Showing papers in "Social Indicators Research in 2018"

Decent Living Standards: Material Prerequisites for Human Wellbeing.

Abstract: We define a set of universal, irreducible and essential set of material conditions for achieving basic human wellbeing, along with indicators and quantitative thresholds, which can be operationalized for societies based on local customs and preferences. We draw support for this decent living standard (DLS) from different accounts of basic justice, including the capability approach and basic needs. The DLS goes beyond existing multidimensional poverty indicators by comprehensively addressing living conditions and the means of social participation. The DLS offers a normative basis to develop minimum wage and reference budgets, and to assess the environmental impacts, such as climate change, of eradicating poverty.

The Effects of Unemployment and Insecure Jobs on Well-Being and Health : The Moderating Role of Labor Market Policies

Abstract: Labor market insecurities have been growing in Europe and previous research has illustrated that unemployment and insecure jobs negatively affect individuals’ well-being and health. Although empirical evidence suggests that these effects vary substantially across different welfare states, we still know little about the moderating role of specific labor market policies. Taking a cross-national comparative perspective, this article investigates how passive and active labor market policies (PLMP, ALMP) as well as employment protection legislation (EPL) shape the experience of unemployment and insecure jobs. We complement micro data of round 1–6 (2002–2012) of the European Social Survey with time-varying macro indicators of PLMP, ALMP, and EPL. The data include about 89,000 individuals nested in 112 country-rounds and 26 countries respectively. We apply three-level random intercept models as well as pooled linear regression models including country fixed effects. The results show that labor market policies are important in shaping the experience of unemployment, but are less relevant for workers in insecure jobs. Specifically, higher unemployment benefit generosity buffers the negative effects of unemployment on well-being but not health. Moreover, we discuss different interpretations for the finding that higher ALMP expenditures are associated with more negative effects of unemployment on well-being and health. With respect to EPL it is found that in countries with high insider protection, deregulating the restrictions on the use of temporary employment increases the negative effects of unemployment on well-being and health.

Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers

Abstract: Women’s empowerment is an intrinsic human rights goal that has implications for the health and well-being of women and their children. Poor measurement hampers current research efforts, and improving empowerment measurement is a frequently identified research priority. However, a discussion of specific steps researchers can take to improve upon common measurement practices is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative researchers recommendations to measure women’s empowerment in a theory-based, precise, and comprehensive way. This paper reviewed key theoretical concepts of women’s empowerment and critically reviewed common measurement approaches. Three broad recommendations for measuring empowerment emerged from this critical review, and specific suggestions to meet these recommendations are discussed. First, researchers should draw upon theory to construct measurement models (e.g., using theory to construct dimensions of empowerment and selection of indicators). Second, researchers should use analytic methods that minimize implicit judgments and bias (e.g., not classifying women as empowered using specific criteria). Third, researchers should collect comprehensive empowerment information (e.g., supplementing quantitative measures with qualitative interviews to learn how and why changes took place). Measuring empowerment poses a number of challenges, and this review provides researchers suggestions to improve upon common measurement practices. Improved measurement will strengthen research efforts on the causes and consequences of poor empowerment, which has the potential to improve the well-being of women and their children.

Measuring Progress and Well-Being: A Comparative Review of Indicators

Abstract: We provide a new database sampling well-being and progress indicators implemented since the 1970s at all geographic scales. Starting from an empirical assessment, we describe and quantify trends in the institutional basis, methodology, and content of indicators which are intended to capture the broadest conceptions of human social progress. We pay special attention to the roles of sustainability and subjective well-being in these efforts, and find that certain types of indicators are more successful in terms of transparency, accountability, as well as longevity. Our taxonomy encompasses money-denominated accounts of “progress”, unaggregated collections of indicators, indices, and measures oriented around subjective well-being. We find that a most promising innovation is the indices whose weights are accountable to empirical data, in particular through models of subjective well-being. We conclude by amplifying others’ advocacy for the appropriate separation of current well-being from environmental indicators, and for the avoidance of aggregation except where it is meaningful.

Fifty Years After the Social Indicators Movement: Has the Promise Been Fulfilled?

