Following Changes in Living Conditions and Happiness in Post Communist Russia: the Russet Panel

This paper discusses the design of the Russian panel study used in this Volume. It is shown that a standard sampling procedure is used to get a representative sample of the Russian population. The questionnaire has been designed in such a way that the consequences of socio-economic changes in Russia can be observed while also reactions of the people are registered. It has also been shown that satisfaction varies considerably between people, across different domains of life and across time in Russia much more than in Western Democracies.Furthermore, we have shown that happiness and SWB questions do not measure the same. In Russia the first is more related to personal factors as the success of their marriage,while the second is more related to economic factors as the financial situation of the household. Given this difference we concluded that it makes more sense to study changes in satisfaction than happiness because the former is more connected to the socio-economic changes in the society.     

Understanding multiple dimensions of compensation satisfaction

We conducted meta-analyses of multiple dimensions of compensation satisfaction. An examination of 213 samples from 182 studies yielded several interesting findings of importance to practice and future research. We examined the relationships among four dimensions of compensation satisfaction (pay level, pay raises, benefit level, pay structure and administration satisfaction), and found that the three dimensions related to direct pay are highly related to one another. The relationships between benefits and the three direct pay dimensions were modest. We also analyzed antecedents, correlates, and consequences of the four compensation satisfaction dimensions. The antecedents of pay raise satisfaction have received the most attention, and our results indicate that both perceptual (e.g., perceptions of the basis for a pay raise) and objective (i.e., the amount of the pay raise) antecedents play roles in determining pay raise satisfaction. Previous research on the relationship between employee costs for benefits and benefit satisfaction have been inconclusive. The meta-analysis yields a modest, negative relationship between employee costs and benefit satisfaction. Additional results provide the foundation for our discussion of the current state of research in these areas, recommendations for practice, and suggestions for future research.     

Personality,Meta-Mood Experience,Life Satisfaction,and Anxiety in Australian versus Singaporean Students

This study explores two issues concerning the relationships between personality, meta-mood experience, life satisfaction, and anxiety. First, it explored the incremental value of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience in predicting the three components of meta-mood experience (that is, attention to feelings, emotional clarity, clarity of feelings and mood repair), after controlling for demographic variables across Australia and Singapore. Second, it explored the incremental value of the three meta-mood experience components in predicting life satisfaction and anxiety, after controlling for demographic variables and personality variables across the two countries. One hundred and eighty nine tertiary students from Australia and 243 tertiary students from Singapore participated in this study. First, hierarchical regression analyses for both samples suggested that Agreeableness and Neuroticism are the two most important personality predictors of meta-mood experience, emotional attention, and emotional repair. Second, hierarchical regression analyses for both samples suggested that emotional repair was a significant predictor for life satisfaction and anxiety, even after controlling for demographic variables and personality variables. These results have implications for therapeutic interventions with life satisfaction versus anxiety. Funding for this research is facilitated partially by a research grant from the National Institute of Education.     

Is the job satisfaction-job performance relationship spurious? A meta-analytic examination

The job satisfaction-job performance relationship has attracted much attention throughout the history of industrial and organizational psychology. Many researchers and most lay people believe that a causal relationship exists between satisfaction and performance. In the current study, however, analyses using meta-analytic data suggested that the satisfaction-performance relationship is largely spurious. More specifically, the satisfaction-performance relationship was partially eliminated after controlling for either general personality traits (e.g., Five Factor Model traits and core self-evaluations) or for work locus of control and was almost completely eliminated after controlling for organization-based self-esteem. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Increasing Utilization of Cancer Genetic Counseling Services Using a Patient Navigator Model

Rarely has utilization of genetic counseling for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) been studied separately from utilization of testing. At Kaiser Permanente Colorado, consistently only 30% of all members referred for HBOC attend genetic counseling. To increase the volume of genetic counseling appointments, a patient navigator approach was pilot tested in a randomized-controlled trial over 3 months. A total of 125 members were referred for HBOC genetic counseling (55 randomized to PN, 70 randomized to usual care). Utilization of referrals for Navigator-assisted members was 44%, compared to 31% in the usual care arm (p=0.16). The patient navigator significantly decreased time to appointment, with over 80% of Navigator-assisted members seen for genetic counseling less than three months from referral date, compared to 32% in usual care (p=0.002). patient navigator assistance shortens time from referral to appointment for HBOC genetic counseling, and may increase utilization of such services.     

