[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i6p1639-d215026.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Integrative Approach to Assess Subjective Well-Being. A Case Study on Romanian University Students

Author

Listed:
  • George-Laurentiu Serban-Oprescu

    (Department of Economic Doctrines and Communication, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romana Sq., District 1, 010734 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Silvia Dedu

    (Department of Applied Mathematics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romana Sq., District 1, 010734 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Anca-Teodora Serban-Oprescu

    (Department of Modern Languages & Business Communication, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romana Sq., District 1, 010734 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract
Subjective well-being (SWB) has presented long-lasting interest for researchers and the recent focus on the economic approach to SWB led to increased awareness of the topic. Despite the significant number of studies, conceptualizing and assessing SWB, along with finding predictors of SWB, need further empirical exploration. Following this rationale, using statistical and econometric methods (correlation analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR)) applied on data collected via a survey on students from Bucharest University of Economic Studies (363 respondents), this study explores and provides insights that support a better understanding of defining and measuring SWB. Additionally, the study offers valuable information on the main determinants of SWB for a particular group, in this case, Romanian business students. According to findings, we argue that: (1) when assessing perception of life satisfaction and happiness, Romanian students tend to make slight distinctions between these two concepts; (2) question order effect is not significant, whereas negative sentiments (such as pessimism) impact self-assessment of happiness, but not of life satisfaction; (3) the main predictors for SWB are satisfaction with current activities, level of optimism/pessimism, health, and safety of the neighborhood. This paper proposes a new approach to modeling SWB by MLR, which features expressing the dependent variable with respect to the principal factors obtained by PCA.

