Association of <Emphasis Type="Italic">MAOA-uVNTR</Emphasis> Polymorphism with Subjective Well-Being in Men

Quality of life and one’s subjective evaluation of one’s own happiness and well-being are the conventional focus of psychology and sociology. However, a genetic factor has recently been found to affect the subjective evaluation of well-being. The contribution of heredity to a personal level of happiness and life satisfaction has been estimated at 30–50% in twin studies. Individual genes associated with these traits have been identified, but the available data are rather discrepant. In this work, alleles of the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) were tested for association with well-being components, such as happiness, health, dangers of living environment, and stress, in Russian men. Trait assessments were based on questionnaires filled out as part of the World Values Survey. It is shown that, among the uVNTR-3R allele carriers, the proportion of men who have high levels of stress, feel unhappy, and live in unsafe environments is lower. The results are discussed in the context of the gene plasticity concept, which provides a possible explanation for how expression of genes related to behavior changes in different environmental conditions.     

Economic development,intergenerational mobility,and health in South Korea

A growing number of studies reported the association between social mobility and health. However, few studies investigated whether the association varies by age group. Drawing on the economic environment that facilitated social mobility in South Korea, we postulate each age group had a different extent of social mobility, which would vary with the extent of economic growth and affect the association between social mobility and health. We used data from KDI National Happiness Survey 2018 and measured perceived mobility using respondents’ perceived social position and their parents’ social position. We examined whether social mobility was associated with self-rated health and psychological well-being. The upwardly mobile individuals were more likely than the stable ones to report ‘happy’. Such a positive association between upward mobility and happiness was consistently found when the sample was restricted to the ages 30–59 and 40–49. For self-rated health, the downwardly mobile individuals were less likely to report good health. However, no significant difference in self-rated health was found after the youngest and oldest age groups were excluded. We found that perceived social mobility was strongly associated with psychological well-being rather than self-rated health. Moreover, we found a stronger association between upward mobility and happiness among the aged 40–49, who had the largest proportion of upwardly mobile individuals and spent their adolescence during rapid economic growth. The findings underscore the importance of the economic and social context in which individuals perceive their social position and shape their well-being.     

The Pay-Offs to Sociability

Previous research addressing the association between leisure and happiness has given rise to the hypothesis that informal social activities might contribute more to happiness than solitary activities. In the current study, we tested how the two types of leisure—social and solitary—contribute to a person’s subjective sense of well-being. For the empirical estimate, we used four consecutive quarters of data collected from 533 people over the age of 16, from 13 Tsimane’ hunter-farmer villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Results suggest that only social, not solitary, leisure has a positive and statistically significant association with subjective well-being. The association between solitary leisure and subjective well-being was negligible or negative. Future research should focus on emic definitions of social and solitary time, for solitary time might not always be equivalent to leisure and productive group activities might substitute for social leisure.     

Migrants,health, and happiness: Evidence that health assessments travel with migrants and predict well-being

Health assessments correlate with health outcomes and subjective well-being. Immigrants offer an opportunity to study persistent social influences on health where the social conditions are not endogenous to individual outcomes. This approach provides a clear direction of causality from social conditions to health, and in a second stage to well-being. Natives and immigrants from across the world residing in 30 European countries are studied using survey data. The paper applies within country analysis using both linear regressions and two stage least squares. Natives’ and immigrants’ individual characteristics have similar predictive power for health, except Muslim immigrants who experience a sizeable health penalty. Average health reports in the immigrant's birth country have a significant association with the immigrant's current health. Almost a quarter of the birth country health variation is brought by the immigrants, while conditioning on socioeconomic characteristics. There is no evidence of the birth country predictive power declining neither as the immigrant spends more time in the residence country nor over the life course. The second stage estimates indicate that a one standard deviation improvement in health predicts higher happiness by 1.72 point or 0.82 of a standard deviation, more than four times the happiness difference of changing employment status from unemployed to employed. Studying life satisfaction yields similar results. Health improvements predict substantial increases in individual happiness.     

