Social Indicators of Well-Being: Americans' Perceptions of Life Quality

1: Introduction.- Social Indicators.- Characteristics of Social Indicators.- Quality of Life.- Objective and Subjective Indicators.- The Research Problem.- Research Goals.- Usefulness.- Basic Concepts and a Conceptual Model.- Domains and Criteria.- A Conceptual Model.- Going Beyond the Model.- Dimensional Expansion of the Model.- Feedback Loops.- Processes That Generate Affective Evaluations.- Methods and Data.- The Measurement of Affective Evaluations.- Data Sources.- National-Level Surveys.- Local-Level Survey.- Summary.- 1: Developing Indicators of Perceived Well-Being.- 2: Identifying and Mapping Concerns.- Research Strategy.- Identifying Concerns.- Mapping the Concerns.- Maps and the Mapping Process.- Perceptual Structures-July Respondents.- Description of the Structure.- Interpretation of Dimensions.- Relationships Among Concerns.- Perceptual Structures-May and November Respondents.- Perceptual Structures-April Respondents.- Perceptual Structures-After Equating for Level and Variability of Evaluations.- Perceptual Structures-Subgroups of the Population.- Men and Women.- Four Age Groups.- Blacks.- Groups with High or Low Status.- Selecting and Clustering Concern-Level Measures.- Methodology.- Clusters.- Affective Evaluations Versus Unspecified Feelings.- Summary.- 3: Measuring Global Well-Being.- On the Existence of Global Assessments of Life Quality.- The Global Measures and a Typology for Classifying Them.- General Assessments of Life-as-a-Whole from an "Absolute" Perspective.- Full-Range Measures.- Part-Range Measures.- More Specific Qualities of Life-as-a-Whole, "Absolute" Perspective.- Assessments of Life-as-a-Whole from a Relative Perspective.- Assessment of Life-as-a-Whole from the Perspectives of Long- or Short-Term Change.- Long-Term Change.- Short-Term Change.- Supplementary Global Measures.- Formal Structure of the Typology.- Interrelationships Among Global Measures.- Overview of Results.- Results from April Respondents.- Relationships Among Global Measures.- Smallest Space Analysis.- Results for Subgroups.- Summary of Results from April Respondents.- Results from November Respondents.- Relationships Among Global Measures.- Factor Analysis.- Summary of Results from November Respondents.- Results from July Respondents.- Relationships Among Global Measures.- Factor Analysis.- Summary.- 4: Predicting Global Well-Being: I.- Life 3. A Measure of Global Well-Being.- Topics to Be Discussed and Overview of Results.- Relationships Between Single Concern Measures and Life 3.- Multivariate Prediction of Life 3.- Models for Predicting Life 3 from Concern Measures.- Linearities.- Lack of Interactions.- Weighting Schemes.- Conclusions and Comments About the Prediction Model.- Predicting Life 3 Using Different Sets of Concern Measures.- Results from May Respondents.- Results from November Respondents.- Results from April Respondents.- Results from July Respondents.- Using Classification Variables to Predict Life 3.- Results from May Respondents.- Results from April Respondents.- Lack of Statistical Interactions.- Evaluation of Predictive Levels Achieved.- May Data.- July Data.- November and April Data.- Prediction of Life 3 in Subgroups of the Population.- Summary.- 5: Predicting Global Well-Being: II.- Plan of the Chapter and Overview of Results.- Relationships Between Single Concern Measures and the Global Measures.- Type A Global Measures.- Type B Global Measures.- Type C Global Measures.- Type D Global Measures.- Type E Global Measures.- Type F Global Measures.- Type G Global Measures.- Comment.- Multivariate Prediction of Global Measures.- Summary.- 6: Evaluating the Measures of Well-Being.- Plan of the Chapter and Overview of Results.- Estimation of the Validity and Error Components of the Measures.- Measurement Theory and Models.- Variance Components.- Measurement Models.- Construct Validity and Measurement Models.- Estimates Derived from the July Data.- Nature of the July Data.- The Measurement Model.- The Results.- Summary and Comments Regarding July Results.- The Reliability of the Life Measures in National Data.- Estimates Derived from the May Data.- Estimates Derived from the April Data.- Estimates Derived from the November Data.- Estimates Derived from the October Data.- Comparison of Validity Estimates for Different Methods.- Distributions Produced by the More Valid Methods.- Statistical Results.- Conclusions and Comments About Distribution Forms.- Overall Evaluations, Additional Criteria, Further Improvements.- Category Labeling and Ease of Use.- Overall Evaluations.