A 36-item short-form (SF-36) was constructed to survey health status in the Medical Outcomes Study. The SF-36 was designed for use in clinical practice and research, health policy evaluations, and general population surveys. The SF-36 includes one multi-item scale that assesses eight health concepts: 1) limitations in physical activities because of health problems; 2) limitations in social activities because of physical or emotional problems; 3) limitations in usual role activities because of physical health problems; 4) bodily pain; 5) general mental health (psychological distress and well-being); 6) limitations in usual role activities because of emotional problems; 7) vitality (energy and fatigue); and 8) general health perceptions. The survey was constructed for self-administration by persons 14 years of age and older, and for administration by a trained interviewer in person or by telephone. The history of the development of the SF-36, the origin of specific items, and the logic underlying their selection are summarized. The content and features of the SF-36 are compared with the 20-item Medical Outcomes Study short-form.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3765916.pdf

The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection.

A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research.

/pdf/happiness-is-everything-or-is-it-explorations-on-the-meaning-4e8ub9008s.pdf

Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.

The literature on subjective well-being (SWB), including happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect, is reviewed in three areas: measurement, causal factors, and theory. Psychometric data on single-item and multi-item subjective well-being scales are presented, and the measures are compared. Measuring various components of subjective well-being is discussed. In terms of causal influences, research findings on the demographic correlates of SWB are evaluated, as well as the findings on other influences such as health, social contact, activity, and personality. A number of theoretical approaches to happiness are presented and discussed: telic theories, associationistic models, activity theories, judgment approaches, and top-down versus bottom-up conceptions.

Subjective Well-Being

W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness". A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWV (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect).

Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress

The American Voter

Here is the unabridged version of the classic theoretical study of voting behavior, originally published in 1960. It is a standard reference in the field of electoral research, presenting formulations of the theoretical issues that have been the focus of scholarly publication. No single study matches the study of "The American Voter."

The American voter

benefits require a fundamental recasting of economic and sociopolitical structures lest permanent stagflation erode the impact of present and future allocations. Clearly, when social welfare expenditures in the United States have increased from under $9,000 million in 1940 to over $200,000 million in 1973, and when total government spending exclusive of defense now absorbs roughly 32 percent of national income, it is obvious that further advances in welfare require basic structural changes. Without these, further extension of the welfare state will become counterproductive. Far from limiting himself to the decline of economic surplus, the author discusses a variety of other issues, such as changes in the stratification system, the weakening of political regimes and the emergence of an ethic of hedonistic consumerism, which are connected with the rise of the welfare state. He shows, for example, that the format of conventional interest-group politics has been undermined by the welfare state. While it is true that the claims and expectations rooted in a person's occupation remain central, they are now crisscrossed by contradictory or competing pulls that arise out of claims for welfare benefits. It is much more difficult than in the past for a person to calculate rationally where his political interests lie. "A person's linkage to the mode of production . . . is (now) based both on his occupation and on the institutions of social welfare" (p. 83). This may help account for the decline of relatively stable class-based politics, and the increase of independent voters in recent decades, as well as for the strains in the functioning of electoral and parliamentary institutions in the recent period. Janowitz concludes with a series of observations on the need to increase a welfare society's ability to deal with the problems he has outlined. Though somewhat vague in detail, one nevertheless gathers that he favors both large-scale planning efforts and increasing citizens' participation through self-regulation. Space does not allow me to even indicate the many areas in which I differ from Janowitz; for example, his definition of the welfare state as any state that allocates "at least 8 to 1o percent of the gross national product to welfare" (p. 2) seems inadequate, since this definition would make Kuwait and Albania into welfare states. But my main object is to alert the reader that this work is indispensable for any social scientist concerned with our current predicaments, and especially for those among us who are committed to the idea of the welfare system and yet have begun to realize that spending is not enough. LEwIs A. COSER State University of New York at Stony Brook

Angus Campbell

Papers

The American Voter

The American voter

The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions

The Voter Decides

Subjective measures of well-being.