Transnational families and the subjective well-being of migrant parents: Angolan and Nigerian parents in the Netherlands

Studies on transnational families argue that the subjective well-being of migrant parents is negatively affected by living separated from their children. Most studies employ qualitative methods without a control group and hence are not able to distinguish whether the effects found are associated with separation only or with other factors. This paper investigates the association between parental subjective well-being and parent–child separation by comparing migrant parents who have at least one child in their country of origin with those who live with all their children in the Netherlands. The paper further investigates whether the same associations are found between migrant groups from Angola and Nigeria. Results indicate that transnational parents indeed report lower subjective well-being, as measured by happiness, life satisfaction and mental health for both groups and additionally, self-assessed health for Angolans. However, legal status, socio-economic status and the quality of the parent–child relationship are found to be important mediators.     

Well-being and social capital on planet Earth: cross-national evidence from 142 countries

High levels of social trust and social support are associated with life satisfaction around the world. However, it is not known whether this association extends to other indicators of social capital and of subjective well-being globally. We examine associations between three measures of social capital and three indicators of subjective well-being in 142 low-, middle- and high-income countries. Furthermore, we explore whether positive and negative feelings mirror each other or if they are separate constructs that behave differently in relation to social capital. Data comes from the Gallup World Poll, an international cross-sectional comparable survey conducted yearly from 2005 to 2009 for those 15 years of age and over. The poll represents 95% of the world's population. Social capital was measured with self-reports of access to support from relatives and friends, of volunteering to an organization in the past month, and of trusting others. Subjective well-being was measured with self-reports of life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. We first estimate random coefficient (multi-level) models and then use multivariate (individual-level) Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression to model subjective well-being as a function of social support, volunteering and social trust, controlling for age, gender, education, marital status, household income and religiosity. We found that having somebody to count on in case of need and reporting high levels of social trust are associated with better life evaluations and more positive feelings and an absence of negative feelings in most countries around the world. Associations, however, are stronger for high- and middle-income countries. Volunteering is also associated with better life evaluations and a higher frequency of positive emotions. There is not an association, however, between volunteering and experiencing negative feelings, except for low-income countries. Finally, we present evidence that the two affective components of subjective well-being behave differently in relation to different indicators of social capital and social support across countries.     

Is Social Capital a Determinant of Oral Health among Older Adults? Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

There are a number of studies linking social capital to oral health among older adults, although the evidence base mainly relies on cross-sectional study designs. The possibility of reverse causality is seldom discussed, even though oral health problems could potentially lead to lower social participation. Furthermore, few studies clearly distinguish between the effects of different dimensions of social capital on oral health. The objective of the study was to examine the longitudinal associations between individual social capital and oral health among older adults. We analyzed longitudinal data from the 3^rd and 5^th waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Structural social capital was operationalized using measures of social participation, and volunteering. Number of close ties and perceived emotional support comprised the functional dimension of social capital. Oral health measures were having no natural teeth (edentate vs. dentate), self-rated oral health and oral health-related quality of life. Time-lag and autoregressive models were used to explore the longitudinal associations between social capital and oral health. We imputed all missing data, using multivariate imputation by chained equations. We found evidence of bi-directional longitudinal associations between self-rated oral health, volunteering and functional social capital. Functional social capital was a strong predictor of change in oral health-related quality of life – the adjusted odds ratio of reporting poor oral health-related quality of life was 1.75 (1.33–2.30) for older adults with low vs. high social support. However in the reverse direction, poor oral health-related quality of life was not associated with changes in social capital. This suggests that oral health may not be a determinant of social capital. In conclusion, social capital may be a determinant of subjective oral health among older adults rather than edentulousness, despite many cross-sectional studies on the latter.     

Analyzing Personal Happiness from Global Survey and Weather Data: A Geospatial Approach

Past studies have shown that personal subjective happiness is associated with various macro- and micro-level background factors, including environmental conditions, such as weather and the economic situation, and personal health behaviors, such as smoking and exercise. We contribute to this literature of happiness studies by using a geospatial approach to examine both macro and micro links to personal happiness. Our geospatial approach incorporates two major global datasets: representative national survey data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and corresponding world weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). After processing and filtering 55,081 records of ISSP 2011 survey data from 32 countries, we extracted 5,420 records from China and 25,441 records from 28 other countries. Sensitivity analyses of different intervals for average weather variables showed that macro-level conditions, including temperature, wind speed, elevation, and GDP, are positively correlated with happiness. To distinguish the effects of weather conditions on happiness in different seasons, we also adopted climate zone and seasonal variables. The micro-level analysis indicated that better health status and eating more vegetables or fruits are highly associated with happiness. Never engaging in physical activity appears to make people less happy. The findings suggest that weather conditions, economic situations, and personal health behaviors are all correlated with levels of happiness.     

