The relation of economic status to subjective well-being in developing countries: A meta-analysis.

The current research synthesis integrates the findings of 111 independent samples from 54 economically developing countries that examined the relation between economic status and subjective well-being (SWB). The average economic status-SWB effect size was strongest among low-income developing economies (r = .28) and for samples that were least educated (r = .36). The relation was weakest among high-income developing economies (r = .10) and for highly educated samples (r = .13). Controlling for numerous covariates, the partial r effect size remained significant for the least-educated samples (pr = .18). Moderator analyses showed the economic status-SWB relation to be strongest when (a) economic status was defined as wealth (a stock variable), instead of as income (a flow variable), and (b) SWB was measured as life satisfaction (a cognitive assessment), instead of as happiness (an emotional assessment). Findings were replicated with a meta-analysis of the World Values Survey data. Discussion centers on the plausibility of need theory, alternative explanations of results, interpretation of moderators, and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Everyday competence in later life: current status and future directions

This article reviews the literature on the antecedents and outcomes of everyday competence in later life and discusses future directions. It is argued that there is a fairly solid knowledge base with regard to the antecedents and outcomes but not in terms of the components and mechanisms of older adults' everyday competence. Five key issues are identified and discussed in terms of a future research agenda. For each key issue, directions for future research are outlined and a transactional approach is advocated. It is emphasized that older adults should be viewed as proactive individuals who are motivated to minimize the losses and maximize the gains associated with the aging process.     

A meta-analysis of subjective well-being interventions among elders.

This meta-analysis demonstrated that interventions have a significant (p?M?=?1.12), psychoeducational (M?=?0.70), and social activity (M?=?0.66) treatments were significantly (p??0 days), the median value was 0.07. For effect sizes extracted from studies with both an immediate and a delayed posttest, the mean decrease over a 30-day period was 1.02. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation in later life: Personal projects and well-being.

"Personal projects," as defined by B. R. Little (1983), were elicited from 600 community residents aged 70+, representing a broad range of health and illness. Factor analysis revealed 6 types of personal projects: activities of daily living, active recreation, other-oriented activities, intellectual activities, home planning, and spiritual/moral activities. Background factors and health were shown to affect the number and type of projects reported. Most indices of personal projects were associated with positive affect and valuation of life. Only 1 was associated with depression. This confirms the differential association of personal projects to positive but not negative affect. Personal projects are seen as part of an open motivational system in which social position, cognitive ability, health, and positive mental health are mutually interacting members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being.

This meta-analysis used 9 literature search strategies to examine 137 distinct personality constructs as correlates of subjective well-being (SWB). Personality was found to be equally predictive of life satisfaction, happiness, and positive affect, but significantly less predictive of negative affect. The traits most closely associated with SWB were repressive-defensiveness, trust, emotional stability, locus of control-chance, desire for control, hardiness, positive affectivity, private collective self-esteem, and tension. When personality traits were grouped according to the Big Five factors, Neuroticism was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, happiness, and negative affect. Positive affect was predicted equally well by Extraversion and Agreeableness. The relative importance of personality for predicting SWB, how personality might influence SWB, and limitations of the present review are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of extraversion, neuroticism, and social relationships on subjective well-being.

Previous research has indicated that there is a relation between extraversion and subjective well-being (SWB), and that the sociability component of extraversion primarily accounts for this relation. Interactive effects of extraversion and social relationship variables on SWB were hypothesized and found in Study 1 using the Extraversion scale from the 16 PF, the Well-Being subscale of the Differential Personality Questionnaire, and several social relationship scales administered to 291 college students. Several multiple regression analyses indicated that strength of social relationships was a strong predictor of SWB only for introverted individuals. Study 2 replicated these findings with the Eysenck Personality Inventory and revealed important interactive relations between extraversion, neuroticism, and social relationships in predicting SWB. A strong relationship between extraversion and SWB occurred only among individuals who were highly neurotic or who had poor social relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: Integrating process models of life satisfaction.

The authors examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in the prediction of the affective (hedonic balance) and the cognitive (life satisfaction) components of subjective well-being (SWB). They predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is mediated by hedonic balance and that the relation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction is moderated by culture. As a consequence, they predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is also moderated by culture. Participants from 2 individualistic cultures (United States, Germany) and 3 collectivistic cultures (Japan, Mexico, Ghana) completed measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, hedonic balance, and life satisfaction. As predicted, Extraversion and Neuroticism influenced hedonic balance to the same degree in all cultures, and hedonic balance was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. The influence of Extraversion and Neuroticism on life satisfaction was largely mediated by hedonic balance. The results suggest that the influence of personality on the emotional component of SWB is pancultural, whereas the influence of personality on the cognitive component of SWB is moderated by culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective social status, objective socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular risk in women.

