Quality of life: A Psychological analysis

Quality of life (QOL) is an amorphous concept; it is normative and value laden. Economists’ emphasis on the standard of living brings into focus the value of growth, expansion and acceleration. Financial status is important but has limited impact on feelings of happiness. The subjective experiences (e.g. wellbeing, cheerfulness, satisfaction, contentment, empathy, faith, wisdom and purpose in life) complement the economist’s concept of standard of living. The criteria for determining the QOL may relate to adaptive mechanisms one employs in everyday life. Dispositions of altruism, sublimation, humor, empathy, optimism, and wisdom also contribute to the QOL. It appears that QOL is essentially a cultural concept overflowing both economics and psychology. Non-Western approaches such as Chinese, Buddhist, Hindu thought, have proposed balancing as a key factor in QOL. The highest quality of life is one in which one transcends dualism in life, namely happiness — sorrow, pleasure — pain, love — hate, etc and cultivate the capacity to remain unassailed by the dualities, rather than that of balance. We need to attend to the views of humanistic disciplines and examine the issue of QOL in the context of the world view one holds.     

Enhancing quality of life by shifting importance perception among life domains

The purpose of this study was to (1) construct an index to indicate the strength of a tendency to upgrade importance of life domains with lower have–want discrepancy and downgrade importance of life domains with larger have–want discrepancy for an individual (termed shifting tendency) and (2) use this index to test if shifting tendency has a positive correlation with global life satisfaction. The dataset was gain from Wu and Yao, 2006, Social Indicators Research, 79, 485–502), in which 332 undergraduate students at National Taiwan University participated in the survey. The mean age was 19.80 years (SD = 1.98). They completed a quality of life questionnaire, which contains 12 life domains. Satisfaction, importance and perceived have–want discrepancy were measured for 12 different life domains. Global life satisfaction was measured as well. Results showed that shifting tendency had a positive and significant correlation with average domain satisfaction and global life satisfaction. In addition, shifting tendency and have–want discrepancy had unique effects in predicting average domain satisfaction and global life satisfaction, suggesting that shifting tendency itself can contribute to a better QOL. The role of shifting tendency on QOL was discussed.     

The Oral History and Education Project of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies and the Gallup Institute for Global Well-Being: A Way to Honor Distinguished Researchers and to Preserve their Legacies—The Alex Michalos Interviews

The Oral History and Education Project of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies and the Gallup Institute for Global Well-Being is described along with specific, step-by-step procedures and guidelines for planning, conducting, and disseminating oral history and educational interviews with pre-eminent research scientists and exemplars of service to others. An illustrative “case” of interviews with the pre-eminent scholar, Alex Michalos, winner of Canada’s Gold Medal Award and president of Academy II of the Royal Society of Canada is presented. The Project’s goal is to produce oral histories and educational interviews with the top researchers in the fields of quality of life, well-being, social indicators, positive psychology and other sciences, in order to preserve their academic legacies, share their findings worldwide, and encourage a new generation of researchers, scientists, and oral historians. Those conducting these interviews may claim their interviews as publications in the fields of the history and teaching of psychology and sociology and oral history as long as these interviews remain available through a university, academic society, college textbook company, or university archivist. It is hoped that this article will inspire and guide others who may wish to emulate this work.     

Happier together. Social cohesion and subjective well‐being in Europe

Despite mushrooming research on “social” determinants of subjective well‐being (SWB), little is known as to whether social cohesion as a collective property is among the key societal conditions for human happiness. This article fills this gap in investigating the importance of living in a cohesive society for citizens' SWB. For 27 European Union countries, it combines the newly developed Bertelsmann Foundation's Cohesion Index with individual well‐being data on life evaluation and psychological functioning as surveyed in the recent European Quality of Life Survey. The main results from multi‐level analyses are as follows. First, Europeans are indeed happier and psychologically healthier in more cohesive societies. Second, all three core domains of cohesion increase individuals' SWB. Third, citizens in the more affluent part of Europe feel the positivity of social cohesion more consistently than those in the less affluent part. Finally, within countries, cohesion is good for the SWB of resource‐rich and resource‐poor groups alike. Our findings also shed new light on the ongoing debate on economic progress and quality of life: what makes citizenries of affluent societies happier is, in the first place, their capacity to create togetherness and solidarity among their members—in other words, cohesion.     

Using secondary students’ views about influences on their spiritual well‐being to inform pastoral care

Spiritual well‐being is reflected in the quality of relationships that each person has in up to four different domains, namely with self, with others, with the environment and/or with God. This study investigated how secondary students perceived relationships with family, friends, school and church community (including God) impacted on their spiritual well‐being. This paper reports the views of 1002 secondary school students aged from 12‐ to 18‐years‐old in Catholic, Christian community and other independent schools in Victoria, Australia. ANOVA and multiple regression analyses of students’ responses on the Quality Of Life Influences Survey developed in this study, and the Spiritual Health And Life‐Orientation Measure, a spiritual well‐being questionnaire for secondary students, revealed significant differences in perceptions students held about influences on their spiritual well‐being. A case study illustrates how these instruments can be used to inform pastoral care of young people.     