Suggested Citation

  • George-Laurentiu Serban-Oprescu & Silvia Dedu & Anca-Teodora Serban-Oprescu, 2019. "An Integrative Approach to Assess Subjective Well-Being. A Case Study on Romanian University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-27, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1639-:d:215026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1639/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1639/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krueger, Alan B. & Schkade, David A., 2008. "The reliability of subjective well-being measures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(8-9), pages 1833-1845, August.
    2. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2008. "Relative Income, Happiness, and Utility: An Explanation for the Easterlin Paradox and Other Puzzles," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 95-144, March.
    3. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    4. Ed Diener, 1994. "Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 103-157, February.
    5. Robert J. MacCulloch & Rafael Di Tella & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March.
    6. Randy Larsen & Ed Diener & Robert Emmons, 1985. "An evaluation of subjective well-being measures," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, July.
    7. Ed Diener & Robert Biswas-Diener, 2002. "Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 119-169, February.
    8. Ed Diener, 2006. "Guidelines for National Indicators of Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 397-404, November.
    9. Hayo, Bernd & Seifert, Wolfgang, 2003. "Subjective economic well-being in Eastern Europe," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 329-348, June.
    10. Gawlik, Remigiusz, 2013. "Material and Non-material Determinants of European Youth's Life Quality," MPRA Paper 48065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Christopher Kullenberg & Gustaf Nelhans, 2015. "The happiness turn? Mapping the emergence of “happiness studies” using cited references," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(2), pages 615-630, May.
    12. Michael Eid & Ed Diener, 2004. "Global Judgments of Subjective Well-Being: Situational Variability and Long-Term Stability," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 245-277, February.
    13. Kyeong-Ho Cha, 2003. "Subjective Well-Being Among College Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 455-477, April.
    14. Ed Diener & Eunkook Suh, 1997. "Measuring Quality Of Life: Economic, Social, And Subjective Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 189-216, January.
    15. George MacKerron, 2012. "Happiness Economics From 35 000 Feet," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 705-735, September.
    16. John F. Helliwell, 2006. "Well-Being, Social Capital and Public Policy: What's New?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 34-45, March.
    17. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger, 2006. "Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    18. Dolan, Paul & Peasgood, Tessa & White, Mathew, 2008. "Do we really know what makes us happy A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-122, February.
    19. Galina Balatsky & Ed Diener, 1993. "Subjective well-being among Russian students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 225-243, March.
    20. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1991. "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1039-1061.
    21. Gawlik, Remigiusz & Titarenko, Roman & Titov, Sergei, 2015. "Perception of Quality of Life and its Components among Russian Students – Implications for Academic Teaching," MPRA Paper 69134, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Remigiusz Gawlik & Gorm Jacobsen, 2016. "Work-life Balance Decision-making of Norwegian Students: Implications for Human Resources Management," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 4(4), pages 153-170.
    23. van Praag, B. M. S. & Frijters, P. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., 2003. "The anatomy of subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-49, May.
    24. Ferran Casas & Sergiu Bălţătescu & Irma Bertran & Mònica González & Adrian Hatos, 2013. "School Satisfaction Among Adolescents: Testing Different Indicators for its Measurement and its Relationship with Overall Life Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being in Romania and Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 665-681, May.
    25. Shui Ki Wan & Long Zhao, 2018. "Assessing the role of components of life satisfaction," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(44), pages 4763-4773, September.
    26. D. Shin & D. Johnson, 1978. "Avowed happiness as an overall assessment of the quality of life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 475-492, March.
    27. Florian Pichler, 2006. "Subjective Quality of Life of Young Europeans. Feeling Happy but who Knows why?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 419-444, February.
    28. Feng Kong & Jingjing Zhao & Xuqun You, 2013. "Self-Esteem as Mediator and Moderator of the Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese University Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 151-161, May.
    29. Ed Diener & Eunkook Suh & Heidi Smith & Liang Shao, 1995. "National differences in reported subjective well-being: Why do they occur?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 7-32, January.
    30. Luigino Bruni & Pier Luigi Porta (ed.), 2007. "Handbook on the Economics of Happiness," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3437.
    31. Tversky, Amos & Kahneman, Daniel, 1986. "Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(4), pages 251-278, October.
    32. Dominika Karaś & Jan Cieciuch & Oana Negru & Elisabetta Crocetti, 2015. "Relationships Between Identity and Well-Being in Italian, Polish, and Romanian Emerging Adults," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 727-743, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laura Delgado-Lobete & Rebeca Montes-Montes & Alba Vila-Paz & Miguel-Ángel Talavera-Valverde & José-Manuel Cruz-Valiño & Berta Gándara-Gafo & Adriana Ávila-Álvarez & Sergio Santos-del-Riego, 2020. "Subjective Well-Being in Higher Education: Psychometric Properties of the Satisfaction with Life and Subjective Vitality Scales in Spanish University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Elena Fernández-Martínez & Ana I. López-Alonso & Pilar Marqués-Sánchez & María Cristina Martínez-Fernández & Leticia Sánchez-Valdeón & Cristina Liébana-Presa, 2019. "Emotional Intelligence, Sense of Coherence, Engagement and Coping: A Cross-Sectional Study of University Students’ Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Alina-Mihaela Dima & Claudia-Elena Țuclea & Diana-Maria Vrânceanu & Gabriela Țigu, 2019. "Sustainable Social and Individual Implications of Telework: A New Insight into the Romanian Labor Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-12, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    2. Byela Tibesigwa & Martine Visser & Brennan Hodkinson, 2016. "Effects of Objective and Subjective Income Comparisons on Subjective Wellbeing," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 361-389, August.
    3. Christopher Mackie & Conal Smith, 2015. "Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being And Its Many Dimensions – Implications For Data Collection In Official Statistics And For Policy Relevance," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 16(3), pages 335-372, September.
    4. Lucía Gómez-Balcácer & Noelia Somarriba Arechavala & Patricia Gómez-Costilla, 2023. "The Importance of Different Forms of Social Capital for Happiness in Europe: A Multilevel Structural Equation Model (GSEM)," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 601-624, February.
    5. Selezneva, Ekaterina, 2011. "Surveying transitional experience and subjective well-being: Income, work, family," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 139-157, June.
    6. Cordero, José Manuel & Salinas-Jiménez, Javier & Salinas-Jiménez, M Mar, 2017. "Exploring factors affecting the level of happiness across countries: A conditional robust nonparametric frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(2), pages 663-672.
    7. Ahmadiani, Mona & Ferreira, Susana, 2019. "Environmental amenities and quality of life across the United States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Vinod Mishra & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Relative Income, Temporary Life Shocks and Subjective Wellbeing in the Long-run," Monash Economics Working Papers 51-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    9. Mackie Christopher & Smith Conal, 2015. "Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being and its Many Dimensions – Implications for Data Collection in Official Statistics and for Policy Relevance," Statistics in Transition New Series, Statistics Poland, vol. 16(3), pages 335-372, September.
    10. Can Mavruk & Ersin Kıral & Gülsen Kıral, 2021. "Spatial Effects Over Time-Framed Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 517-554, February.
    11. Conal Smith & Christopher Mackie, 2015. "Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being and its Many Dimensions – Implications for Data Collection in Official Statistics and for Policy Relevance," Statistics in Transition new series, Główny Urząd Statystyczny (Polska), vol. 16(3), pages 335-372, September.
    12. Odermatt, Reto & Stutzer, Alois, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being and Public Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 11102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Cordero, Jose M. & Salinas-Jiménez, Javier & Salinas-Jiménez, Mª Mar, 2014. "Assessing the level of happiness across countries: A robust frontier approach," MPRA Paper 57784, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Juncal Cuñado & Fernando Gracia, 2013. "Environment and Happiness: New Evidence for Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 549-567, July.
    15. Aguilar, Alexandra Cortés & García Muñoz, Teresa M. & Moro-Egido, Ana I., 2013. "Heterogeneous self-employment and satisfaction in Latin America," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 44-61.
    16. Badunenko, Oleg & Cordero, Jose M. & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2021. "Are you slacking? Where do you and your country stand in the happiness pursuit?," MPRA Paper 108316, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Zhenjun Zhu & Zhigang Li & Hongsheng Chen & Ye Liu & Jun Zeng, 2019. "Subjective well-being in China: how much does commuting matter?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1505-1524, August.
    18. Sarracino, Francesco, 2013. "Determinants of subjective well-being in high and low income countries: Do happiness equations differ across countries?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 51-66.
    19. Miha Dominko & Miroslav Verbič, 2019. "The Economics of Subjective Well-Being: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1973-1994, August.
    20. Yuta J. Masuda & Jason R. Williams & Heather Tallis, 2021. "Does Life Satisfaction Vary with Time and Income? Investigating the Relationship Among Free Time, Income, and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2051-2073, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1639-:d:215026. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.