A Life Devoted to Quality of Life (eBook)

Professor of Social Statistics at the University of Florence (Italy). She has a wide experience in survey design and analysis, with focus on questionnaire construction and definition, and sampling design.

Preface 6
Contents 8
Part I: Quality of Life in Different Segments of Population 10
Chapter 1: Children, Adolescents and Quality of Life: The Social Sciences Perspective Over Two Decades 11
Introduction 11
Indicators, Children’s Well-Being and Children’s Quality of Life 12
Conceptualising Children’s Subjective Well-Being 15
Data Provided by Children and the Increasing Interest in Children’s and Adolescents’ SWB Indicators 16
Assessing Children’s and Adolescents’ SWB 18
The Need for More Available International Data: The Children’s Worlds Research Project 21
Research Results: Many New Findings in Just a Few Years 24
Some Reflections on the Future of Indicators of Children’s and Adolescents’ SWB 25
References 26
Chapter 2: Measuring Trends in Child Well-Being and Child Suffering in the United States, 1975–2013 30
Introduction 30
Conceptualizing and Measuring Child Well-Being 31
A Phenomenological/Ethnographic Positive Well-Being Approach 31
A Quantitative Positive Psychology Approach 32
The Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) 33
The Objective Social Indicators Tradition 33
The Subjective Well-Being Indicators Tradition 34
Intersecting the Two Traditions and the Child and Youth Well-­Being Index 35
Methods of Index Construction 39
Long-, Medium-, and Short-Term Changes in the CWI and Its Seven Domain Indices, 1975–2013 40
Comparisons with a Child Suffering Index (CSI), 1975–2013 43
Conclusion 46
References 47
Chapter 3: The Role of Positive Youth Development and Family Functioning in Chinese Adolescent Well-Being: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence 49
Introduction 49
Positive Youth Development Programs 52
Positive Youth Development and Chinese Adolescents 53
Family Functioning as a Form of Family Well-Being 55
Impacts of Family Functioning on Adolescent Development 58
Conclusion 59
References 60
Part II: Theoretical Issues 65
Chapter 4: The Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis: A Contribution to Understanding Life Quality 66
Introduction 66
The Character of SWB 67
SWB Is Positive 67
SWB Mainly Comprises Mood 67
SWB Is Normally Stable 69
The Cause of Chronic SWB Stability 70
Personality 70
Genetics 70
The Theory of SWB Homeostasis 71
Homeostatic Processes 73
Behavior 74
External Buffers 74
Money 74
Relationships 75
Achieving in Life 75
Automatic: Subconscious Buffers 75
Access to Positive Affect 75
Habituation 75
Adaptation 76
Domain Compensation 76
Automatic: Conscious: The Cognitive Buffers 76
Resilience 77
Principles for Strengthening Homeostatic Resilience 77
Dangers of Resilience That Is Too Strong 78
Dangers of Resilience That Is Too Weak 79
Homeostatic Theory: Critiques and Implications 79
Critiques 79
Implications for Researchers 79
Implications for Normative Samples 80
Implications for Health Researchers 80
Implications for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress 80
Implications for Intervention Studies 81
Implications for Social Policy 81
References 81
Chapter 5: Do People Adapt to Poorer Health? Health and Health Satisfaction over the Life Cycle 85
Introduction 85
Data and Methods 87
Results 88
Discussion 93
Appendix A 94
References 95
Chapter 6: Progress: Concept and Measurement 97
Introduction 97
Conceptual Issues 98
History 98
Notions of the Idea of Progress 99
Current Views and Discourses 100
Measurement and Monitoring of Progress 102
References 106
Chapter 7: A Hierarchy of Unsatisfied Needs: A Subjective Well-Being Study 109
Introduction 109
Human Needs and Their Hierarchy 111
On Human Needs 111
Normative Approaches in the Hierarchy of Needs 112
Well-Being and Human Needs 114
Database 115
The Survey and Information Gathered 115
Subjective Well-Being Estimation of a Hierarchy of Unsatisfied Needs 118
Explaining Relevant Needs 122
Final Considerations 124
References 125
Chapter 8: An Essay in Honors of Alex Michalos: Finding Community in Quality of Life 127
Defining Community 128
Community Well-Being 132
