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Preliminary Study of Health Value as a Moderator of the Link between Age and Life Satisfaction
Abstract
In the present study of the influence of health value as a potential moderator of age and life satisfaction. 157 undergraduate students (M = 20.8 yr.) completed a battery in which they provided demographic information and completed a number of different self report measures, including the Satisfaction With Life Scale and the Health Value Scale. A 2 (younger vs older) x 2 (high vs low health value) analysis of variance with life satisfaction as the dependent variable showed a significant man effect for health value and a significant interaction between age and health value but no man effect for age. These findings support health value as a moderator of the relation between age and psychological well-being. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... This finding has been replicated in national surveys in North America (Mookherjee, 1997 ). The concept of health value may be recruited to explain these findings and the relationship of social factors to health (Fahey et al., 1996). For example, it has been found that for mental health symptoms in later life, multiple role involvement is associated with higher life satisfaction (Adelmann, 1994). ...
Background: Psychological well being and the degree of satisfaction with life are likely to affect a range of social behaviours and determine uptake of health and social services. It is important to identify the factors that inform these constructs. Aims: We sought to identify the variables which best predicted psychological well being in the Caribbean country, Jamaica and also those associated with feelings of satisfaction with life. Methods: Interviews were conducted on young adults aged 15–50 years as part of a sexual decision-making survey in Jamaica. Information was collected on a range of social, health and demographic variables and a measure of psychological well being – Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Depression (CES-D). Satisfaction with life was measured using a Likert scale in response to the question 'Are you satisfied with your life as a whole?' Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of psychological well being and satisfaction with life. Results: There were 2580 respondents (1601 women and 979 men). The mean age was 29.7 years (standard deviation 9.2 years). Women had lower levels of psychological well being and satisfaction with life. Independent predictors of lower psychological well being were having an acute illness, having a chronic illness in women and high religious behaviour in men. Satisfaction with life was predicted by younger age, marital status and employment. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that health variables are more important for psychological well being while social circumstances are more significant for satisfaction with life. There are important gender differences in the mediation of psychological well being as well as age differences in the variables associated with satisfaction with life.
This article reports the findings from a questionnaire survey of university students' life satisfaction in Regina. The results demonstrated that students were generally satisfied with their lives. Areas with which students were most satisfied included relationships with friends, parents, and siblings, physical health, and support received from family members. Multiple ordinary least-squares regression analysis revealed that females, younger students, and those who were satisfied with relationships with significant others, parents, friends, and self-image, reported a higher family income, expressed a stronger sense of purpose in life, indicated better psychological well-being, scored higher on a religiosity scale, performed better academically, and received more social support were found to demonstrate a higher level of life satisfaction.
To extend earlier findings, this pilot study explored the role of self-reported value of health as a moderator between age and scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. 157 undergraduate students completed the Health Value Scale and the Beck inventory. There was no significant main effect for age with scores on the Beck inventory; however, scores on the Health Value Scale and their interaction with age were significant contributors to scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. These results are consistent with earlier findings. Implications for research and development are discussed.
Psychological well being and the degree of satisfaction with life are likely to affect a range of social behaviours and determine uptake of health and social services. It is important to identify the factors that inform these constructs.
We sought to identify the variables which best predicted psychological well being in the Caribbean country, Jamaica and also those associated with feelings of satisfaction with life.
Interviews were conducted on young adults aged 15-50 years as part of a sexual decision-making survey in Jamaica. Information was collected on a range of social, health and demographic variables and a measure of psychological well being--Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Depression (CES-D). Satisfaction with life was measured using a Likert scale in response to the question 'Are you satisfied with your life as a whole?' Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of psychological well being and satisfaction with life.
There were 2580 respondents (1601 women and 979 men). The mean age was 29.7 years (standard deviation 9.2 years). Women had lower levels of psychological well being and satisfaction with life. Independent predictors of lower psychological well being were having an acute illness, having a chronic illness in women and high religious behaviour in men. Satisfaction with life was predicted by younger age, marital status and employment.