Objective: Subjective perceptions of personal social status may relate to health beyond the effects of objective socioeconomic status (SES). The authors examined the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and psychosocial, behavioral, and physical cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged women. Design: Ninety-two women (90.2% White) completed ladder-based, pictorial self-report measures of SSS relative to others in their community and in the United States. Psychosocial measures of depression, anxiety, pessimism, stress, and social support and behavioral risk factors of fruit and vegetable consumption, leisure physical activity, and body-mass index were obtained. In addition, women underwent measurement of clinic blood pressure and assessment of daytime ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP; DBP) over 2 consecutive days. Results: Community SSS was significantly inversely related to anxiety, pessimism, stress, and daytime ambulatory DBP after controlling for objective SES and U.S. SSS. Women with lower U.S. SSS showed less healthy dietary and exercise behaviors and, contrary to predictions, lower clinic and ambulatory DBP. Conclusion: This study provides additional evidence that perceptions of one's position in the social hierarchy could have important health implications beyond the impact of objective SES. Further, the cardiovascular risk implications of perceived community versus U.S. social status appear to be distinct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model.

Using data from 4 waves of an Australian panel study, this study offers a dynamic account of relations between personality, life events, and subjective well-being (SWB). Members of the Victorian Quality of Life panel study were interviewed in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1987. The initial sample size was 942; 649 respondents remain. The study shows that very stable personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience) predispose people to experience moderately stable levels of favorable and adverse life events and moderately stable levels of SWB. However, contrary to previous research (P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, 1984) life events influence SWB over and above the effects of personality. A dynamic equilibrium (DE) model is outlined, in which each person is regarded as having "normal" equilibrium levels of life events and SWB, predictable on the basis of age and personality. Only when events deviate from their equilibrium levels does SWB change. The DE model is compared with 3 alternatives: personality models, adaptation level models, and models that treat life events as being wholly exogenous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feelings of attachment to siblings and well-being in later life.

On the basis of an adult model of sibling attachment, I hypothesized that the well-being of older persons depends on their perception of the closeness of the sibling bond, on their perception of any disruption of that bond, and on the sex combination of the siblings being considered. In all, 83 persons, aged 61 to 91 years, were interviewed about their relationships with each of their living siblings. They rated their feelings of closeness, conflict or rivalry, and indifference to the sibling. A measure of depression was used as the indicator of well-being. Separate correlational analyses were carried out for the four sex combinations of siblings. Closeness of the bond to a sister (by both men and women) was related to less depression. Also, women's perceptions of conflict and indifference in their relationships with sisters were related to increased depression. Findings are interpreted in terms of attachment theory and sex role expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-generational coalitions and well-being: A multivariate analysis of social network data.

Cross-generational coalitions have long been linked by some family therapists to conflict in family relationships and symptomatology in family members. The relationship between cross-generational coalitions and measures of well-being in 572 nonclinical families was explored by conducting post hoc multivariate analyses on national survey data. Results indicate modest support for triadic models of family functioning. The methodology used in the analysis, particularly the way in which the variable cross-generational coalitions was created, provides a model for how new questions can be asked about existing data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment to parents, social competence, and emotional well-being: A comparison of Black and White late adolescents.

The model tested in this study proposed that the association of parental attachment bonds to emotional adjustment would be mediated by social competence. Relational variables were expected to be more important in the development of social competence and emotional adjustment for Black students than for White students; there were no directional hypotheses for gender differences. Single-group analyses and multiple-group comparisons revealed that the model fit the data reasonably well for a large sample (N ?=?630) of Black and White late adolescents. Gender of parent differences emerged, in which attachment to father generally was a better predictor of social competence than was attachment to mother. In all analyses, social competence was a significant predictor of emotional adjustment. There were no significant differences between groups in comparisons of the relative strengths of construct interrelations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing emotional competence improves psychological and physical well-being, social relationships, and employability.

This study builds on earlier work showing that adult emotional competencies (EC) could be improved through a relatively brief training. In a set of 2 controlled experimental studies, the authors investigated whether developing EC could lead to improved emotional functioning; long-term personality changes; and important positive implications for physical, psychological, social, and work adjustment. Results of Study 1 showed that 18 hr of training with e-mail follow-up was sufficient to significantly improve emotion regulation, emotion understanding, and overall EC. These changes led in turn to long-term significant increases in extraversion and agreeableness as well as a decrease in neuroticism. Results of Study 2 showed that the development of EC brought about positive changes in psychological well-being, subjective health, quality of social relationships, and employability. The effect sizes were sufficiently large for the changes to be considered as meaningful in people's lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health incongruence in later life: Implications for subsequent well-being and health care.

Objective: The premise that pessimistic health appraisals compromise well-being whereas optimistic appraisals are compensatory was examined in a longitudinal study of 232 community-dwelling older adults (ages 79-98 years). Design: Subjective health (SH) appraisals were contrasted with objective health (OH) to identify realists, whose ratings were congruent (SH = OH), distinguishing them from health pessimists (SH OH), whose ratings were incongruent. Analyses of covariance were used to examine group differences 2 years later on well-being and health care. Main Outcome Measures: Outcome measures were psychological well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions), functional well-being (objective and perceived physical activity, activity restriction), and health care (health care management, hospital admissions, length of hospital stays). Results: Compared with realists, pessimists had significantly poorer outcomes and optimists had better outcomes. Because perceived control (PC) was weaker among pessimists and stronger among optimists, supplemental analysis determined whether PC differences explained these findings. When accounting for PC, many pessimism and optimism effects became nonsignificant, yet effects on functional well-being remained unchanged. Conclusion: Findings have implications for older adults at risk of functional decline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral and social reasoning and perspective taking in later life: A longitudinal study.