Abstract: This paper reviews the origins, promise, and subsequent development of social indicators/quality-of-life/well-being conceptualizations and research since the 1960s. It then assesses the state of this field in the 2010s and identifies four key developments—the development of professional organizations that nurture its conceptual and empirical development; the widespread political, popular, and theoretical appeal of the quality-of-life (QOL) concept; a new era of the construction of composite or summary social indicators; and a recognition of the key role of the QOL concept in connecting social indicators to the study of subjective well-being—that have evolved over the past five decades and that are very much with us today. The final section of the paper poses the question of where the field should focus its energies. Beyond carrying on the existing research program, it argues that the field needs to recognize the substantial changes in the social and economic organization of contemporary societies as compared to the mid-1960s launch period for the Social Indicators Movement and develop new research foci for the years to come.

A Social Ecological Measure of Resilience for Adults: The RRC-ARM

Abstract: Despite growing understanding of resilience as a process associated with both individual capacities and physical and relational resources located in social ecologies, most instruments designed to measure resilience overemphasize individual characteristics without adequately addressing the contextual resources that support resilience processes. Additionally, most resilience studies have focused on children and youth, without significant attention to social ecological factors that promote post-risk adaptation for adults and how this is measured. Consequently, a key issue in the continued study of adult resilience is measurement instrument development. This article details adaptation of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure for use with an adult population. The article draws on data from a mixed methods study exploring the resilience processes of Irish survivors of clerical institutional abuse. The sample included 105 adult survivors (aged 50–99) who completed the RRC-ARM and the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) during the first phase of the study. Exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha and MANOVA were conducted on the data. EFA identified five factors; social/community inclusion, family attachment and supports, spirituality, national and cultural identity, and personal competencies. The RRC-ARM shows good internal reliability and convergent validity with the WEMWBS, with significant differences on scale scores for men and women, as well as place of residence. This exploratory adaptation supports the potential of the RRC-ARM as a measure of social ecological resilience resources for adult populations and may have particular applications with vulnerable communities. Further validation is required in other contexts and specifically with larger samples.

Comparing Life Satisfaction of Immigrants and Natives Across Europe: The Role of Social Contacts.

Abstract: Research on immigrants’ assimilation is widespread both in the U.S. and Europe. While it has been extensively studied how immigrants fare compared to natives on socio-economic indicators, few studies have focussed on immigrants’ perception of their position. In this paper we focus on comparing life satisfaction of immigrants and natives across Europe and on the role of social embeddedness. Using data from the first six rounds (2002–2012) of the European Social Survey, a repeated cross-sectional survey, we find that life satisfaction among immigrants is lower than among natives even though differences diminish over generations. For first generation immigrants part of the life satisfaction gap is explained by the lower level of social embeddedness they have compared to natives. We also find that social embeddedness is a key explanatory factor for life satisfaction for both immigrants and natives. For two out of the three indicators of social embeddedness that we consider we however find different patterns of association with life satisfaction for immigrants compared to natives.

Measuring Human Capital in Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises: What Matters?

Abstract: This study proposes a framework that quantifies and integrates both the tangible and intangible aspects of HC to comprehensively measure the overall level of human capital index (HCI) in small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). Data were collected from 100 SME experts through the use of questionnaires in two stages. The data collected were first, used for selection purpose, and second, for the prioritization of relevant dimensions and sub-dimensions of HC. The analytic hierarchy process was adopted to prioritize and assign dimension and sub-dimension weights to HC to derive the HCI. The results indicate that not all dimensions and sub-dimensions of HC are important for the HCI. Namely, the HCI can be best represented by 9 dimensions and 35 sub-dimensions of HC. The core dimensions are experience, skills, education, abilities and training. Indeed, within experience, the main sub-dimensions are work-related experience and organizational tenure. The results suggest the importance of experience relative to skills and education. The proposed framework can also be applied to derive industry specific HCI.

Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Socioeconomic Livelihood Vulnerabilities: Migration Decision Among the Char Land People in Bangladesh

Abstract: The main research objective was to explore the causes and nature of the char peoples’ migration decisions due to their livelihood vulnerabilities related to climate change and natural disasters in Bangladesh. Based on a mixed method approach, this study employed a multimethod data collection approach including face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, in-depth case studies, community mapping, and participant observations. The study was conducted on 28 chars in the three Northern Districts that is, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Pabna. Results showed that the char people encountered multiple causes assorted with climate change and natural disasters, as well as socio-economic vulnerabilities that reinforced their decision to migrate from one char to another char. The study found that floods, river bank erosion, lack of employment, and fiscal deficits were prominent factors for their migration. These findings provide an important guideline for the governmental and non-governmental organizations working in disaster prevention, policy makers, and development practitioners.

The Ex-Ante Evaluation of Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract: This paper describes the methodology and main results from an overall assessment on future achievement of sustainable development goals. The proposed approach consists of a model-based, looking forward composite sustainable development index—FEEM sustainability index—projected to the future. It represents a first experiment to reproduce the future dynamics of sustainable development indicators over time and worldwide and to assess future sustainability under different scenarios. The assessment presented here is relevant under different viewpoints. First, it has a very broad nature in terms of both geographical coverage and meaningfulness: it considers the multi-dimensional structure of sustainable development by combining relevant indicators belonging to economic, social and environmental pillars for the whole world. Second, the modelling framework to compute future trends of indicators relies upon a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model. This is an ideal tool to look simultaneously at the development of many indicators, their potential interactions and trade-offs, and more in general to the consequences of economic development and/or policies aiming to increase performance in one or more indicators; it allows measuring the overall sustainability under alternative scenarios, across countries and over time. Finally, regarding the construction of the composite indicator, the application of fuzzy measures and Choquet integral increases substantially the model capability allowing taking into account the interactions that exist among the three main pillars of sustainability and the considered indicators.

Co-development of Happiness Research: Addition to "Fifty Years After the Social Indicator Movement".

Abstract: Social Indicators Research covers many topics, which each have their own history. Happiness research is one of these included topics. Longstanding interest in happiness revived since the 1960s together with the emergence of the social indicator movement. Happiness became a prominent issue in the movement and the movement has fostered the development of happiness research in several ways.

Measuring Well-Being Over Time: The Adjusted Mazziotta–Pareto Index Versus Other Non-compensatory Indices

Abstract: Most of the socio-economic phenomena such as development, well-being, and quality of life have a multidimensional nature and require the definition of a set of individual indicators to be properly assessed. Often, individual indicators are summarized and a composite index is created. One of the main problems in constructing composite indices is the choice of a method which allows time comparisons. In this paper, we consider the Adjusted Mazziotta–Pareto Index, a non-compensatory composite index used by the Italian National Institute of Statistics for measuring “Equitable and Sustainable Well-being” in Italy. An empirical comparison with some traditional non-compensatory indices is presented and an Influence Analysis is, for the first time, performed in order to assess the robustness of the index.

Using New Technologies for Time Diary Data Collection: Instrument Design and Data Quality Findings from a Mixed-Mode Pilot Survey.

Abstract: Recent years have witnessed a steady growth of time-use research, driven by the increased research and policy interest in population activity patterns and their associations with long-term outcomes. There is recent interest in moving beyond traditional paper-administered time diaries to use new technologies for data collection in order to reduce respondent burden and administration costs, and to improve data quality. This paper presents two novel diary instruments that were employed by a large-scale multi-disciplinary cohort study in order to obtain information on the time allocation of adolescents in the United Kingdom. A web-administered diary and a smartphone app were created, and a mixed-mode data collection approach was followed: cohort members were asked to choose between these two modes, and those who were unable or refused to use the web/app modes were offered a paper diary. Using data from a pilot survey of 86 participants, we examine diary data quality indicators across the three modes. Results suggest that the web and app modes yield an overall better time diary data quality than the paper mode, with a higher proportion of diaries with complete activity and contextual information. Results also show that the web and app modes yield a comparable number of activity episodes to the paper mode. These results suggest that the use of new technologies can improve diary data quality. Future research using larger samples should systematically investigate selection and measurement effects in mixed-mode time-use survey designs.