Our findings suggest that health variables are more important for psychological well being while social circumstances are more significant for satisfaction with life. There are important gender differences in the mediation of psychological well being as well as age differences in the variables associated with satisfaction with life.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed to assess satisfaction with the respondent’s life as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose. Normative data are presented for the scale, which shows good convergent validity with other scales and with other types of assessments of subjective well-being. Life satisfaction as assessed by the SWLS shows a degree of temporal stability (e.g., 54 for 4 years), yet the SWLS has shown sufficient sensitivity to be potentially valuable to detect change in life satisfaction during the course of clinical intervention. Further, the scale shows discriminant validity from emotional well-being measures. The SWLS is recommended as a complement to scales that focus on psychopathology or emotional well-being because it assesses an individuals’ conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life by using the person’s own criteria.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed in the U.S.A. to represent a multi-item scale for the overall assessment of life satisfaction as a cognitive-judgemental process, rather than for the measurement of specific satisfaction domains (e.g. health, energy). Psychometric evaluations of the SWLS have been restricted to non-patient population samples comprising either American students (young adults) or elderly persons. The present study attempted to extend the applicability of the SWLS by examining specific reliability and validity aspects in a different cultural context (The Netherlands) with adult medical outpatients. In line with previous American findings, reliability figures were found to be quite favourable. In addition, SWLS scores were shown to be predictably associated with other measures of subjective well-being, including the General Health Questionnaire and the Symptom Checklist-90-R, and with health attitudes. SWLS scores were not affected by sex, age, educational level, health insurance status or social desirability, but, as could be expected, clearly so by marital status. The need for further studies with different groups was emphasized.
The concept of value placed on health is very important in several different theoretical approaches to the study of health behavior. In practice, however, health value is generally assumed to be universally high rather than being directly measured. If this assumption is incorrect, then theories that include health value have rarely been adequately tested. This paper presents a short 4-item Likert scale designed to measure the value placed on health. Norms from the utilization of this scale in five different samples are presented. Health value is found to increase with age among girls, but the increase apparently stops by late adolescence, before full adult levels of health value are achieved. Middle-aged women place a higher value on health than do middle-aged men, although no comparable sex difference appears in a sample of undergraduates. Consistent with theoretical predictions, both health locus of control beliefs and beliefs in the efficacy of certain preventive health behaviors correlate more highly with the performance of those same behaviors 5 to 9 months later among respondents who place a high value of health relative to those who do not value health so highly. However, this interaction is found only when it can be safely assumed that health is the primary value underlying the behavior. The importance of considering a variety of values in addition to health as possible motivators of preventive health behavior is stressed.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
The interest and participation in health promotion and wellness activities has expanded greatly in the past two decades. The "wellness revolution," especially in terms of diet and exercise, has been affected by both scientific findings and cultural changes. The paper examines how a particular aspect of culture, the moral meanings of health-promoting activities, contribute to the pursuit of wellness. Based on interviews with 54 self-identified wellness participants at a major university, we examine how health can be a moral discourse and the body a site for moral action. The paper suggests that wellness seekers engage in a profoundly moral discourse around health promotion, constructing a moral world of goods, bads and shoulds. Although there are some gender differences in particular wellness goals, engaging in wellness activities, independent of results, becomes seen as a good in itself. Thus, even apart from any health outcomes, the pursuit of virtue and a moral life is fundamentally an aspect of the pursuit of wellness.
Diener, et al.'s 1985 Satisfaction With Life Scale was administered to 1749 adult Australians to examine differences between men and women, university students and nonuniversity students, and among 17- to 22-, 23- to 29-, and 30- to 40-yr.-olds. No significant differences in life-satisfaction emerged in relation to sex or university status, but age showed a significant effect as higher life-satisfaction characterized older subjects. No interactions were found for any combination of the three variables. The results are interpreted in terms of egalitarian sex-role ideologies regarding sex, status-specific criteria in the assessment and conceptualisation of life-satisfaction for university status, and maturity trends in viewing life events concerning age.