1,721,225 research outputs found
Is religion beneficial for mental health? A 9-year longitudinal study
Full text linkBackground/Objective: This study aimed to investigate the within-person and between-person effects of religious variables on mental health and vice versa. Method: Using a large sample of adults residing in Germany from the GESIS Panel study (N = 8146), the random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. Data on six dimensions of religion (i.e., membership in a religious community; attendance at a place of worship; frequency of prayers; importance of religion in life; and participation in a religious organization) and three indicators of mental health (i.e., depression symptoms, happiness, and life satisfaction) were collected. Results: The findings revealed that there is almost no evidence of lagged effects of religion on mental health and limited evidence regarding the role of mental health in influencing the dimensions of religion. Moreover, at the between-person level, there was some evidence of significant covariance between the trait-like components, indicating stable, trait-like differences between persons on religion and mental health. Conclusions: The beneficial effect of religion on mental health may have been exaggerated in previous research
The reciprocal relationships between economic status and mental health: Investigating the between-person and within-person effects in a three-wave longitudinal study
Full text linkBackground: Social drift/selection (i.e., mental health symptoms cause low economic status) and social causation theories (i.e., low economic status causes mental health symptoms) specify reciprocal relationships between economic status and mental health. Little is known regarding the disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects in the relationship between economic status and mental health in the long run. The current study sought to examine the reciprocal relationships between economic status and mental health over 20 years of adulthood, disaggregating within-person and between-person effects. Methods: Data were from three waves (7108 participants) of the Midlife Development in the United States study. Participants reported information about objective and subjective measures of economic status as well as a wide range of indicators of mental health on the positive dimension, including subjective, social, and psychological well-being, and on the negative side, depression, anxiety, panic attack, anhedonia, somatic amplification, alcohol abuse, and negative affect. Cross-lagged panel models were estimated. Results: At between-person levels, both social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses were confirmed when considering subjective measures of economic status. When using objective measures of economic status (i.e., income), the results showed decreased support for social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses. At within-person levels, social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses were generally not supported, with some notable exceptions. Limitations: Restriction of the sample to one country limits the generalizability of the findings. Conclusions: Social causation and social drift/selection processes act simultaneously mainly at a population level, but much less when considering individual changes. Policy and programs should be targeted at addressing inequality in income and mental health within a nation or a community
Remote work’s impact on well-being: longitudinal analysis and the influence of gender, household size and childcare
Full text linkPurposeThe aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between remote work and subjective well-being and the potential moderating role of gender, household size and childcare.Design/methodology/approachThe current research used data from the 2016 and 2020 editions of the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) of the Bank of Italy. Italian workers were asked to report their subjective well-being and how many days per month they work remotely (at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic). Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted on a sample of 1.103 and 184 participants, respectively.FindingsAfter controlling for the effects of gender, age, education and perceived economic condition, ordered probit models revealed that the relationship between remote work and subjective well-being was nonsignificant. Moreover, gender, household size and childcare did not play a moderating role in the relationship between remote work and subjective well-being.Practical implicationsThe findings of the current study suggest that an individualized approach is required to maximize the possible benefits of remote work.Originality/valueThe potential positive effects of remote work on subjective well-being might be overestimated
The reciprocal relationship between political participation and mental health in Germany: A random-intercept cross-lagged panel analysis
Full text linkPurpose: Political participation has been identified as a predictor of mental health. Previous research studies have reported mixed results concerning the relationship between political participation and mental health. Moreover, findings have generally been confined to the between-individual level. The few studies that investigated within-person associations have not examined bidirectionality. In the current study, the bidirectional relationship between political participation and mental health was investigated. Methods: Data from the GESIS Panel study were used to assess the bidirectional association between political participation and mental health. The GESIS Panel study is a probability-based panel representative of the German-speaking population residing in Germany and aged between 18 and 70 years (M = 44.52; SD = 14.67; 52 percent female participants). Mental health was assessed using measures of depression symptoms and subjective well-being. Results: Using up to nine waves of longitudinal survey data, a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model indicated little evidence for cross-lagged effects from political participation to mental health or vice versa. Notwithstanding, few significant cross-lagged paths were observed. Conclusions: Overall, the findings were not consistent with the theorized effect of political participation on mental health. Moreover, there is little evidence that mental health affects political participation
Changes in Essentialist Beliefs About Cognitive Aging Predicts Changes in Mental Health: Evidence From a 10-Year Longitudinal Study
Full text linkThe belief that aging-related cognitive decline is inevitable is associated with impaired cognitive performance of older adults. Little is, however, known about the association between changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health in the long term and among both younger and older adults. From a theoretical perspective, it would be expected that changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging predict changes in mental health among older adults compared to younger adults. These differential associations have not yet been prospectively investigated. Using longitudinal data, the association between changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health outcomes and the moderation effect of age were assessed. Mental health includes well-being and mental illness (depression, anxiety, and panic symptoms). Data from adult participants (n = 4,963 with a mean age of 55.41 years, range 28–84 years) in a U.S. national longitudinal study were analyzed. A series of two-wave latent change score models indicated that changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging are associated with changes in well-being and mental illness. Age did not moderate the relationship between changes in essentialist beliefs about aging and changes in mental health (i.e., mental illness and well-being). The present study highlights change-to-change dynamics between essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health, regardless of age