The evolution of educational inequalities in Spain: Dynamic evidence from repeated cross-sections

Abstract: A lack of longitudinal data prevents many countries from estimating dynamic models and, thus, from obtaining valuable evidence for policymaking in the field of education. This is the case of Spain, where recent education reforms have targeted secondary schools, but their design has been based on incomplete information regarding the evolution of student performance and far from robust evidence concerning just when educational inequalities are generated. This paper addresses the absence of longitudinal data required for performing such analyses by using a dynamic model with repeated cross-sectional data. We are able to link the reading competencies of students from the same cohort that participated in two international assessments at different ages (9/10 and 15/16) and so identify when educational gaps—in terms of gender, socio-economic status and place of birth—emerge. Our results suggest that educational inequalities in Spain originate in lower educational levels. These results stress the importance of early intervention for improving performance during the compulsory education and for tackling educational inequalities.

Analysing the Effect of Legal System on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the Country Level, from a Multivariate Perspective

Abstract: In this paper, we analyse the effect of coercive isomorphism (legal system) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the country level by using the multivariate statistical techniques X-STATIS and HJ-biplot, which allow us to capture the role that these institutional forces play in the evolution and patterns of behaviour regarding the commitment to sustainability. The results evidence that coercive forces have an important influence on the social and environmental commitment of companies. Analysis of the legal system shows that firms located in civil law countries have a greater interest in their CSR practices and in disclosing information than companies in common law countries; the most likely companies to act in a responsible way are those operating in institutional environments with a large and developed legal system oriented towards stakeholder protection. Consequently, our results show that companies operating in countries with similar legal systems adopt homogeneous patterns of behaviour regarding the commitment to sustainability, but their degrees of development are strongly determined by the coercive institutional characteristics.

The Development and Validation of Stakeholder-Based Scale for Measuring University Social Responsibility (USR)

Abstract: Universities are an important member of the society that are trusted with shaping future, nurturing individuals, fostering ethics, and making people more responsible towards both the corporations they work for and the society they live in. Researches that explicitly focus on measurement of social responsibility of universities are scarce. The research intends to develop and validate a measurement scale for university social responsibility (USR) by capturing the key determinants that best define the social responsibility of a university. Using systematic scale development process, the study involved both literature and focus group discussions to generate the require items. 383 respondents filled the questionnaires out of which 329 were usable. The study found that USR has seven dimensions namely: operational responsibilities, research/development responsibilities, stakeholder responsibilities, and legal responsibilities. These four responsibilities were categorized as survival level responsibilities. Intermediate responsibility included ethical responsibility while voluntary responsibilities included philanthropic and community engagement. The scale developed in the study will help to specifically look for the presence of social responsibility in universities/higher education institutions. Hence it can be important to study how well universities respond to needs of the society. There is a significant lack of research into development of a reliable and valid scale of USR. This study clearly highlights the factors that make up USR and provides a detailed scale to measure of social responsibility performance by higher education institutions.

Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan: Its Dimensions and Determinants

Abstract: On the eve of the twenty-first century, due to continuing male dominance there exists widespread discrimination and gender gaps in Pakistani society which are hindering the progress of women to take an active part in development. It is common perception in development literature that countries can get considerable benefits for growth and economic development if women become more empowered. The present study while using the data of Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012–2013 tried to explore the factors that can play important role in empowering the women in Pakistan. In this regard, descriptive and correlation analysis, Logit, and Ordered Logit models have been estimated. It has been found that age, living in urban areas, education of women, participation in paid job, ownership of assets, wealth index of the household, number of sons and daughters alive and use of electronic media have positive relationships with different empowerment dimensions. However, age of household head, size of family and being relative of the husband has negative relationships with empowerment indicators. Husband’s education and use of print media have insignificant relationship with the women’s empowerment.

The Effect of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Welfare and Decisions Making in Malaysia

Abstract: Microcredit is perceived as an effective tool to empower women, especially those who are deprived of accessing financial services. However, the literature has arrived with contradictory evidence and demonstrates that the effect of microcredit may partially or not empower women. This study intends to examine whether the access to Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) affects several aspects of empowerment in urban Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to 474 old and new clients to examine the effect of microcredit on women empowerment in decision-making process and resource controlling. Based on the propensity score matching, our result shows that the access to AIM microcredit affects positively women’s monthly income. In addition, microcredit empowers women borrowers in a set of household decisions making including mobility, daily expenditure, children school, health expenditure and loan order decision.