- Toward Further Improvements.- Relationships Between Measures of Perceived Well-Being and Other Types of Variables.- Summary.- 7: Exploring the Dynamics of Evaluation.- Organization of the Chapter and Summary of Results.- Exploration 1: A Statistical Translation Between the Delighted-Terrible Scale and the Faces, Circles, and Ladder Scales.- Exploration 2: The D-T Scale Categories and Three More General Levels of Evaluation.- Exploration 3: Hypothetical Family Incomes and Affective Evaluations on the D-T Scale.- Exploration 4: The Role of Perceptions About the Past and Future in Predicting Present Evaluations.- Exploration 5: Six Frames of Reference and Evaluations of Well-Being.- Exploration 6: An Implementation of the Domains-by-Criteria Model.- The Problem.- Design of the Analysis and Measures Employed.- Results.- Bivariate Relationships.- Multivariate Relationships.- Conclusions.- Exploration 7: Comparisons Between One's Own Well-Being and That of Others.- Exploration 8: Judgments of the "Importance" of Concerns.- Exploration 9: Searching for People with Distinctive Patterns of Feelings About Well-Being.- Summary.- 2: Well-Being in the United States: Americans' Perceptions.- 8: Americans' Well-Being: Specific Life Concerns.- The Nation.- The National Government.- Local Government.- Economic Situation.- Community.- Services and Facilities.- Education.- Jobs.- Neighborhood.- Friends and Associates.- Home.- Leisure and Leisure-Time Facilities.- Family.- Self.- Interpersonal Relations.- Seasonal Changes.- Comparisons Among Means.- Skewness, Bias, and Spread.- Discussion.- Summary.- 9: Americans' Well-Being: Differences Among Population Groups.- Groups Identified.- Comparison of General Well-Being in Different Groups.- Men and Women.- Age Groups.- Family Life-Cycle.- Socioeconomic Status.- Blacks and Whites.- Nondifferences.- Discussion.- Summary.- 10: Americans' Well-Being: Life-as-a-Whole.- Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole by the Total Population.- General Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole.- Absolute Perspective (Type A and B Measures).- Long-Term Changes in Well-Being (Type E Measures).- Own Well-Being Relative to That of Others (Type D Measures).- More Specific Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole (Type C Measures).- Satisfaction, Happiness, Worries.- Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Affect Balance.- Selected Other Qualities of Life-as-a-Whole.- Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole in Population Groups.- General Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole.- Absolute Perspective (Type A Measures).- Long-Term Changes in Well-Being (Type E Measures).- Best Week, Worst Week, Short-Term Changes (Measures of Types B and F).- Own Well-Being Relative to That of Others (Type D Measures).- More Specific Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole (Type C Measures).- Satisfaction.- Happiness.- Positive and Negative Affect.- Affect Balance.- Worries.- Comments on Defenses, Adaptations, and Coping Mechanisms.- Summary.- 3: Future Applications.- 11: Applications.- Organization of the Chapter.- Instrument Design.- Parameters Affecting Instrument Design.- Substantive Interests.- Resources.- Precision.- Methods of Data Collection.- Specific Proposals on Instrument Design.- Concern-Level Measures.- Global Measures.- Response Scales.- Analysis and Interpretation.- Measure Construction and Analysis.- Interpretation Perspectives.- Summary.- Appendixes.- Appendix A: Interview and Questionnaire Schedules.- Interview Used with May Respondents.- Interview Used with November Form 1 Respondents.- Interview Used with November Form 2 Respondents.- Interview Used with April Respondents.- Questionnaire Used with July Respondents.- Appendix B: Sampling Designs, Response Rates, Sampling Precision.- Appendix C: Clusters of Concern Items.- Appendix D: Interrelationships Among Concern Items in May and April Surveys, by Population Subgroups.- Appendix E: Factor Analyses of Concern Items from May, November, and April National Surveys.- Appendix F: Factor Analysis of Global Measures from the April National Survey.- Appendix G: Scan for Interactions Involving Concern Measures and Life 3.- Appendix H: Demographic Characteristics of July Respondents.- Appendix I: Distributions Produced by the Delighted-Terrible, Faces, and Circles Scales on Five Concerns.- Appendix J: Number of Cases Used in Computing Means Shown in Exhibit 7.1.- Appendix L: Formation of Socioeconomic Status Scale.- Appendix M: Subgroup Ns and Percentage Distributions.- Appendix N: Perceived Well-Being in 1974, 1976.- References.