands for positive self-presentation they correlated more strongly with external measures of impression management.     

The Relation of Social Capital to Child Psychosocial Adjustment Difficulties: The Role of Positive Parenting and Neighborhood Dangerousness

Substantial research attention has focused on the psychosocial adjustment problems of children and adolescents residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, less attention has been directed to neighborhood factors within disadvantaged neighborhoods that may facilitate child psychosocial adjustment. An expanded model, assessing how social capital, neighborhood dangerousness, and positive parenting relate to child psychosocial adjustment difficulties, was estimated using structural equation modeling (Lisrel 8.3). Participants included 130 African American mothers and their children (mean age = 12.9 years) residing in inner city New Orleans, LA. The model examined 3 avenues through which social capital (e.g., support, neighborhood cohesion) may relate to fewer child psychosocial adjustment difficulties: a direct relation; through its relation to positive parenting; and through its relation to neighborhood dangerousness. Results indicate that social capital related to child psychosocial adjustment difficulties through positive parenting and neighborhood dangerousness, but not directly. Overall, the proposed model fit the observed data reasonably well. The results suggest that social capital in disadvantaged neighborhoods is important in indirectly facilitating child psychosocial adjustment and should be incorporated into assessment and intervention practices.     

Event and Quality of Life: A Case Study of Liverpool as the 2008 European Capital of Culture

Events are emerging worldwide and are seen to have significant economic, cultural and social impacts on the host city. However, too often, the host cities focused most of their efforts on funding of events, with too little attention given to assess the impacts of event on residents’ quality of life (QoL). Cultural events, with the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) as a prominent example, have emerged as a means of improving the QoL of host cities in Europe. Based on a case study of Liverpool as the 2008 ECOC, this paper aims at conceptualising the articulation between cultural event and its wider QoL effects. Methodologically, both objective and subjective measures were used to provide a more complete evaluation of the impacts of cultural event, including economic impacts (i.e., the effects of tourism development and parallel urban regeneration), cultural impacts (the effects of event programmes and volunteering as well as the increase of cultural participation) and social impacts (the enhancement of civic pride, self-image and sense of place). It was done by drawing on a series of official documents – Impacts 08 research programme, supplemented by academic publications. To transmit the value of case study, this research provides also some suggestions for implementing effective event-led strategies for QoL improvement, and the solutions for potential challenges.     

Erratum to: Children and Life Satisfaction

We investigate the relationship between having children at home and life satisfaction. Contrary to much of the literature, our results are consistent with an effect of children on life satisfaction that is positive, large and increasing in the number of children. The effect, however, is contingent on the individual’s characteristics. In particular, our findings are consistent with children making married people better off, while most unmarried individuals appear to be worse off with children. We also analyze the role of factors such as gender, age, income and education.     

A Theory of Social Structure and the Quality of Life

The demographic and social structure of the community/society provide the basis for interactions that lead to satisfactions, subjective well being and the quality of life. Studies are cited that employ elements of social structure in identifying satisfying aspects of the quality of life. Ten propositions are offered that identify theoretical relationships between social structural features and well-being. To improve the quality of life, suggestions for altering the social structure are presented. This essay brings together conceptual positions for an understanding of the exogenous effects upon the quality of life (QOL). References to the literature provide insights to the relationship of social structure to the QOL. The author will appreciate receiving readers' observations and additional references to scholarly works – for there are many – on the subject.     

Mapping Dynamic Indicators of Quality of Life: a Case in Rosario,Argentina

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Mapping temporal changes of quality of life conditions reflecting the well-being of individuals, communities and urban areas has the potential to identify...     

Socioeconomic Status,Peer Social Capital,and Quality of Life of High School Students During COVID-19: A Mediation Analysis

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This paper investigates how peer social capital mediates associations between socioeconomic status and quality of life among adolescents during the COVID-19...     

Subtle-Obvious Scales of the MMPI: Indicators of Profile Validity in a Psychiatric Population

This study explored the usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Subtle-Obvious scales as profile validity indicators with a inpatient psychiatric population. Some 292 MMPI profiles were utilized and divided into overreporters, underreporters, and standard reporters, based on their Subtle-Obvious scale scores. Reporting style was shown to be unrelated to actual patient pathology because of the lack of relationship between reporting style and diagnostic categorization according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, I987) Axis I and II. Comparisons of MMPI profiles of the three groups revealed that overreporters endorsed more pathology on the MMPI clinical scales than did either underreporters or standard reporters. The same pattern of response style was demonstrated by subjects on another objective measure, the Beck Depression Inventory, whereas on a projective measure, the Rorschach Inkblot Test, there were no differences between groups. These findings suggest that clinicians may want to utilize the Subtle-Obvious scales to gain information about MMPI profile validity. Specifically, profiles of patients identified as overreporters should be interpreted with caution so as to not overstate their level of pathology.