Is the Whole Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts? 133
References 134
Chapter 9: Towards a New Concept of Residential Well-­Being Based on Bottom-Up Spillover and Need Hierarchy Theories 135
Introduction 135
Past Conceptualizations of Residential Well-Being 135
Objective Versus Subjective Conceptualizations of Residential Well-Being 136
Subjective Conceptualizations of Residential Well-Being: Housing, Neighborhood, Community, and Integrated Approaches 137
Integrated Approaches of Residential Well-Being 139
Towards a New Conceptualization of Residential Well-Being 140
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Health and Safety 144
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Financial Life 145
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Family Life 145
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Social Life 146
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Work Life 147
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Leisure, Arts, and Culture 148
Housing and Neighborhood/Community Amenities Affecting the Sense of Well-Being in Education and Personal Development 149
Summary and Conclusion 150
References 151
Chapter 10: What We Have Learnt About Happiness 155
Introduction 155
Qualm 1: Can Happiness Be Defined? 156
Four Qualities of Life 157
Four Kinds of Satisfaction 157
Components of Happiness 158
Hedonic Level of Affect 159
Contentment 159
Qualm 2: Can Happiness Be Measured? 159
Measures of Overall Happiness 160
Measures of Hedonic Level of Affect 161
Measures of Contentment 161
Validity Doubts 162
No Notion 162
Reflected Appraisal 162
Colored Answers 162
Reliability Doubts 163
Bias in Appraisal 163
Bias in Response 164
Comparability Across Nations 164
Qualm 3: Is Happiness Relative? 166
Theoretical Assumptions 166
Empirical Evidence 166
Theoretical Flaws 167
Difference with Life-Aspect Evaluations 167
Qualm 4: Is Happiness an Immutable Trait? 167
Personal Character Trait? 168
National Character Trait? 169
Qualm 5: Is Happines Too Idiosyncratic to Be Pursued Collectively? 170
Much Similarity in Societal Requirements for Happiness 170
Much Similarity in Required Living Conditions Within Nations 170
Freedom 171
Social Rank 171
Marriage 171
Personality 171
Qualm 6: Have We Become Any Happier? 172
Conclusion 172
References 173
Part III: Monitoring Through Indicators 175
Chapter 11: Global Change and Quality of Life Indicators 176
Introduction 176
Part I: Social Indicators and Social Reporting in Historical Perspective 177
Part II: Social Indicators and Social Reporting in Contemporary Perspective 179
Social Indicators 179
Social Reporting 185
Social Index Construction at the Local Level 186
Kenneth Land’s “Child and Youth Well-Being Index” (CWI) 187
The “Kids Count” Initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation 187
Social Index Construction at the International Level 188
The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) 190
Richard Estes’ Index of Social Progress (ISP WISP)
The United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) 191
Discussion 193
References 194
Chapter 12: The Spread of Social Indicators- and Quality of Life-Research in Germany and Europe: An Overview in Honour of Alex Michalos 197
From the Beginning to Intergenerational Continuity 197
Approaches and Arrangements of Social Indicators Research 199
Early Social Reporting in Germany 199
Governmental Social Reporting 200
The “Sektion Soziale Indikatoren” 200
SPES and the Sonderforschungsbereich 3 201
The Datenreport and Official Statistics 202
Diversified Social Monitoring 203
European Activities in Social Reporting and Quality of Life-Research 204
Resumée 206
References 207
Chapter 13: Challenges, Needs and Risks in Defining Wellbeing Indicators 210
A Challenge: Complexity 210
Complex Definition 210
Towards a Comprehensive Definition 214
Quality of Life 215
Living Conditions 215
Subjective Wellbeing 216
Quality of Society 217
The Quality of Wellbeing 218
Fairness in the Distribution of Wellbeing (Equity) 218
Sustainability of Wellbeing 219
Additional Definitions: Contextual Characteristics and Life Domains 220
The Socio-economic Structure 220
The Life Domains 220
Complexity in Selecting Indicators 221
