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

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2651&context=soss_research

Subjective Well-being

The literature on fear of crime has grown rapidly in the last three decades. This paper examines the reasons for this growth and attempts to put some structure on the work to date. The inadequacies of measures of fear of crime are discussed and alternative approaches suggested. Alternative explanatory theories are compared and strategies for reducing fear reviewed.

Fear of crime: A review of the literature.

The volume of research on fear of crime in the United States is substantial and continues to regularly appear in sociology and criminology journals. Despite the amount of research on the subject, the measurement procedures most frequently used are suspect because of theoretical and methodological shortcomings. We present a conceptual definition of fear of crime and then systematically review the way it has been measured in research over the last fifteen years. The review indicates that whik omnibus fear of crime and risk of crime measures are only moderately correlated, a substantial number of studies have used risk measures and generalized to fear. Suggestions for future research are offered.

The Measurement of Fear of Crime

Recent research has demonstrated that black Americans are far more politically active than whites of similar socioeconomic status. The difference has been related to black consciousness. Yet the reasons for this relationship have not been adequately explained. Starting with the work of Gurin and Gamson, this article theorizes that black consciousness contributes to political mistrust and a sense of internal political efficacy which in turn encourages policy-related participation. The relationship between the two attitudes and policy-related behavior is demonstrated to be conditional. The conditions favor blacks more than whites. What I shall call the Gamson-Gurin thesis is supported by data from Verba's and Nie's 1967 survey of the American public. The thesis, and its derivations, prove useful in clarifying the scope and nature of black participation in the American political process as well as helping us to understand how individuals in general select one mode of participation over another and how the choice varies by race and social class.

Black Consciousness and Political Participation: The Missing Link

Fear of crime in the United States has become a problem as serious as crime itself. Many commentators have pointed out that fear is greatly out of proportion to the objective probability of being victimized. But to date, few multivariate analyses of fear of crime have been undertaken. The present research moves in this direction by combining and analyzing two national samples from 1973 and 1974 in regard to fear (n = 2,700). We employed five variables central to the victimization literature-sex, race, age, socioeconomic status, and community size. Multivariate Nominal Scale Analysis (MNA) was employed to assess the independent ability of each variable to predict respondents who indicated a fear of crime (42 %) and those who did not (58 %/6). Findings indicated that sex and city size are strong predictors of fear. Age and race were somewhat less important than has generally been supposed and the socioeconomic variables, income and education, had small effects. Merely on the basis of this system of explanatory variables, however, it was possible to classify correctly almost 72 percent of the entire sample in regard to fear. Implications of this high explanatory power as well as limitations of the analysis are presented and discussed.

Fear of Crime in the United States: A Multivariate Analysis

Life Satisfaction in the United States

In previous research on the journey to work several variables have consistently emerged as correlates of distance commuted. Unfortunately, virtually all previous analyses have been confined to metropolitan areas. Thus, there is a question of the generalizability of these findings to less urbanized regions. The present research examines the commuting patterns of 959 white male employees of a large manufacturing facility in rural Illinois. Hypotheses regarding the impact of (1) SES, (2) age, and (3) length of employment upon distance between place of residence and place of work are tested by least-squares analysis. The results indicate no support for any of the hypotheses derived from the model of metropolitan commuting. Further, the composite effect of the independent variables accounts for only one percent of the variation in distance traveled to work. These findings strongly indicate that the model of metropolitan commuting is not applicable to nonmetropolitan regions. Previous research on the journey to work has shown several variables to be consistently related to distance traveled. These relationships demand further empirical treatment for two reasons. First, since the gross nature of available data has limited most analyses to zero or low order partial correlations (e.g., Wheeler, 1967) there is the danger of spuriousness. Second, since virtually all studies of commuting are confined to metropolitan areas and large cities, the question arises whether these findings can be generalized to less urbanized regions. Catanese (1970), Duncan (1956), Goldstein and Mayer (1964a), Kain (1962), Lansing and Mueller (1964), Schnore (1954), Wheeler (1969) and others have been constrained to interpret their findings within the contaminating influence of metropolitan structure. Thus, their analyses are only the first steps toward a grounded explanation of the journey to work. If a viable theory of the separation of home and work is to be forthcoming its empirical parameters cannot be limited to one particular type of population arrangement-even one as important as the metropolitan community. This paper examines the extent to which the variables associated with the model of intrametropolitan commuting can be used to explain the journey to work in nonmetropolitan areas. Specific attention is paid to the work-residence separation of industrial workers. *Several unidentified referees made many helpful comments on an earlier version. Research supported by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison; NIMH-PHS Research Grant MH 19689 and the Office of Economic Research, Economic Development Administration, Grant OER-417-6-72-7.

Frank Clemente

Papers

Fear of Crime in the United States: A Multivariate Analysis

Life Satisfaction in the United States

The Journey to Work of Rural Industrial Employees

Race and Morale of the Urban Aged

Voluntary Associations and Minority Status: Comment and Extension