Applied Research in Quality of Life

Although the associations between satisfaction with life domains (DS) and global life satisfaction (GLS) are well-documented, the roles of culture and gender in this relationship remain largely unknown. The main aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between DS and GLS among women and men in Iran and Serbia, after establishing measurement invariance across groups. In addition, we investigated gender and country differences in DS and GLS. The sample was comprised of 623 undergraduate students from Iran and Serbia. Participants completed measures of GLS and satisfaction with the following seven domains: standard of living, health, achieving in life, relationships, safety, community-connectedness, and future security. Satisfaction with achieving in life and standard of living had similar unique contributions to GLS among Iranian women and men, whereas satisfaction with achieving in life was a stronger predictor of GLS than satisfaction with standard of living among Serbian women and men. These two domains were the only significant predictors of GLS in Serbian women and men, whereas gender-specific predictors of GLS were found in Iran. The results demonstrated that students in Serbia reported higher GLS and DS than Iranian students. Furthermore, we found that women reported higher GLS and DS than men did, with the exception of satisfaction with standard of living for which no significant gender differences were found. The present study provides new insights into the role of gender in the relationship between DS and GLS across cultures.

In literature, there is a long and ongoing dispute over whether free market institutions encourage or discourage civic virtues. On the one hand, the so-called doux commerce thesis states that free market institutions have a favorable influence on civic virtues, such as honesty, respect for private property, and fair dealings. This idea goes back to, amongst others, Adam Smith who famously argued that where commerce is introduced, people are more faithful to their word. Smith also believed that civic virtues foster human happiness. The policy implication would be that free market institutions increase happiness by stimulating civic virtues. On the other hand, the so-called self-destruction thesis states that free market institutions are inimical to the civic virtues, which would mean that free markets decrease human happiness by crowding out civic virtues. Although the debate on free market institutions and civic virtues is very relevant to policy makers, empirical evidence on these opposing propositions is still scarce. In this paper we test both relationships on a sample of 212,431 individuals from 80 countries by using data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey over the 1990–2020 period. We focus on one important dimension of free market institutions: rule of law. We find that civic virtues are positively related to rule of law and that happiness increases with civic virtues. In addition, civic virtues indirectly increase happiness by stimulating trust. In addition, trust is directly positively related to rule of law, indicating that both formal institutions (rule of law) and informal institutions (civic virtues) affect trust. An analysis of all the effects of rule of law on happiness shows, however, that the indirect effects through civic virtues and trust are of relatively minor importance in comparison to its total effect.

This research aimed to discover hidden patterns of intergenerational solidarity and digital communication among older parents and adult children during and after the pandemic, examine the transition patterns of solidarity classes between the two-time points, and investigate whether solidarity transition patterns are associated with older parents’ cognitive decline after the pandemic. Using the Korean longitudinal parent–child dyadic data in 2022 (during the pandemic) and 2023 (after the pandemic) studies, 326 older parent-adult child pairs were used in latent class and latent transition analyses. Results of latent class analyses showed that three solidarity classes were identified among older parents and adult child pairs in 2022 and 2023 studies: Tight-knit traditional, living apart-but-digitally connected, and detached. Results of latent transition analysis showed that the majority of parent–child pairs maintained the same latent classes between 2022 and 2023 studies. Furthermore, this study found that older parents who stayed in the tight-knit traditional latent class during and after the pandemic reported lower cognitive decline compared to those who stayed detached latent class between the two-time points. These findings suggest that structural and functional solidarity are likely to be an important factor in alleviating older parents’ cognitive decline. Intergenerational solidarity can be a basis for preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in old age.

This research study tested an intervention, based on autonomous teams and the service co-creation approach, to improve the social inclusion and self-determination (as indicators of quality of life) of people with intellectual disability. Members of the autonomous teams (professionals, people with intellectual disability, and family members) cooperated to plan and carry out a project. A total of 72 autonomous teams participated (experimental condition). Each team designed its action plan to be implemented during eight weeks. Three measurement times were used: before the intervention (T1), four (T2) and eight (T3) weeks after the starting point. Family members (experimental group, N = 117; control group, N = 187) reported on the social inclusion and self-determination of their relative with intellectual disability. Scores in the control group remained stable over time, whereas scores in the experimental group changed significantly. Social inclusion increased (T2), and later stabilized (T3). By contrast, self-determination increased (T2), but this improvement was subsequently reduced (T3).

As service-learning is still at its infancy in Hong Kong, there is a need to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of service-learning projects and bring important implications to the curriculum. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a service-learning initiative that involved a corporate-community-university partnership (Project WeCan). In total, 138 university students (service providers) were included. We evaluated the project through three mechanisms. First, pretest and posttest data showed that students changed in the positive direction in terms of the intended learning outcomes in the civic engagement, cognitive and academic domains. Second, students showed positive changes in terms of psychosocial competencies and self-leadership. Finally, qualitative analyses of the reflective journals showed that students demonstrated positive changes in the areas of social responsibility, interpersonal competence, and intrapersonal skills. The findings underscore the utility of service-learning as an effective pedagogy to promote holistic development of university students.