The economic returns of bonding and bridging social capital for immigrant men in Germany

Using longitudinal data, this paper analyses the effect of different forms of social capital on the likelihood of employment and the occupational status of first generation immigrant men in Germany. This allows me to examine to what extent social capital of the bonding and the bridging types yield different returns. The study considers how contacts with natives, co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital are beneficial to the economic position of immigrant men. Random effects and fixed effects models show that strong inter-ethnic ties are beneficial both for employment and occupational status. There is no effect of co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital. It is concluded that, when using panel data, bridging social capital contributes to a better economic position and bonding social capital does not.     

Association between Social Integration and Health among Internal Migrants in ZhongShan,China

Internal migrants are the individuals who migrate between regions in one country. The number of internal migrants were estimated at 245 million in China in 2013. Results were inconsistent in the literature about the relationship between their health statuses and social integration. The main difference exists on how to measure the social integration and whether health statuses of internal migrants improve with years of residence. To complement the existing literature, this study measured social integration more comprehensively and estimated the internal migrants’ health statuses with varying years of residence, and explored the associations between the migrants’ social integration and health. We used the data from 2014 Internal Migrant Dynamic Monitoring Survey of Health and Family Planning in ZhongShan, China. Health status was measured from four aspects: self-reported health, subjective well-being, perception of stress, mental health. We measured social integration through four dimensions: economy, social communication, acculturation, and self-identity. The analyses used multiple linear regressions to examine the associations between self-reported health, subjective well-being, and perception of stress, mental health and social integration. The analytical sample included 1,999 households of the internal migrants and 1,997 local registered households, who were permanent residents in ZhongShan. Among the internal migrants, Adults in the labor force, who were aged 25 to 44 years old, accounted for 91.2% of the internal migrant population, while 74.6% of the registered population were in that age group. Median residential time among migrants was 2.8 (1.3–6.2) years, and 20.2% of them were migrating in the same Guangdong province. Except for mental health, other health statuses among migrants had significant differences compared with local registered population, e.g. self-reported health was better, but subjective well-being was worse. However, these health measurements were improved with more years of residence. Moreover, our results show that two aspects of social integration, economic integration and self-identity, were significantly associated with health status. Subjective feeling of relative social status levels were more associated with health, which prompted the attention to social fairness and the creation of a fair and respectful culture. More interventions could be experimented, such as encouraging internal migrants to participate in community activities more actively, educating local registered residents to treat internal migrants more equally, and developing self-identity among internal migrants. Better social, economic, and cultural environment can benefit internal migrants’ health statuses.     

Impact of Individual-Level Social Capital on Quality of Life among AIDS Patients in China

Background

With growing recognition of the social determinants of health, social capital is an increasingly important construct in international health. However, the application of social capital discourse in response to HIV infection remains preliminary. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of social capital on quality of life (QoL) among adult patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Methods

A convenient sample of 283 patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) was investigated in Anhui province, China. QoL data were collected using the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Survey (MOS-HIV) questionnaire. Social capital was measured using a self-developed questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to explore associations between social capital and QoL.

Results

The study sample had a mean physical health summary (PHS) score of 50.13±9.90 and a mean mental health summary (MHS) score of 41.64±11.68. Cronbach''s α coefficients of the five multi-item scales of social capital ranged from 0.44 to 0.79. When other variables were controlled for, lower individual levels of reciprocity and trust were associated with a greater likelihood of having a poor PHS score (odds ratio [OR] = 2.02) or PHS score (OR = 6.90). Additionally, the factors of social support and social networks and ties were associated positively with MHS score (OR = 2.30, OR = 4.17, respectively).

Conclusions

This is the first report to explore the effects of social capital on QoL of AIDS patients in China. The results indicate that social capital is a promising avenue for developing strategies to improve the QoL of AIDS patients in China, suggesting that the contribution of social capital should be fully exploited, especially with enhancement of QoL through social participation. Social capital development policy may be worthy of consideration.     

Anxious or Depressed and Still Happy?