OECD: One or Many? Ranking Countries with a Composite Well-Being Indicator

Abstract: This paper provides a composite indicator of well-being for the 35 OECD countries, as well as South Africa, Russia and Brazil for the period 2013–2016, considering data on 10 different well-being domains from the OECD Better Life Index. In a first stage, countries are ranked according to their well-being indicator, constructed combining Data Envelopment Analysis with the Benefit-of-the-Doubt principle and Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making techniques. In a second stage, well-being clubs are identified using hierarchical cluster analysis, revealing that well-being is highly polarised. Moreover, as well-being affects people, population size is accounted for in the cluster analysis, showing that for the largest proportion of people in our sample, well-being is remarkably low.

Measuring Economic Freedom: Better Without Size of Government.

Abstract: The Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute measure economic freedom in nations using indices with ten and five indicators respectively. Eight of the Heritage indicators and four of the Fraser-indicators are about specific types of institutional quality, like rule of law, the protection of property, and the provision of sound money. More of these is considered to denote more economic freedom. Both indices also involve indicators of 'big government', or levels of government activities. More of that is seen to denote less economic freedom. Yet, levels of government spending, consumption, and transfers and subsidies appear to correlate positively with the other indicators related to institutional quality, while this correlation is close to zero for the level of taxation as a percentage of GDP. Using government spending, consumption transfers and subsidies as positive indicators is no alternative, because these levels stand for very different government activities, liberal or less liberal. This means that levels of government activities can better be left out as negative or positive indicators. Thus shortened variants of the indices create a better convergent validity in the measurement of economic freedom, and create higher correlations between economic freedom and alternative types of freedom, and between economic freedom and happiness. The higher correlations indicate a better predictive validity, since they are predictable in view of the findings of previous research and theoretical considerations about the relations between types of freedom, and between freedom and happiness.

Ethnic diversity, inter-group attitudes and countervailing pathways of positive and negative inter-group contact: an analysis across workplaces and neighbourhoods

Abstract: This study advances the current literature investigating the relationship between contextual out-group exposure, inter-group attitudes and the role of inter-group contact. Firstly, it introduces the concept of contact-valence into this relationship; that is, whether contact is experienced positively or negatively. Secondly, it presents a comparative analysis of how processes of out-group exposure and frequency of (valenced) contact affect prejudice across both neighbourhoods and workplaces. Applying path analysis modelling to a nationally-representative sample of white British individuals in England, we demonstrate, across both contexts, that increasing out-group exposure is associated with higher rates of both positively- and negatively-valenced contact. This results in exposure exhibiting both positive and negative indirect associations with prejudice via more frequent inter-group mixing. These countervailing contact-pathways help explain how out-group exposure is associated with inter-group attitudes. In neighbourhoods, increasing numbers of individuals experiencing positive-contact suppress an otherwise negative effect of neighbourhood diversity (driven partly by increasing numbers of individuals reporting negative contact). Across workplaces the effect differs such that increasing numbers of individuals experiencing negative-contact suppress an otherwise positive effect of workplace diversity (driven largely by increasing numbers of individuals experiencing positive contact).

Cognitive Cultural Intelligence and Life Satisfaction of Migrant Workers: The Roles of Career Engagement and Social Injustice

Abstract: This paper examines the mediating effect of career engagement on the relationship between cognitive cultural intelligence (CQ) and life satisfaction among international migrant workers in Australia. It also examines the moderating effect of perceived social injustice on the cognitive CQ–career engagement relationship, as well as on the indirect cognitive CQ–life satisfaction relationship via career engagement. Using survey data from four hundred and sixty-two migrant workers in Australia, it was found that cognitive CQ was positively related to life satisfaction and that career engagement mediated this relationship. Social injustice moderated the impact of cognitive CQ on career engagement such that the impact was stronger among those perceiving a higher rather than a lower level of social injustice. Furthermore, the indirect effect of cognitive CQ on life satisfaction via career engagement was also stronger for those perceiving higher social injustice. These findings provide new insights regarding the antecedents of life satisfaction as well as reveal a vocationally relevant mechanism underlying the relationship between cognitive CQ and life satisfaction. The results inform potential practical strategies to enhance the career progression and life satisfaction of international migrant workers.

