Livability and Subjective Well-Being Across European Cities

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This study documents for the first time the correlation between livability and subjective well-being (SWB) across European cities. Livability is measured with...     

Italian validation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale

ABSTRACT

Spiritual well-being is a multidimensional construct that includes both existential and religious dimensions. It is associated with several indicators of well-being, as self-esteem and assertiveness. The study presents the adaptation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale to the Italian context. The participants are 531 Italian adults. The survey includes: Hope State Scale, Adult Hope Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Vision about Future Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The measures selected aim to verify the external validity of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Data analysis shows good psychometric properties of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale: the good external validity is confirmed by the significant correlations with the other measures, while the confirmatory factor analysis highlights some differences in the structure of the scale respect to the original version, probably due to cultural differences among US and Italian samples, that required a new factorial solution for the Italian version of the scale.     

Natural Leaders: Some Interlocutors Elicit Greater Convergence Across Conversations and Across Characteristics

Are there individual tendencies in convergence, such that some speakers consistently converge more than others? Similarly, are there natural “leaders,” speakers with whom others converge more? Are such tendencies consistent across different linguistic characteristics? We use the Switchboard Corpus to perform a large-scale convergence study of speakers in multiple conversations with different interlocutors, across six linguistic characteristics. Because each speaker participated in several conversations, it is possible to look for individual differences in speakers' likelihood of converging and interlocutors' likelihood of eliciting convergence. We only find evidence for individual differences by interlocutor, not by speaker: There are natural leaders of convergence, who elicit more convergence than others across characteristics and across conversations. The lack of similar evidence for speakers who converge more than others suggests that social factors have a stronger effect in mediating convergence than putative individual tendencies in producing convergence, or that such tendencies are characteristic-specific.     

Family Policy Indicators and Well-Being in Europe from an Evolutionary Perspective

Social progress and the evolution of civilizations have traditionally been predominant fields of study for sociology and important topics on political action for modern states as part of the concept of the Welfare State. The study, assessment, and design of social policies related to welfare have always focused on material indicators. However, some recent studies (Pfau-Effinger and Geissler 2005; Gauthier 1996; Held 2006; Daly and Lewis 2000) argue for the inclusion of subjective indicators to cater for aspects traditionally relegated to families’ private lives such as care or the perception of happiness. This article deals with the need to go beyond welfare to well-being from an evolutionary perspective. To do this, we propose a comparative study of different variables used by the European Social Survey (2010) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) family policy database (2013b) to analyze (a) possible variations in family policy in European countries, (b) links between well-being and the family policies being implemented, (c) the extent to which traditional indicators can measure the development of families’ needs, and (d) ways in which these indicators could be improved.     

The Interaction Between Culture, Health and Psychological Well-Being: Data Mining from the Italian Culture and Well-Being Project

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of health status and cultural participation upon psychological well-being, with special attention to the interaction between patterns of cultural access and other factors known to affect psychological well-being. Data for this report were collected from a sample of 1,500 Italian citizens. A multi-step random sampling method was adopted to draw a large representative sample from the Italian population. Subjects underwent a standard questionnaire for psychological well-being [the Italian short form of the Psychological General Well Being Index (PGWBI)], and a questionnaire related to the frequency of participation to 15 different kinds of cultural activities during the previous year. The results show that, among the various potential factors considered, cultural access unexpectedly rankes as the second most important determinant of psychological well-being, immediately after the absence or presence of diseases, and outperforming factors such as job, age, income, civil status, education, place of living and other important factors. According to a semantic map generated by a powerful data mining algorithm, it turns out that different factors (among which cultural access and health status in particular) may be viewed as concurrent elements of a complex multi-causal scheme that seems to play a primary role in determining psychological distress or well-being. In particular, distress seems to be tightly connected with: living in the Southern part of Italy, average income level, living in semi-urban and urban areas, age group 46–60, presence of more than two concomitant diseases and a low level of cultural access. Well being, on the other hand, is tightly connected with: male gender, high cultural access, and absence of diseases. Some of these associations are confirmed by Principal Component Analysis.     

Subjective Well-Being: The Convergence and Stability of Self-Report and Non-Self-Report Measures

ABSTRACT The validity of self-report measures of subjective well-being (SWB) was examined and compared with non-self-report measures using a sample of 136 college students studied over the course of a semester. A principal axis factor analysis of self- and non-self-report SWB measures revealed a single unitary construct underlying the measures. Conventional single-item and multi-item self-report measures correlated highly with alternative measures, with theoretical correlates of SWB, and with a principal axis factor underlying five non-self-report measures of well-being. Comparisons of family versus friend informant reports demonstrated the considerable cross-situational consistency and temporal stability of SWB. Evidence of the discriminant validity of the measures was provided by low correlations of the various SWB measures with constructs theoretically unrelated to well-being. It was concluded that conventional self-report instruments validly measure the SWB construct, and that alternative, non-serf-report measures are useful for providing a comprehensive theoretical account of happiness and life satisfaction.     