Religiosity and psychological well-being

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between religiosity and psychological well-being in a sample of Greek Orthodox Christians. Previous research has documented that personal devotion, participation in religious activities, and religious salience are positively associated with different criteria of psychological well-being. The sample (83 men and 280 women) with an age range from 18 to 48 years, was strongly skewed with respect to sex (77% female) and education level (95% were university students or university graduates). Religiosity was operationalized as church attendance, frequency of prayer and belief salience. In addition, a single item referring to beliefs about God was used. Depression, anxiety, loneliness, and general life satisfaction were selected as dependent variables because they reflect important dimensions of psychological well-being. Preliminary analyses showed that sex was significantly related to the three religiosity variables (church attendance, frequency of prayer, belief salience), with women being more religious than men. Consistent with previous research, correlations suggested that church attendance and belief salience were associated with better life satisfaction. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant positive association between anxiety and frequency of personal prayer. Finally, personal beliefs about God did not seem to relate to any of the psychological well-being measures. The results of the present study partially support the hypothesized association between religiosity and psychological well-being.     

Psychological well‐being and pilgrimage: Religiosity,happiness and life satisfaction of Ardh–Kumbh Mela pilgrims (Kalpvasis) at Prayag,India

Pilgrimage is an important aspect of our life and has both religious as well as spiritual significance. The present study examined the relationship of religiosity, happiness and satisfaction with life in the case of pilgrims in a very special cultural context of the Ardh‐Kumbh Mela (held in Prayag, Allahabad, India) during the months of January and February, 2007). The study specifically examined these relationships in a sample of Kalpvasis (pilgrims who stay at the banks of the Sangam for a month in the holy city of Prayag during the Mela period). One hundred and fifty‐four Kalpvasis participated in the study. Positive association between religiosity, happiness and life satisfaction was obtained. Results showed that gender did not have a significant role on these relations in the case of pilgrims. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Religiousness,social support and subjective well‐being: An exploratory study among adolescents in an Asian atheist country

Few studies have focused on the relationships among religiousness, social support and subjective well‐being in Chinese adolescent populations. This study tries to fill this gap. Using cluster sampling, we selected two groups: Group A, which included 738 Tibetan adolescents with a formal religious affiliation and represented adolescents from a religious culture, and Group B, which included 720 Han adolescents without a religious affiliation and represented adolescents from an irreligious culture. Structural equation modelling showed that only in Group A did social support mediate (partially) the relationship between religious experience and subjective well‐being; furthermore, the results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that only in Group A did social support moderate the relationship between religious ideology and subjective well‐being. Possible explanations for the discrepancies between the findings obtained in this study and those obtained in previous studies are discussed.     

Teaching Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to students: The effects of MBCT on the levels of Mindfulness and Subjective Well-Being

This study aimed to address the gap in the literature considering empirical evidence in support of the assumption that Mindfulness is the mediating factor in the positive outcomes of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programmes, and to further examine the link between Mindfulness and Subjective Well Being. The research question was whether MBCT would increase participants’ levels of Mindfulness and Satisfaction with Life and decrease participants’ level of Negative Affect. A Repeated Measures (Test–Retest) within participants design was employed and fifteen Counselling students at the University of East London provided data anonymously at the beginning and end of MBCT programme by completing the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) (Walach, Buchheld, Buttenmuller, Kleinknecht, & Schmidt, 2006), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988). The results indicated that by the end of the MBCT programme: participants’ level of Mindfulness significantly increased; Positive Affect remained unchanged; Negative Affect significantly decreased; a strong trend in the data indicated an increase in participants’ Satisfaction With Life but failed to reach a statistically significant level; Mindfulness and Negative Affect were significantly negatively correlated, while Mindfulness and Satisfaction With Life were not found to be associated. A longer practice time of Mindfulness during the programme was found to be significantly correlated with a higher level of Mindfulness at the end of the programme. The results were interpreted in support of the assumption that Mindfulness has an important role as a mediating factor in symptoms relief and positive outcomes following participation on Mindfulness programmes. The results also support of Brown and Ryan's (2003) conclusion regarding the role of Mindfulness in enhancing Well Being. A Positive Psychology framework was applied in interpreting the data and it was suggested that there was ground to believe that Mindfulness can be integrated well, as a concept and as a therapeutic intervention, into the field of Positive Psychology.     