This study aimed to examine cross-sectionally to what extent persons with higher symptom levels or a current or past emotional disorder report to be less happy than controls and to assess prospectively whether time-lagged measurements of extraversion and neuroticism predict future happiness independent of time-lagged measurements of emotional disorders or symptom severity. A sample of 2142 adults aged 18–65, consisting of healthy controls and persons with current or past emotional disorder according to DSM-IV criteria completed self-ratings for happiness and emotional well-being and symptom severity. Lagged measurements of personality, symptom severity and presence of anxiety and depressive disorder at T0 (year 0), T2 (year 2) and T4 (year 4) were used to predict happiness and emotional well-being at T6 (year 6) controlling for demographics. In particular persons with more depressive symptoms, major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder and comorbid emotional disorders reported lower levels of happiness and emotional well-being. Depression symptom severity and to a lesser extent depressive disorder predicted future happiness and emotional well-being at T6. Extraversion and to a lesser extent neuroticism also consistently forecasted future happiness and emotional well-being independent of concurrent lagged measurements of emotional disorders and symptoms. A study limitation is that we only measured happiness and emotional well-being at T6 and our measures were confined to hedonistic well-being and did not include psychological and social well-being. In sum, consistent with the two continua model of emotional well-being and mental illness, a ‘happy’ personality characterized by high extraversion and to a lesser extent low neuroticism forecasts future happiness and emotional well-being independent of concurrently measured emotional disorders or symptom severity levels. Boosting positive emotionality may be an important treatment goal for persons personally inclined to lower levels of happiness.     

30 Days Wild: Development and Evaluation of a Large-Scale Nature Engagement Campaign to Improve Well-Being

There is a need to increase people’s engagement with and connection to nature, both for human well-being and the conservation of nature itself. In order to suggest ways for people to engage with nature and create a wider social context to normalise nature engagement, The Wildlife Trusts developed a mass engagement campaign, 30 Days Wild. The campaign asked people to engage with nature every day for a month. 12,400 people signed up for 30 Days Wild via an online sign-up with an estimated 18,500 taking part overall, resulting in an estimated 300,000 engagements with nature by participants. Samples of those taking part were found to have sustained increases in happiness, health, connection to nature and pro-nature behaviours. With the improvement in health being predicted by the improvement in happiness, this relationship was mediated by the change in connection to nature.     

Variability of Sleep Duration Is Related to Subjective Sleep Quality and Subjective Well-Being: An Actigraphy Study

While there is a large body of evidence that poor subjective sleep quality is related to lower subjective well-being, studies on the relation of objective sleep measures and subjective well-being are fewer in number and less consistent in their findings. Using data of the Survey of Mid-Life in the United States (MIDUS), we investigated whether duration and quality of sleep, assessed by actigraphy, were related to subjective well-being and whether this relationship was mediated by subjective sleep quality. Three hundred and thirteen mainly white American individuals from the general population and 128 urban-dwelling African American individuals between 35 and 85 years of age were studied cross-sectionally. Sleep duration, variability of sleep duration, sleep onset latency, and time awake after sleep onset were assessed by actigraphy over a period of 7 days. Subjective sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, positive psychological well-being and symptoms of psychological distress were assessed with the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire. In both white and African Americans high day-to-day variability in sleep duration was related to lower levels of subjective well-being controlling age, gender, educational and marital status, and BMI. By contrast, sleep duration, sleep onset latency, and time awake after sleep onset were not related to subjective well-being controlling covariates and other sleep variables. Moreover, the relationship between variability in sleep duration and well-being was partially mediated by subjective sleep quality. The findings show that great day-to-day variability in sleep duration – more than average sleep duration – is related to poor subjective sleep quality and poor subjective well-being.     

Linking Human and Ecosystem Health: The Benefits of Community Involvement in Conservation Groups

This study explored the health, well-being, and social capital benefits gained by community members who are involved in the management of land for conservation in six rural communities across Victoria. A total of 102 people participated in the study (64 males; 38 females) comprising 51 members of a community-based land management group and 51 controls matched by age and gender. Mixed methods were employed, including the use of an adapted version of Buckner’s (1988) Community Cohesion Scale. The results indicate that involvement in the management of land for conservation may contribute to both the health and well-being of members, and to the social capital of the local community. The members of the land management groups rated their general health higher, reported visiting the doctor less often, felt safer in the local community, and utilized the skills that they have acquired in their lifetime more frequently than the control participants. Male members reported the highest level of general health, and the greatest satisfaction with daily activities. Members also reported a greater sense of belonging to the local community and a greater willingness to work toward improving their community than their control counterparts. Of equal importance is evidence that involvement in voluntary conservation work constitutes a means of building social capital in rural communities which may help reduce some of the negative aspects of rural life.     