The role of social axioms in predicting life satisfaction: a longitudinal study in Hong Kong

Data from a 1-year, longitudinal study were utilized to explore the role of five pan-cultural beliefs about the world (social axioms) in predicting life satisfaction. It was hypothesized that higher levels of social cynicism would predict lower satisfaction with life because cynical persons set in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy of unrewarding social outcomes. The negative social feedback thus engendered results in lower levels of self-esteem, which mediates the effect of socially cynical beliefs on life satisfaction. These findings were confirmed in a longitudinal study of Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong. Their implications were explored by considering the role of beliefs about␣the world upon additional mediators of life satisfaction in different cultural settings and for engaging in therapeutic interventions with distressed clients.     

企业家满意度与心理健康之关系研究

改革开放以来,中国企业家队伍的成长与发展受到了社会越来越多的关注,中国企业家群体已成为与心理因素有关的多种疾病的高危人群。为了进一步了解企业家的心理健康状况,促进企业家队伍的健康成长,广西省柳州市商会、复旦大学经济学院和华东师范大学在2006年共同展开了"企业家和企业发展"调查研究。本报告主要考察了企业家满意度与心理健康的特征以及二者之间的关系。     

Consumer Well-Being (CWB): The Effects of Self-Image Congruence, Brand-Community Belongingness, Brand Loyalty, and Consumption Recency

Consumer well-being (CWB) refers to the extent to which a particular consumer good or service creates an overall perception of the quality-of-life impact of that product. We developed a model that posits that CWB related to a specific product is heavily influenced by self-image congruence and brand-community belongingness. Self-image congruence is also hypothesized to influence CWB moderated by brand loyalty. Similarly, brand-community belongingness is hypothesized to influence CWB moderated by consumption recency. Our survey data of 275 undergraduate students reporting on their coffee consumption showed the following: (1) CWB was significantly predicted by brand loyalty and brand-community belongingness; (2) the effect of brand loyalty on CWB was moderated by self-image congruence, and (3) the effect of brand-community belongingness was moderated by consumption recency.     

Life Satisfaction and Associated Factors Among People Aged 60 Years and Above in Six European Countries

Life satisfaction is a concept frequently used to measure wellbeing of older people. However, there is still a lack of cross-national comparative research investigating factors associated with life satisfaction. There may be unique and common factors associated with life satisfaction across European countries. This study aimed to investigate life satisfaction among people aged 60–89 years in six European countries in relation to health problems, ADL capacity, self-esteem, social and financial resources. A cross-sectional study was performed, including 7,699 people aged 60–89 years, in Sweden, the UK, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Austria and Italy, participating in the European Study of Adult Wellbeing, using questions from the Older Americans Resources and Services schedule, Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire, Life Satisfaction Index Z and Rosenberg’s Self-esteem scale. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with life satisfaction in the six national samples. In cases where people were less satisfied with their life it was fairly satisfactory and unsatisfactory social contacts (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.5–13.8), poor financial resources (OR 1.7–15.1), feeling greatly hindered by health problems (OR 2.2–5.4) and self-esteem (OR 2.1–5.1) rather than the ability to perform activities of daily living and the extent of social contacts that gave the greatest risk of low life satisfaction in all the six European countries. There were both common and country-specific factors important for life satisfaction in the six European countries. However, the importance of satisfactory social contacts, financial resources, self-esteem and feeling hindered by health problems seems universal in the six included countries and thus important to target in preventive interventions.     

Test of a social cognitive model of work satisfaction in teachers

Lent and Brown [Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2006). Integrating person and situation perspectives on work satisfaction: A social-cognitive view. Journal of Vocational Behavior,69, 236-247] recently proposed an integrative model of work satisfaction linked to social cognitive career theory. The model posits that work satisfaction is predicted by five classes of variables: work conditions, goal progress, self-efficacy, goal and efficacy relevant supports, and personality traits (e.g., positive affect). We tested this model in a sample of 366 teachers, finding good overall model-data fit. Of the five predictor classes, work conditions, self-efficacy, and positive affect were each found to explain unique predictive variance. This suggests that teachers who are most satisfied with their jobs see their work environment as supportive, are confident in their abilities to complete work-related tasks and goals, and report high levels of trait positive affect. Findings also offered support for the contention that measures of subjective person-environment fit may not be empirically distinct from work satisfaction. Implications of these findings for future research and applied efforts are considered.