Testing the Mediating Effect of the Quality of College Life in the Student Satisfaction and Student Loyalty Relationship

This study tests the mediating effect of the quality of college life (QCL) in the student satisfaction and student loyalty relationship. QCL refers to the degree of need satisfaction and the experiences that create a positive affect throughout college life. The QCL of students is conceptualized as a higher order construct that is composed of need satisfaction and affect balance. It has been hypothesized that student satisfaction with university services has a significant impact on QCL, which in turn positively influences student loyalty. The results from the survey of 228 college students largely supported the model. Both the managerial and policy implications of this study are discussed.

Person‐Group Value Congruence and Subjective Well‐Being in Students from Argentina,Bulgaria and Finland: The Role of Interpersonal Relationships

The present study examined the relations between personal values, value congruence, interpersonal relationships and subjective well‐being in psychology/education and business students from Argentina (N = 275), Bulgaria (N = 182) and Finland (N = 148). Regression analyses showed, first, that there were no direct relations between higher order value priorities and life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA) or negative affect (NA). Second, objective value‐congruence (VC)—the similarity between individual and group values—was positively related to LS and PA, and negatively related to NA. Most importantly, the effects of VC on LS, NA and PA were partially mediated by good interpersonal relationships. Our results show that interpersonal relationships are facilitated by sharing values similar to those of one's fellow students. More generally, personal values per se appear not to be associated with subjective well‐being, more important is how these values fit into the social context. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Be yourself,believe in yourself,and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being

Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A. & Spörrle, M. (2011). Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 43–48. Research has shown close connections between personality and subjective well‐being (SWB), suggesting that personality traits predispose individuals to experience different levels of SWB. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that self‐efficacy is related to both personality factors and SWB. Extending previous research, we show that general self‐efficacy functionally connects personality factors and two components of SWB (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). Our results demonstrate the mediating role of self‐efficacy in linking personality factors and SWB. Consistent with our expectations, the influence of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness on life satisfaction was mediated by self‐efficacy. Furthermore, self‐efficacy mediated the influence of openness and conscientiousness, but not that of neuroticism and extraversion, on subjective happiness. Results highlight the importance of cognitive beliefs in functionally linking personality traits and SWB.     

Coping With Unemployment: The Impact of Unemployment Duration and Personality on Trajectories of Life Satisfaction

Unemployment is a major life event that causes an enormous drop in people's life satisfaction. However, there is substantial variability in people's ability (or inability) to cope with the experience of unemployment. In the present study, we examined the causes of individual differences in trajectories of life satisfaction when people were faced with unemployment by taking into account the persistence of unemployment, pre‐event personality and age. Analyses were based on data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel. Using latent growth curve modelling, life satisfaction was investigated from 3 years before to 3 years after a person became unemployed in a total sample of 908 individuals. As expected, unemployment caused a substantial drop in life satisfaction that persisted for at least 3 years after the event. On average, individuals did not completely return to their previous satisfaction level. This pattern existed even for participants who re‐entered the labour market. Moreover, our results showed that variability in coping with unemployment can be explained in part by personality traits. For people with short periods of unemployment, Conscientiousness reinforced the negative effect of unemployment, whereas Extraversion softened the effect. In sum, our analyses showed that (a) the negative effect of unemployment on life satisfaction differs according to the length of the unemployment period and (b) personality partially moderates responses to unemployment over time. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Belief in common fate and psychological well‐being among Chinese immigrant women

Three studies were conducted to develop and test a construct of Chinese marital commitment in the context of immigration. ‘Belief in common fate’ refers to an unfailing devotion to a Confucian ideal of the marital union as hierarchical without regard for external contingencies or individual needs. Women who did not believe in common fate reported a more positive affect. When women reported the occurrence of a severe life stressor, a strong belief in common fate was associated with psychological distress and negative affect. We discuss the importance of considering contextual factors, such as migration and life adversity, in interpreting the significance of cultural belief systems.     

Hard times and European youth. The effect of economic insecurity on human values,social attitudes and well‐being

While economic downturns have adverse effects on young people's life chances, empirical studies examining whether and to what extent human values, social attitudes and well‐being indicators respond to sudden economic shocks are scarce. To assess the claim that human values are less affected by economic shocks than social attitudes and well‐being, two distinct yet related studies based on the European Social Survey (ESS) are conducted. The first employs a fixed effects pseudo‐panel analysis of the 2008–2014 ESS‐waves to detect whether changes over time in the socio‐demographic group's unemployment risk and national youth unemployment affect individual dispositions to varying degrees. The second study captures micro‐ and cross‐national effects in the 2010 ESS cross‐section. Unique for this set‐up is that we can test whether the findings hold for over‐time changes in youth unemployment within countries (pseudo‐panel), as well as for cross‐country differences in youth unemployment (multilevel). Both studies indicate that political trust, satisfaction with the economy and subjective well‐being are lowered by economic risk and hardship, while social trust and self‐rated health are less affected by changes in youth unemployment. Secondly, human values are immune to economic risk, underscoring that values transcend specific situations and are therefore resistant against sudden economic shocks.     