Influence of flexibility and variability of working hours on health and well-being

Flexible working hours can have several meanings and can be arranged in a number of ways to suit the worker and/or employer. Two aspects of “flexible” arrangement of working hours were considered: one more subjected to company control and decision (variability) and one more connected to individual discretion and autonomy (flexibility). The aim of the study was to analyze these two dimensions in relation to health and well-being, taking into consideration the interaction with some relevant background variables related to demographics plus working and social conditions. The dataset of the Third European Survey on working conditions, conducted in 2000 and involving 21,505 workers, was used. Nineteen health disorders and four psycho-social conditions were tested by means of multiple logistic regression analysis, in which mutually adjusted odds ratios were calculated for age, gender, marital status, number of children, occupation, mode of employment, shift work, night work, time pressure, mental and physical workload, job satisfaction, and participation in work organization. The flexibility and variability of working hours appeared inversely related to health and psycho-social well-being: the most favorable effects were associated with higher flexibility and lower variability. The analysis of the interactions with the twelve intervening variables showed that physical work, age, and flexibility are the three most important factors affecting health and well-being. Flexibility resulted as the most important factor to influence work satisfaction; the second to affect family and social commitment and the ability to do the same job when 60 years old, as well as trauma, overall fatigue, irritability, and headache; and the third to influence heart disease, stomachache, anxiety, injury, and the feeling that health being at risk because of work. Variability was the third most important factor influencing family and social commitments. Moreover, shift and night work confirmed to have a significant influence on sleep, digestive and cardiovascular troubles, as well and health and safety at work. Time pressure also showed a relevant influence, both on individual stress and social life. Therefore, suitable arrangements of flexible working time, aimed at supporting workers' coping strategies, appear to have a clear beneficial effect on worker health and well-being, with positive consequences also at the company and social level, as evidenced by the higher “feeling to be able to work until 60 years of age”.     

Taking the pulse of nations: A biometric measure of well-being

A growing literature identifies associations between subjective and biometric indicators of wellbeing. These associations, together with the ability of subjective wellbeing metrics to predict health and behavioral outcomes, have spawned increasing interest in wellbeing as an important concept in its own right. However, some social scientists continue to question the usefulness of wellbeing metrics. We contribute to this literature in three ways. First, we introduce a biometric measure of wellbeing – pulse – that hs been little used. Using nationally representative data on 165,000 individuals from the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Surveys we show that its correlates are similar in a number of ways to those for happiness, and that it is highly correlated with wellbeing metrics, as well as self-assessed health. Second, we examine the determinants of pulse rates in mid-life (age 42) among the 9000 members of the National Child Development Study, a birth cohort born in a single week in 1958 in Britain. Third, we track the impact of pulse measured in mid-life (age 42) on health and labor market outcomes at age 50 in 2008 and age 55 in 2013. The probability of working at age 55 is negatively impacted by pulse rate a decade earlier. The pulse rate has an impact over and above chronic pain measured at age 42. General health at 55 is lower the higher the pulse rate at age 42, while those with higher pulse rates at 42 also express lower life satisfaction and more pessimism about the future at age 50. Taken together, these results suggest social scientists can learn a great deal by adding pulse rates to the metrics they use when evaluating people’s wellbeing.     

Focus: The Aging Brain: Social capital,health, and elderly driver status

Driving a car enables many people to engage in meaningful activities that, in turn, help develop and maintain personal social capital. Social capital, a combination of community participation and social cohesion, is important in maintaining well-being. This paper argues that social capital can provide a framework for investigating the general role of transportation and driving a car specifically to access activities that contribute to connectedness and well-being among older people. This paper proposes theoretically plausible and empirically testable hypotheses about the relationship between driver status, social capital, and well-being. A longitudinal study may provide a new way of understanding, and thus of addressing, the well-being challenges that occur when older people experience restrictions to, or loss of, their driver’s license.