Quality of Indicators 228
Prerequisites of Quality 229
A Need: Making Relative 229
Relative Concepts 229
Making Relative Through Analyses 230
A Risk: Reductionism 231
Final Remarks 232
References 233
Part IV: Territories and Quality of Life 235
Chapter 14: Quality of Life Research in Asia 236
AsiaBarometer Survey’s Profile “AsiaBarometer” in Wiley-­Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd Edition (Inoguchi forthcoming) 237
Analytical Thrusts into Trust, Democracy, Clash of Civilizations and Societal Types 238
Asia, Quality of Life (Inoguchi 2014a, b) 238
Interpersonal Trust and Quality of Life: A Cross Sectional Study of Japan (Tokuda et al. 2008) 239
Methods 240
Study Participants and Data Collection 240
Statistical Analysis 241
Results 241
Discussion 242
Social Capital in East Asia: Comparative Political Culture in Confucian Societies (Inoguchi et al. 2007) 243
Data 245
Results and Discussion 245
Democracy and Quality of Life in Asian Societies (Sasaoka and Seki 2011) 246
Democracy and Quality of Life in Asia 248
Measurement Issues 248
The Hypotheses 248
Methods 249
Variables 249
Findings and Discussion 249
Legitimacy and Effectiveness in Thailand, 2003–2007: Perceived Quality of Governance and Its Consequences on Political Beliefs (Mikami and Inoguchi 2008) 250
Background: Contentious Interpretation of the Thaksin Era and the Coup in 2006 251
Hypotheses: Components of Public Perception and Their Internal Relationships 252
Results and Discussion 253
Is Globalization Undermining Civilizational Identities? A Test of Huntington’s Core State Assumptions among the Publics of Greater Asia and Pacific (Collet and Inoguchi 2012) 255
Introduction 255
The Debate Continues 256
Hypotheses 257
Data and Findings 258
Dependent Variable 258
Independent Variables 259
Core State Affinities: Is There a Micro-level Basis for a Civilizational Framework? 259
Explaining Core State Influence 260
Discussion and Conclusion 261
Multiple Modes of Well-Being in Asia: Typologies of Asian Societies via Satisfaction About Life Domains (Inoguchi 2014a, b) 262
Introduction 262
Well-Being 262
Method 263
Typology of Asian Societies Based on Life Priorities 264
Some Future Prospects 265
References 266
Chapter 15: South African Perceptions of the Good Life Twenty Years into Democracy 269
Introduction 269
Chapter Outline 271
Life Satisfaction Since the Birth of Democracy 271
The ‘Miracle’ of the ‘First Dance of Freedom’ 271
Fast Forward to 2014 272
The Good News Story in 2014 273
The Other News in 2014 274
How’s Life Since 1994 276
Multiple Discrepancies as Drivers of Satisfaction 277
Source Materials 277
Reflecting on 20 Years of South African Quality of Life from a MDT Perspective 278
Relative Deprivation: SELF NOW Compared to What OTHERS Have 279
Perceptions of Progress: SELF NOW Compared to the BEST SELF One Has Had in the PAST 279
Perceptions of Personal Progress: SELF NOW Compared to What SELF EXPECTED TO HAVE BY NOW 280
Optimism: SELF NOW Compared to What One Expects to Have in FUTURE 281
South African Perceptions of Entitlements: SELF NOW Compared to What One DESERVES 282
Necessities in Life: SELF NOW Compared to One’s NEEDS 284
Aspirations: SELF NOW Compared to What One WANTS 285
Discussion and Conclusions 287
Satisfaction and Rising Expectations 287
South African Exceptionalism 288
South African Entitlements 289
Democratic Maturity 289
South African Voice in an Inclusive Democracy 290
Long-Term Optimism 291
Conclusion 291
References 292
Chapter 16: Happiness and Sociability in a Nonrecursive Model: The US and Taiwan Compared 294
Theoretical Argument 295
Reciprocal Relations in Cross-Sectional Settings 297
Nonrecursive Model for the US 298
Nonrecursive Model for Taiwan 302
Discussion and Conclusion 304
Appendix 309
References 309
Part V: Training Quality of Life 312
Chapter 17: The Challenge of Teaching Quality-of-Life Theory and Research Methodology at the University: A View from South America 313
Introduction 313
Social Work and QOL 313
Childhood, Youth and QOL 318
Research Methodology and Quality of Life: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods 319
Post-Doctoral Studies in QOL 320
Final Reflection 322
References 322