Values that Underlie and Undermine Well‐Being: Variability Across Countries

We examined relations of 10 personal values to life satisfaction (LS) and depressive affect (DEP) in representative samples from 32/25 countries (N = 121 495). We tested hypotheses both for direct relations and cross‐level moderation of relations by Cultural Egalitarianism. We based hypotheses on the growth versus self‐protection orientation and person‐focus versus social‐focus motivations that underlie values. As predicted, openness to change values (growth/person) correlated positively with subjective well‐being (SWB: higher LS, lower DEP) and conservation values (self‐protection/social) correlated negatively with SWB. The combination of underlying motivations also explained more complex direct relations of self‐transcendence and self‐enhancement values with SWB. We combined an analysis of the environmental context in societies low versus high in Cultural Egalitarianism with the implications of pursuing person‐focused versus social‐focused values to predict how Cultural Egalitarianism moderates value–SWB relations. As predicted, under low versus high Cultural Egalitarianism, (i) openness to change values related more positively to SWB, (ii) conservation values more negatively, (iii) self‐enhancement values less negatively and (iv) self‐transcendence values less positively. Culture moderated value–SWB relations more weakly for DEP than for LS. Culture moderated value–LS relations more strongly than the socio‐economic context did. This study demonstrates how the cultural context shapes individual‐level associations between values and SWB. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Life values and mental health: A longitudinal study comparing chronically ill women to women without chronic disease

We tested the hypothesis that among women who are chronically ill, a re-ordering of life values maintains mental health. A community-based prospective longitudinal study was conducted in which data were obtained from 601 women in 1986, when the women were with mean age 42 and again in 2003, when the women were with mean age 58. There was a significant change in life values as women aged with more change among women with chronic disease (n = 476) than those without chronic disease (n = 125). Increased valuation of intrinsic life values (health and love) and decreased valuation of extrinsic life values (power, fame and attractiveness) were associated with subsequent better mental health for women with chronic disease, but not for those without chronic disease.     

Character strengths and well-being among volunteers and employees: Toward an integrative model

The endorsement and deployment of character strengths in occupational contexts are two promising components for understanding how people create well-being. In this study, a model integrating character strengths, satisfaction with occupational activities, and meaning and well-being was proposed and tested in two samples of volunteers and a sample of working adults. The model fit the data well in all three samples. Results demonstrated that deploying strengths at work provided key links to satisfaction with voluntary and paid occupational activities and to meaning among both young and middle-aged volunteers, and adult working women. Among adult volunteers and paid workers, endorsing strengths was related to meaning, while both endorsing and deploying strengths were related to well-being. Together, these studies provide a model for understanding how strengths may play a role in how both volunteer and paid workers find meaning, well-being, and satisfaction.     

Investigating Australian education students’ views about spiritual well‐being,as compared with teachers in schools

Education students in Australian state and Christian universities expressed their views on ideals, lived experience, and help expected from schools in four domains of spiritual well‐being (personal, communal, environmental, and transcendental) (SWB), using the Spiritual Health and Life‐Orientation Measure (SHALOM). Students’ lived experiences greatly affected their views on help provided by schools to nurture students’ SWB. Currently, the more religious students in Christian universities reported support for their SWB from religious activities, whereas students in the state university gained support from more humanistic sources. But is this sufficient? Education students in state universities are likely to maintain the status quo regarding SWB in state schools. They report levels of help for students in line with current teachers’ views. Christian university education students have lower expectations of schools than current teachers in Christian schools. However, some positive action is being taken in Christian universities to address the spiritual formation of their students. Further opportunities are needed within teacher education and schools in Australia for staff to address this area of vital concern for their own and students’ SWB.     

Subjective health complaints and health related quality of life in a population of health care workers

The aim of this study was to assess whether Subjective Health Complaints (SHC), demands and coping are associated with health-related quality of life in a population of health care workers. One hundred and nineteen employees in two nursing homes for the elderly filled in a questionnaire on health, exercise, psychological factors, and work conditions. Main outcome measures were SHC and quality of life measured by SF-36. High level of SHC was associated to low health-related quality of life. Low coping and high demands were related to low scores (low quality of life), and high coping and low demands to high scores on mental health. Pseudoneurological complaints (e.g. tiredness, sadness), high demands and low coping were associated with low mental health. The expected negative association between SHC and health-related quality of life was found. There was a positive association between coping and quality of life.