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ResearchingResearching QualityQuality of Life in Europe:of Life in Europe:A A DecadeDecade of Progressof Progress
HeinzHeinz--Herbert Noll Herbert Noll ZUMA ZUMA -- Centre Centre forfor SurveySurvey Research and Research and MethodologyMethodologyMannheimMannheim
ECSR Conference "Comparative European Studies - Assessing 10 Years of Sociological Research 1995-2005
Paris, November 25-26, 2005
Quality of Life
! normative conceptualisation of the ‚good life andsociety‘
! goal of societal development in postindustrialsocieties
Characteristics and Ambiguities of the ‚QoL‘ -Concept" multidimensional rather than unidimensional
" different from wealth and material standard of living
# either in the sense of going beyond material wealth by including alsoimmaterial and collective components like freedom, equity, socialcapital, self-fulfillment, happiness etc.
# or in the sense of a contradiction to material wealth, emphasizingpost-materialist, critical views of the affluent society (limits to growth,ecological concerns etc.)
" focussing on the ‚good life‘ of individuals and / or the „good society“
" covering objective living conditions and / or subjective well-being
Source: P. Schyns 2003
Key Questions of Research on Subjective Well-Being:
General:
" what are the components of and how to model SWB (overall; domain-specific)?
" is SWB a state or a trait (e.g. set-point theory)?
" what are the causes and correlates of SWB?
Comparative European Research
" what are the crossnational differences in SBW (levels, changes)?
" are there specific patterns of country differences?
" how are country differences to be explained?
" to which extent may causes and correlates of SWB be generalised across countries?
Richard Layard: Happiness - Lessons From a New Science. The Penguin Press 2005
Numerous Publications in Recent Decade, e.g.
Alber/Fahey 2004: Perceptions of living conditions in an enlarged Europe. Argyle 1999: Causes and Correlates of Happiness.Blanchflower/Oswald 2000: Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USABjornskov et al. 2005: What Buys Happiness? Analyzing Trends in Subjective Well-Being in 15 European Countries.Böhnke 2005: Life satisfaction, happiness and sense of belonging. Christoph/Noll 2003: Subjective Well-Being in the European Union during the 1990s. Clark et al. 2004: Heterogeneity in Reported Well-Being: Evidence From Twelve European Countries. Delhey 2004 : Life satisfaction in an enlarged Europe. Diener, et.al. 1999: Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress.Donovan/Halpern 2002: Life Satisfaction: the state of knowledge and implications for government.Duncan 2005: What do we mean by “Happiness”? The relevance of subjective wellbeing to social policyEasterlin 2001. Why rising incomes makes us no happierFrey/Stutzer 2002: Happiness and EconomicsGasper 2004: Subjective and Objective Well-Being in Relation to Economic Inputs: Puzzles and Responses. Gough, Ian (2003): Human Well-Being: Bridging Objective and Subjective Approaches. Hagerty/Veenhoven 2003: Wealth and Happiness revisited. Growing wealth of nations does go with greater happiness. Hayo/Seifert 2002: Subjective Economic Well-being in Eastern Europe. Headey/Muffels / Wooden 2004: Money doesn´t buy happiness – or does it? Inglehart/Klingemann2000: Genes, Culture, Democracy, and Happiness.Kahnemann/Diener/Schwarz 1999: Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Lane 1996: Quality of Life and Quality of Persons: A New Role for Government?Offer 1996: In Pursuit of the Quality of Life. Rose 2003: Health, Money and Wellbeing. Subjective Responses to Post-Soviet TransformationSanfey/Teksoz 2005 : Does transition make you happy ?Schyns 2003: Income and life satisfaction - A cross-national and longitudinal studyVan Praag / Ferrer-I-Carbonell 2004: Happiness Quantified. A Satisfaction Calculus Approach. Veenhoven 2005: Is Life Getting Better? How long and happy people live in modern society.
Reports in: The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazin, BBC, Times, Der Spiegel, DIE ZEIT etc.
RecentBoom in
SWB Research
Survey-Data for Comparative European Quality of Life Research
" Eurobarometer - EU Commission
- since 1973 Standard EB + Central and Eastern EB +CCEB.
" European Community Household Panel – Eurostat
- 1994 – 2001; 1994 EU-12 + Austria, Finland (since 1995/96)
" European Values Study
- 3 waves of data collection: 1981; 1990; 1999/2000 (33 countries)
" European Social Survey
- since 2002/2003; round 2 = 25 countries;
Additonal information in rotating modules:
Wave 2: Family Work and Well-beingWave 3: Personal and Social Well-being
" European Foundation's "Quality of Life Survey"
- 2003; 28 Countries (EU 25 + current CC) - not yet available for public use
European Social Survey
Differences in Survey Methodology, e.g.
" Question Wording, e.g. Eurobarometer „satisfied with life you lead“
" Scales Used
- Eurobarometer: 1-4; EVS: 1-10; ESS: 0-10
" Sampling Procedures, etc.