Impact of episodes of regime transformation on subjective well-being: A panel event study
Full text linkThis study aims to investigate the impact of a transition from democracy to autocracy (an autocratization event) and from autocracy to democracy (a democratization event) on three indicators of subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Data on episodes of regime transformation was taken from the Varieties of Democracy, while data on subjective well-being was extracted from the Gallup World Poll. The combined dataset comprised data on 166 countries from 2005 to 2021. Over this period, 22 autocratization events and 18 democratization events occurred. The study used a panel event study framework and controlled for GDP per capita. The results show no clear and consistent evidence of an impact of regime transformation in either direction (democratization or autocratization) on the three indicators of subjective well-being. The findings also indicate the absence of any causal effect between the episodes of regime change and subjective well-being
THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT FOR LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKET
Full text linkThe role of psychological sense of community on willingness to pay for food at a farmers’ market was not investigated in the literature. This study examined the influence of two distinct forms of psychological sense of community, the traditional concept of sense of community and the concept of sense of community responsibility. Moreover, the present research investigated the role of reasons for buying local food products as a mediating pathway through which psychological sense of community leads to WTP for food at a farmers’ market. Participants were 409 Italian people recruited through snowball sampling as well as advertisements on social networks. Participants filled out a questionnaire including measures of psychological sense of community, the relationship between sense of community, reasons for buying local food products, and willingness to pay for food at a farmers’ market. Controlling for gender, age, and household income, results revealed that sense of community was associated with willingness to pay for food at a farmers’ market. However, sense of community responsibility was associated with willingness to pay an extra-price of approximately 15 percent for the costs of food at a farmers’ market, while sense of community was associated with willingness to pay more than such a small extra-price for local food. Mediation analyses revealed that community support and connection and quality of products (but not environmental reasons) mediated the association between sense of community and willingness to pay for food at a farmers’ market
The Relationship Between Democracy and Subjective Well-Being as a Function of Anti-Democratic Attitudes: a Multilevel Analysis of 78 Countries Worldwide
No full textPast research has shown a non-significant association between the level of democracy and subjective well-being. This study attempts to address this inconsistency by examining the potential moderating role of anti-democratic attitudes. Drawing on a discrepancy theory framework, it was hypothesized that anti-democratic attitudes would moderate the association between the level of democracy and subjective well-being. To measure subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life and happiness) and anti-democratic attitudes, data from the 7th wave of the World Value Survey as well as from the European Values Study 2017 were used. The level of democracy was assessed using the V-Dem’s Electoral Democracy Index 2020. Data on 131,846 participants from 78 countries around the world were available for this study. Findings from multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions revealed that the relationship between the level of democracy and subjective well-being was positive and stronger at lower levels of anti-democratic attitudes compared to higher levels of anti-democratic attitudes. Subjective well-being is a function of the interaction between the level of democracy and negative attitudes toward democracy
Religion and Well-Being: What Is the Magnitude and the Practical Significance of the Relationship?
Full text linkThe idea that religion is important for people’s well-being is widespread in social sciences. Current empirical evidence supporting this idea is largely based on research focusing on statistical significance. In this study, the strengths of associations between religious indicators and subjective and psychological well-being were investigated. In the first study, data from the European Value Study and the World Value Survey involving 645.249 participants and 115 countries were used. In the second study, data were taken from three longitudinal investigations: the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, and the Midlife in the United States. Multilevel analyses revealed that the explained variance of the effects of religious predictors at Level 1 and Level 2 on subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and happiness) was very small or negligible (Study 1). The effect size estimates of the prospective associations between religious predictors and later psychological and subjective well-being were very small or negligible (Study 2). Taken together, the results of the current investigation suggest that the direct effect of religion on well-being does not seem to have practical relevance. Although religion plays an essential role in the lives of many individuals, the results of the present study call into question the practical significance and utility of using religion per se for the prediction of well-being
Subjective well-being and attitudes toward outgroup members
Full text linkThere is a large body of literature on the effect of negative attitudes toward outgroup members on target individuals and groups. However, less attention was devoted to their effects on those who hold these attitudes. The current study hypothesized that there would be a bidirectional relationship between subjective well-being and attitudes toward outgroup members. In Study 1, data from the Integrated Values Surveys, the Ecology-Culture Dataset, and the World Happiness Report 2022 were used. In Study 2, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was implemented using longitudinal data over a six-year period from the GESIS Panel (n = 6783 people living in Germany). Results of Study 1 demonstrated a significant negative relationship between subjective well-being and negative attitudes toward outgroup members both at the country level (118 countries) and at the individual level (663,965 participants in 120 countries around the world). In Study 2, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed significant within-person reciprocal relations between life satisfaction and negative attitudes toward refugees. This study provides evidence for a bidirectional relationship between subjective well-being and negative attitudes toward outgroup members
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