Measurement Invariance of Personal Well-Being Index (PWI-8) Across 26 Countries

This report examines the measurement invariance of the Personal Well-being Index with 8 items (PWI-8). University students (N = 5731) from 26 countries completed the measure either through paper and pencil or electronic mode. We examined uni-dimensional structure of PWI and performed a Multi-group CFA to assess the measurement invariance across the 26 countries, using conventional approach and the alignment procedure. The findings provide evidence of configural and partial metric invariance, as well as partial scalar invariance across samples. The findings suggest that PWI-8 can be used to examine correlates of life satisfaction across all included countries, however it is impossible to compare raw scores across countries.     

Positive Indicators of Child Well-Being: A Conceptual Framework, Measures, and Methodological Issues

This article suggests a comprehensive conceptual framework which identifies constructs for positive well-being as well as potential indicators and extant measures that fit with those constructs. In addition, the article reviews existing data sources for examples of positive measures that are found in the proposed framework as well as research studies that have been successful in measuring these indicators. The article then notes the data and measurement gaps that exist in comprehensively measuring the positive in children and youth. Finally, it identifies a number of conceptual and methodological issues that need consideration as efforts to define and measure positive indicators of well-being and well-becoming go forward. We argue that positive indicators represent good science, reflect and promote a positive vision of children, and establish positive goals for nations.     

Triangulating School Climate: Areas of Convergence and Divergence Across Multiple Levels and Perspectives

Students often have differing perceptions of their school's climate. Although these subjective perceptions can be meaningful outcome predictors, discrepancies create challenges for those seeking to globally characterize or intervene to improve the climate of a school. Trained, independent  observers can provide insights on perceptible and ostensibly malleable aspects of the school; however, the extent to which these observations help us to understand differences in students’ report of school climate has not been examined. To study this, we assessed convergence and divergence between independent observers’ assessments and students’ perceptions of school climate at the classroom and school levels. Data come from the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative (MDS3), which included 20,647 students and observations of 303 teachers in 50 high schools. Students responded to survey items regarding safety, engagement, and environment; independent observers assessed teachers’ classroom practices and the school physical environment. A three-level model partitioned variance to the individual, classroom, and school levels. The variance in students’ climate perceptions was primarily between students, with most classroom and school intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranging from 0.01 to 0.08, though one was as high as 0.20; however, observations explained large percentages of between-school variation in climate (58%–91%). Findings suggest the potential utility of outside observations for explaining school-level variation in school climate to inform decision-making and future research.     

Affective Well-Being in Retirement: The Influence of Values,Money, and Health Across Three Years

In this study, personal values, health, and financial status were investigated as determinants of affective well-being in a sample of 371 recent retirees across 3 years. Personal values, measured with the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al. in J Cross Cult Psychol 32:519–542, 2001), were hypothesized to show direct links to positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) as well as to moderate the association between financial and health status and affective well-being. Using structural equation modeling, higher PA was predicted by female gender, better finances, fewer illnesses, and higher self-transcendence (ST), openness to change (OC), and conservation values. Higher NA was predicted by female gender, lower finances, more illnesses, higher self-enhancement (SE) and lower OC values. SE and OC values also moderated the association between financial status and PA. Longitudinal analyses indicated a relatively stable pattern of associations across 3 years. While the impact of finances on affect was stable over time, the effects of health and values increased across 3 years.     

Felt Understanding as a Bridge between Close Relationships and Subjective Well-Being: Antecedents and Consequences Across Individuals and Cultures

The literatures on close relationships and subjective well-being have received enormous attention in personality and social psychology over the last two decades. However, despite the well-known link between the quality of social relationships and subjective well-being, these two research traditions have developed relatively independent of one other. Research on felt understanding and misunderstanding attempts to integrate these two related but relatively distinct literatures. To this end, the current review summarizes major recent findings on the antecedents and consequences of felt understanding and misunderstanding and highlights important cultural and individual differences in the processes involving felt understanding and misunderstanding.     