Life Satisfaction - EVS 1999/2000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
UkraineRussia
BelarusLithuaniaRomania
LatviaBulgariaHungaryEstonia
SlovakiaPolandGreeceCroatiaFrance
PortugalCzech Rep
SpainItaly
E. GermanySlovenia
Gt. BritainBelgium
W. GermanySweden
LuxembourgNetherlands
FinlandNth Ireland
AustriaIcelandIreland
MaltaDenmark
Others
NMS
EU 15
Scale: 1 = Extremely dissatisfied, 10 = Extremely satisfied
Life Satisfaction - Change Across Time% very / fairly satisfied
0,0
10,0
20,0
30,0
40,0
50,0
60,0
70,0
80,0
90,0
100,0
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
1 France 2 BELGIUM 3 NETHERLANDS Germany 5 ITALY 6 LUXEMBOURG
7 DENMARK 8 IRELAND United Kindom 11 GREECE 12 SPAIN 13 PORTUGAL
Database: Eurobarometer
Figure 1: Development of General Life Satisfaction in the EU.Source: Eurobarometer Studies Between 1991 and 2000
Social-Democratic (Nordic) Conservative (Central A)
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
1991 1994 1997 2000
Mea
n (
1=N
ot
at a
ll sa
tisf
ied
; 4=
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
)
FIN S DK EU-Average
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
1991 1994 1997 2000
Mea
n (
1=N
ot
at a
ll sa
tisf
ied
; 4=
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
)
NL AUS BF D-W DD-E EU-Average
Liberal (Central B) Rudimentary (Southern)
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
1991 1994 1997 2000
Mea
n (
1=N
ot
at a
ll sa
tisf
ied
; 4=
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
)
IRL UK EU-Average
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
1991 1994 1997 2000
Mea
n (
1=N
ot
at a
ll sa
tisf
ied
; 4=
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
)
E I P GR EU-Average
Source: B. Christoph, H.-H. Noll: Subjective Well-being in the Euro-pean Union During the 1990ies. Social Indicators Research, Vol. 64, 2003: 521-546
Why are the Belgians so much happier than the French …and why are the Dutch so much happier than the Germans?
Levels of Explanation:
- aggregate level characteristics of societies: e.g. GDP, Income inequality, Welfare State Type,Health Care System, Cultural Traits, Values etc.
- individual level characteristics (objective conditions; subjective perceptions): e.g. income,employment situation, family status, health status, housing conditions, age etc.
- combination of both
Methodological Concerns:
- differences in SWB might reflect language differences (+ other problems of equivalence anddata comparability)
- differences in SWB might be due to specificies in response behavior
Source:
J. Delhey 2004 $$ $
Research on Patterns, Causes and Correlates of SWBe.g.
- Age and Sex differences
- Income differences
- Educational differences
- Cultural, religous differences
- Life course patterns
- Impact of life events, e.g. unemployment, marriage, divorce, retirement, health impairments
- Effects of institutional backgrounds
SWB - Causes and Correlates
Example Income
! 4 Perspectives:
- Within Nation Correlations - Crossectional
- Between-Nation Differences - Crossectional
- Income Change Individual Level Across Life Time
- Income Change National Level Across Time
23
45
67
89
10P
redi
cted
val
ues
on s
cale
0 -
10
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000EURO
Life Satisfaction by Household-Income* – Germany 2004
* Equivalised HH-Income, modified OECD ScaleDatabase: SOEP
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
EU
15
NM
S
Luxe
mbo
urg
Irel
and
Den
mar
k
Net
herla
nds
Aus
tria
Bel
gium
Sw
eden UK
Fra
nce
Fin
land
Ger
man
y
Ital
y
Spa
in
Cyp
rus
Por
tuga
l
Mal
ta
Slo
veni
a
Gre
ece
Cze
ch R
epub
lic
Hun
gary
Slo
vaki
a
Pol
and
Est
onia
Lith
uani
a
Latv
ia
Bul
garia
Rom
ania
Tur
key
life
satis
fact
ion
bottom quartile
2nd quartile
3rd quartile
top quartlie
Life Satisfaction by HH-Income
Source: P. Böhnke (2005): Life satisfaction, happiness and sense of belonging. Luxembourg.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000 55000
GDP per capita 2000
Lif
e sa
tisf
acti
on
200
0
L
M
HR
RUS
B
F
HU
CZ
UA
BG
GRPL
BY
EST
ES
SLO
IRLDK
FIN
S
A
D
SK
P
IS
GB
Between-Nation Differences:Life Satisfaction (EVS) by GDP per Capita in PPP
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
1973
=10
0
GDP/capita
Life Satisfaction
France
Ireland
Database:Eurobarometer; OECD
Income Change National Level
0,0
50,0
100,0
150,0
200,0
250,0
300,0
350,0
400,0
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
1973
=10
0
GDP/capita
Life Satisfaction
80,0
90,0
100,0
110,0
120,0
130,0
140,0
150,0
160,0
170,0
180,0
1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
1981
=10
0
GDP/capita
Life Satisfaction
Greece
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
1985
=10
0 GDP/capita
Life Satisfaction
Portugal
Database:Eurobarometer; OECD
Income Change Individual Level
does SWB increase with growing income?
– yes, but ...
- effect usually only temporary
- effect stronger at lower income levels (diminishing marginal returns)
- relative income growth more important than absolute
Two processes at work:
1) ! mechanism of rising aspirations and expectations: the more we getthe more we want
or …! ‘hedonic treadmill’: more and more income and material wealth isrequested to maintain the same level of SWB (at least diminishingmarginal returns of income and material wealth)
2) ! alternative explanation: it is not average absolute income growththat matters most, but relative improvements compared to standards ofcomparison (e.g. Easterlin Hypothesis)
! only above average, friends‘, neighbours‘, colleagues‘ income growthleads to increase in SWB
Why don’t we get happier across time, when we have more?
A Decade of Progress?
- Steep Career of Quality of Life Concept in Science and Policy Making
- Significant Improvements in Data Availability
- longitudinal data sets, e.g. household panels
- cross national / cultural data sets
- Progress in science based as well as policy driven social monitoring and reporting
- Booming Interest in SWB / Happiness Research
- Enormous Progress in Empirical Comparative Research
(e.g. mapping of SWB and other components of QoL; explanations of countrydifferences, test of associations in different settings )
- ...and as a Result also in General Knowledge and Theory
! More Research needed ...e.g. SWB:
- dynamics of adaptation processes- standards of comparison- interplay of personality and external factors