Big Data and Social Indicators: Actual Trends and New Perspectives

Abstract: Big Data are a top subject in international research articles and a vast debate is taking place on their actual capability of being used to complement or even substitute official statistics surveys and social indicators in particular. In this paper we analyse the metadata of the Scopus database of academic articles on Big Data and we show that most of the existing and intensively growing literature is focused on software and computational issues whilst articles that are specifically focused on statistical issues and on the procedures to build social indicators from Big Data are a much smaller share of this vast production. Nevertheless the works that focus on these topics show promising results because in developed countries Big Data seem to be a good information base to create reliable proxies of social indicators, whereas in developing countries their use (for instance using satellite images) may be a viable alternative to traditional surveys. However, Big Data based social indicators deeply suffer of a number of open issues that affect their actual use: they do not correspond to any sampling scheme and they are often representative of particular segments of the population; they generally are private process-produced data whose access by national statistical offices is rarely possible although the intrinsic value of the information contained in Big Data has a social importance that should be shared with the whole community; Big Data lack the socio-economic background on which social indicators have been founded and their help to policy makers in their decision process is a fully open point. Therefore Big Data may be a big opportunity for the definition of traditional or new social indicators but their statistical reliability should be further investigated and their availability and use should be internationally coordinated.

How Use of Location-Based Social Network (LBSN) Services Contributes to Accumulation of Social Capital

Abstract: The goal of this study is to examine the association between location-sharing in location based social networking (LBSN) services and social capital, such as trust, reciprocity, and network resources. A cross-sectional survey (n = 491) was conducted by adopting a simple random sampling method in 2014. The findings showed that intensity of LBSN services is positively associated with all social capital aspects. In general, compared to a group of non-users of LBSN services, those groups of users with low and high intensity of LBSN services were higher in trust, reciprocity, and network resources. Therefore, this study proposes theoretical and practical implications of location-sharing to scholars in social sciences demonstrating how use of LBSN services influences accumulation of social capital.

Education Enrollment Level and Income Inequality: A Case of SAARC Economies

Abstract: This study is based on the idea that education forms a quadratic relationship with the income inequality. To evaluate it for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, this study uses the panel data from 1990 to 2015. Long run panel data necessitated the use of panel co-integration approach, followed up with fully modified OLS model to generate long-run coefficients. The results depict that initially primary and secondary enrollment increases inequality while tertiary enrollment decreases it. However, after a certain threshold level of enrollment (76% for primary, 42% for secondary and 7% for tertiary), their effect reverses. Thus, it makes inverted U shape for primary and secondary enrollment and U shape for tertiary enrollment. Hence education shows diminishing marginal return effect. Only the countries of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal in SAARC economies have high enough education enrollments to cause a negative effect on income inequality.

A Multilevel Measurement Model of Social Cohesion

Abstract: In spite of its currency both in academic research and political rhetoric, there are numerous attempts to define and conceptualize the social cohesion concept but there has been paid little attention to provide a rigorous and empirically tested definition. There are even fewer studies that address social cohesion in a framework of cross-cultural validation of the indicators testing the equivalence of the factorial structure across countries. Finally, as far as we know there is no study that attempt to provide an empirically tested multilevel definition of social cohesion specifying a Multilevel Structural Equation Model. This study aims to cover this gap. First, we provide a theoretical construct of social cohesion taking into account not only its multidimensionality but also its multilevel structure. In the second step, to test the validity of this theoretical construct, we perform a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis in order to verify if the conceptual structure suggested in first step holds. In addition, we test the cross-level structural equivalence and the measurement invariance of the model in order to verify if the same multilevel model of social cohesion holds across the 29 countries analysed. In the final step, we specify a second-order multilevel CFA model in order to identify the existence of a general factor that can be called “social cohesion” operating in society that accounts for the surface phenomena that we observe.