Investigating the Relationships Between Mobility Behaviours and Indicators of Subjective Well-Being Using Smartphone-Based Experience Sampling and GPS Tracking

People interact with their physical environments every day by visiting different places and moving between them. Such mobility behaviours likely influence and are influenced by people's subjective well-being. However, past research examining the links between mobility behaviours and well-being has been inconclusive. Here, we provide a comprehensive investigation of these relationships by examining individual differences in two types of mobility behaviours (movement patterns and places visited) and their relationship to six indicators of subjective well-being (depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, affect, and energy) at two different temporal levels of analysis (two-week tendencies and daily level). Using data from a large smartphone-based longitudinal study (N = 1765), we show that (i) movement patterns assessed via GPS data (distance travelled, entropy, and irregularity) and (ii) places visited assessed via experience sampling reports (home, work, and social places) are associated with subjective well-being at the between and within person levels. Our findings suggest that distance travelled is related to anxiety, affect, and stress, irregularity is related to depression and loneliness, and spending time in social places is negatively associated with loneliness. We discuss the implications of our work and highlight directions for future research on the generalizability to other populations as well as the characteristics of places. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Transition to Adulthood Across Italy: A Comparison Between Northern and Southern Italian Young Adults

We explored the phenomenon of the transition to adulthood, focusing on how young people cope with various developmental tasks in relation to their expectations, future projects, fears and indecision in two Italian regional areas characterized by different trends in youth employability, higher educational attainment and family formation process. We measured self-perceived adulthood, self-reported satisfaction, independence, perceived support regarding personal relationships and practical and economical issues, personal projections and future life’s choices. We also explored the perception of self-fulfillment for the future concerning personal goals in life, such as in the spheres of work, studies and economic autonomy together with expectations for the quality of personal relationships. One hundred and sixty nonworking university students (M _age = 22.6; SD = 2.77; range = 19–35) from the Universities of Turin and Palermo took part in this study. Sub-groups differed on self-perceived adulthood, self-reported satisfaction, independence, perceived support and self-fulfillment. Psychological and economic independence from the family of origin was most perceived by the participants from Turin who reported a higher degree of satisfaction regarding their choice of studies and their future perspective of self-fulfillment at work. Young people from Palermo highlighted personal relationships as an important source of perceived support.     

Global Convergence of the EM Algorithm for Unconstrained Latent Variable Models with Categorical Indicators

Convergence of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to a global optimum of the marginal log likelihood function for unconstrained latent variable models with categorical indicators is presented. The sufficient conditions under which global convergence of the EM algorithm is attainable are provided in an information-theoretic context by interpreting the EM algorithm as alternating minimization of the Kullback–Leibler divergence between two convex sets. It is shown that these conditions are satisfied by an unconstrained latent class model, yielding an optimal bound against which more highly constrained models may be compared.     

Marital Name Changing Attitudes and Plans of College Students: Comparing Change Over Time and Across Regions

This study examines time period and regional effects on U.S. college students’ attitudes and plans regarding marital naming. Data were gathered at a Midwestern college in 1990 and 2006 and at an Eastern university in 2006 (N?=?867). No time period effect was identified for marital name plans in the Midwest samples. Women were neither more nor less likely to plan to retain their birth name in 1990 as compared to 2006. A time period effect was found for attitudes: Midwest women in 2006 were more likely to say a woman was more committed to the marriage if she took her husband’s last name as compared to Midwest women in 1990. This indicates that women in the Midwest may have become more conservative over time. We also found regional differences: women in the East were significantly more likely than women in the Midwest to plan to keep their birth surname upon marriage. Findings suggest a trend toward more conservative attitudes over time and location although plans, perhaps due to the rareness of maintaining a birth surname upon marriage, have not changed.     

Well-Being and Pluralism

It is a commonly expressed sentiment that the science and philosophy of well-being would do well to learn from each other. Typically such calls identify mistakes and bad practices on both sides that would be remedied if scientists picked the right bit of philosophy and philosophers picked the right bit of science. We argue that the differences between philosophers and scientists thinking about well-being are more difficult to reconcile than such calls suggest, and that pluralism is central to this task. Pluralism is a stance that explicitly drives towards accommodating and nurturing the richness and diversity of well-being, both as a concept and as an object of inquiry. We show that well-being science manifests a contingent pluralism at the level of methodology, whereas philosophy of well-being has largely rejected pluralism at the conceptual level. Recently, things have begun to change. Within philosophy, conceptual monism is under attack. But so is methodological pluralism within science. We welcome the first development, and bemoan the second. We argue that a joined-up philosophy and science of well-being should recognise the virtues of both conceptual and methodological pluralism. Philosophers should embrace the methodological justification of pluralism that can be found in the well-being sciences, and scientists should embrace the conceptual reasons to be pluralist that can be found in philosophical debate.

     

Well-Being and Experience

The Journal of Ethics - Robert Nozick argued that we would not plug into his machine that could give us any experiences we chose. More recently Richard Kraut has argued that it would be...