Belief in a just world (BJW) has been found to have a positive effect on life satisfaction, which is an important part of well-being. However, previous studies have been cross-sectional and mainly focused on adults and older people. Thus, the longitudinal relationships between BJW (including both general BJW and personal BJW) and life satisfaction remain unclear, particularly in adolescents, who are in an important stage of academic, emotional, and personality development. The present study investigated the longitudinal relationships between BJW (general BJW and personal BJW) and life satisfaction in adolescents, and further investigated the mediating effect of peer relationships in this relationship. Participants (Time 1: n = 1156; Time 2: n = 930) were Chinese secondary vocational school students. Participants completed measures of BJW, life satisfaction, and peer relationships at both Time 1 and Time 2. The correlations analysis and cross-lagged panel model were performed. The results revealed that BJW (general BJW and personal BJW) was positively correlated with the life satisfaction, both concurrently and longitudinally. In addition, peer relationships mediated the relationship between BJW and life satisfaction. That is, adolescents with a stronger BJW had better peer relationships, which led to increased life satisfaction. This study provides a new perspective that could help to improve adolescents’ life satisfaction. The present results have important implications for promoting life satisfaction and well-being in adolescents at secondary vocational schools. Schools, families, and societies should pay more attention to the BJW and peer relationships of adolescents.

The adverse impact of caregiving on caregivers’ mental health and the positive impact of social participation (SP) on health are both well understood. This study examined the moderating effect of SP on the association between family caregiving and caregivers’ psychological distress (PD). We used longitudinal data from 27,869 individuals born between 1946 and 1955 collected from a 14-wave nationwide survey, which was conducted from 2005 to 2018. We estimated dynamic panel data models, which could control for an individual’s time-invariant attributes in a dynamic framework, to examine how SP moderated the association between informal caregiving and a caregiver’s PD (defined by a Kessler score of 13 or higher). We observed that the onset of caregiving increased the probability of PD by 2.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.5%–2.6%) and 1.0% (95% CI: 0.5%–1.6%) for women and men, respectively, compared to 3.4% and 2.8% as the prevalence of PD for women and men, respectively. SP moderated the association between caregiving and a caregiver’s PD by 55.8% (95% CI: 31.9%–79.8%) and 73.5% (95% CI: 36.1%–110.9%) for women and men, respectively. In addition, the moderating effect of SP on a caregiver’s PD increased as the caregiver’s age advanced especially in women. These results suggest the need to keep family caregivers from being socially isolated, especially as they get older.

This article contributes to the quality of life literature by investigating gender and age gaps in psycho-physiological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Specifically, we investigate whether women experienced higher levels of distress than men, and if such gap can be explained by a greater negative reaction of women in the experience of a negative COVID-19 related event, such as the illness or death of a relative. Moreover, we explore whether age moderated or amplified the effect of a negative event on distress among women and men. To do so we rely on an ad hoc survey carried out between April 2020 and June 2021 in Italy, the first European country to be hit by the pandemic. Our results indicate that subjects who experienced the hospitalization or, more so, the death of a family member during the pandemic were more exposed to psycho-psychological distress compared to subjects who were not directly touched by COVID-19. Moreover, our results show that while women were on average more likely to express feelings of distress than men in absence of evident stressors, this gap disappeared among subjects who experience the death of a relative. Furthermore, our results indicate that experiencing a negative COVID-19 related event led to an increase in distress among all respondents except older men, who appeared to be the most resilient to the manifestation of any sign of distress. These results speak to important age and gender differences in the feelings and externalization of grief in the Italian context.

The relationship between housing and subjective well-being is receiving growing attention in social research and social policy. However, the mechanisms among housing and subjective well-being, and the mediating role of housing factors between income and subjective well-being was unclear in previous studies. This study aims to investigate the relationship between income, housing, and subjective well-being, and their interacting effects among housing dimensions in Hong Kong, an example of a global city with a dense population and unaffordable housing. A random sample survey of 1480 adult participants in Hong Kong was used for the analysis. Structural equation modelling was applied in studying the path relationships among the key variables. Subjective well-being was predicted by income and housing factors, including housing expense, living density, housing environment problems, and housing satisfaction. The results showed that the impact of income on subjective well-being was partially mediated by housing factors. In group analysis by housing tenure, the housing factors exerted a larger influence on the private rental housing group. This study contributed to highlighting the role of housing factors in happiness studies and the importance of the interaction among housing factors and housing tenures in analyses. The implications of these results and their limitations are discussed.