Work–Family Conflict, Job Insecurity, and Health Outcomes Among US Workers

Abstract: Previous scholarship has highlighted how work–family conflict (work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict) and job insecurity interfere with health outcomes. Little work, however, considers how these stressors jointly influence health among workers. Informed by the stress process model, the current study examines whether job insecurity moderates the relationships between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict and two health outcomes: self-reported physical health and poor mental health. The analyses also consider whether a greater moderating role is played by work-to-family conflict or family-to-work conflict. Using data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, we also examine if patterns diverge by gender. Our results show that work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict have direct effects on poor mental and physical health. Additionally, we find that the negative effect of work-to-family conflict on poor mental and physical health is stronger for those with job insecurity, while no such relationship was found for family-to-work conflict. We found no evidence of significant gender differences in how these relationships operate. Overall, we contribute to the literature by testing the combined effects of both forms of work–family conflict and job insecurity on poor mental and physical health. We also deepen the understanding of the stress process model by highlighting the salience of the anticipatory stressor of job insecurity.

Do you Trust Strangers, Close Acquaintances, and Members of Your Ingroup? Differences in Trust Based on Social Class in Spain

Abstract: Social class is a multifaceted social category that shapes numerous states and psychological processes, as well as the manner in which we relate to others. Trust, on the other hand, is a prerequisite for the initiation and maintenance of satisfactory social relationships. With 899 participants of both sexes drawn from the general population, this study examined the relationship between membership in a particular social class and three different types of trust: generalized, interpersonal, and depersonalized ingroup (social class). It was found that social class was positively related to generalized trust and negatively to interpersonal trust and depersonalized ingroup trust. These relationships were independent of the participants’ gender, age, and political ideology. The results are discussed in light of the importance of the existing relationship between a variable of macrosocial order, such as social class, and psychological variables, such as the different types of trust analyzed.

Experiential wellbeing data from the American Time Use Survey: Comparisons with other methods and analytic illustrations with age and income.

Abstract: There has been a recent upsurge of interest in self-reported measures of wellbeing by official statisticians and by researchers in the social sciences. This paper considers data from a wellbeing supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which parsed the previous day into episodes. Respondents provided ratings of five experiential wellbeing adjectives (happiness, stress, tiredness, sadness, and pain) for each of three randomly selected episodes. Because the ATUS Well-being module has not received very much attention, in this paper we provide the reader with details about the features of these data and our approach to analyzing the data (e.g., weighting considerations), and then illustrate the applicability of these data to current issues. Specifically, we examine the association of age and income with all of the experiential wellbeing adjective in the ATUS. Results from the ATUS wellbeing module were broadly consistent with earlier findings on age, but did not confirm all earlier findings between income and wellbeing. We conclude that the ATUS, with its measurement of time use, specific activities, and hedonic experience in a nationally representative survey, offers a unique opportunity to incorporate time use into the burgeoning field of wellbeing research.

An Odd Ladder to Climb: Socioeconomic Differences Across Levels of Subjective Social Status

Abstract: Subjective social status (SSS), a promising measure of social class or standing, is linked robustly to diverse indicators of mental and physical well-being. However, the processes behind SSS remain poorly understood. Socioeconomic status (SES; e.g., education, income, or occupation) is among the strongest predictors of SSS, but when and how much does SES matter for understanding differences between given SSS ranks? Drawing on multiple years of national US data (2010–2014 General Social Survey), I show that a quartic form closely describes relationships between SSS and SES: namely, education, income and occupational attainment increase at the bottom of the SSS ladder (between rungs 1–2 and 3) and before the top (between rungs 5–8), increase more modestly (“plateau”) across other ranks, and decrease markedly at the very top (across rungs 9–10). Auxiliary data on wealth accumulation among older Americans (2005 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States; MIDUS) replicate the quartic form for education and occupation while also suggesting that high personal net worth (e.g., millionaire status) may help to explain why individuals assign themselves to the very top of the ladder despite holding less education, income or occupational prestige relative to others who rank just below. Additional multinomial analyses showed how probabilities of occupying specific rungs of the SSS ladder shift across levels of SES, confirming that the very top of the ladder is more responsive to gains in personal net worth than to traditional SES measures.