In this study 27 older adults (ages 64–80) and 23 middle-aged adults (ages 35–54) were tested for moral stage, integrative complexity of social reasoning, and perspective-taking levels twice over a 4 year period. Moral reasoning stage levels did not change over time for either age group. Older adults, but not the middle-aged, showed a significant decline over time in level of moral perspective taking. Complexity of reasoning about several interpersonal social issues declined modestly in both age groups. More social-cognitive support, a higher education level, and better self-reported health were all found to be protective factors in forestalling declines in mature adults' sociocognitive reasoning, consistent with other research on cognitive measures in later life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth cohort difference on the children's depression inventory: A meta-analysis.

A within-scale meta-analysis was performed on 310 samples of children (ages 8-16; N = 61,424) responding to the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Girls' depression scores stayed steady from ages 8 to 11 and then increased between ages 12 and 16. Boys' CDI scores were stable from ages 8 to 16 except for a high CDI score at age 12. Girls' scores were slightly lower than boys' during childhood, but girls scored higher beginning at age 13. There were no socioeconomic status effects and no differences between White and Black samples. However, Hispanic samples scored significantly higher on the CDI. Analyses for birth cohort showed a slight decrease in boys' CDI scores over time and no change for girls. Longitudinal studies demonstrated a marked testing effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal goals and subjective well-being: A longitudinal study.

This study examined the extent to which 3 dimensions of personal goals (commitment, attainability, and progress) were predictive of students' subjective well-being over 1 semester. At the beginning of a new term, 88 Ss provided a list of their personal goals. Goal attributes and subjective well-being were measured at 4 testing periods. Goal commitment was found to moderate the extent to which differences in goal attainability accounted for changes in subjective well-being. Progress in goal achievement mediated the effect of the goal commitment?×?goal attainability on subjective well-being interaction. Results are discussed in terms of a need for addition and refinement of assumptions linking personal goals to subjective well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objective and subjective socioeconomic status and susceptibility to the common cold.

Objective: We ask whether subjective socioeconomic status (SES) predicts who develops a common cold when exposed to a cold virus. Design: 193 healthy men and women ages 21-55 years were assessed for subjective (perceived rank) and objective SES, cognitive, affective and social dispositions, and health practices. Subsequently, they were exposed by nasal drops to a rhinovirus or influenza virus and monitored in quarantine for objective signs of illness and self-reported symptoms. Main Outcome Measures: Infection, signs and symptoms of the common cold, and clinical illness (infection and significant objective signs of illness). Results: Increased subjective SES was associated with decreased risk for developing a cold for both viruses. This association was independent of objective SES and of cognitive, affective and social disposition that might provide alternative spurious (third factor) explanations for the association. Poorer sleep among those with lesser subjective SES may partly mediate the association between subjective SES and colds. Conclusions: Increased Subjective SES is associated with less susceptibility to upper respiratory infection, and this association is independent of objective SES, suggesting the importance of perceived relative rank to health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eudaimonic growth: Narrative growth goals predict increases in ego development and subjective well-being 3 years later.

We examine (a) the normative course of eudaimonic well-being in emerging adulthood and (b) whether people's narratives of major life goals might prospectively predict eudaimonic growth 3 years later. We define eudaimonic growth as longitudinal increases in eudaimonic well-being, which we define as the combination of psychosocial maturity and subjective well-being (SWB). College freshmen and seniors took measures of ego development (ED; to assess maturity; Loevinger, 1976) and SWB at Time 1 (T1) and again 3 years later (Time 2). ED levels increased longitudinally across that time for men and T1 freshmen, but SWB levels did not change. Participants also wrote narratives of 2 major life goals at T1 that were coded for an explicit emphasis on specific kinds of personal growth. Participants' intellectual-growth goals (especially agentic ones) predicted increases in ED 3 years later, whereas participants' socioemotional-growth goals (especially communal ones) predicted increases in SWB 3 years later. These findings were independent of the effects of Big Five personality traits—notably conscientiousness, which on its own predicted increases in SWB. We discuss (a) emerging adulthood as the last stop for normative eudaimonic growth in modern society and (b) empirical and theoretical issues surrounding the relations among narrative identity, life planning, dispositional traits, eudaimonia, and 2 paths of personal growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture, identity consistency, and subjective well-being.

All individuals have multiple views of themselves. Whereas the consistency among the different aspects of identity is emphasized in Western cultures, the "multiple selves" are often viewed as coexisting realities in East Asian cultures. This research revisits the classic thesis in psychology that identity consistency is a prerequisite condition of psychological well-being. Between individuals (Study 1), people with a more consistent self-view had a more clear self-knowledge, were more assertive, and, most notably, had self-experiences that were less affected by the perspectives of others. Compared with North American participants (Study 2), Koreans viewed themselves more flexibly across situations, and their subjective well-being was less predictable from levels of identity consistency. Also, consistent individuals received positive social evaluations from others in the United States but not in Korea. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)