The language of subjective well-being

The Language of Depression project is a linguistic study of the language of Acute Care Hospital patients suffering depression with the ultimate aim of enabling medical and nursing staff to become more aware of their patients’ depression and immediately refer them for psychological or psychiatric help. As part of that larger project, and following recent developments in positive psychology (e.g. Seligman 2002) this paper will focus exclusively on the control group, that is, the language of those Acute Care Hospital patients deemed non-depressed. The data comprise 30 minute interviews between the patients and a Consultation-liaison psychiatrist. Prior to interview, the patients were screened using the Brief Case-find for Depression (Clarke et al. 1994). From the screening, patients were then deemed likely to be depressed and likely to be non-depressed. This paper reports on the analysis of 10 patients deemed as non-depressed. Using the linguistic theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics, the data were analysed for their Appraisal features (e.g. Martin and Rose 2003). Appraisal analysis provides a lexico-semantic analysis that is concerned with how speakers use language to evaluate as well as negotiate relationships. The Appraisal analysis has been used to identify in the language of non-depressed patients the types of attitudes that facilitate psychological well-being. This paper will present some analysed extracts from the interviews to show how key features of subjective well-being are realised in the language of non-depressed Acute Care Hospital patients.

Sources of well-being and commitment of staff in the Australian Disability Employment Services

This study examined the role of working conditions in predicting the psychological health, job satisfaction and organisational commitment of personnel responsible for helping people with disabilities gain employment in the mainstream Australian labour market. The working conditions were assessed using two theories: the Job Strain Model (job demand, social support and job control) and Psychological Contract Theory (unwritten reciprocal obligations between employers and employees). In the case of the Job Strain Model, the generic dimensions had been augmented by industry-specific sources of stress. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in June and July 2005 with 514 staff returning completed questionnaires (representing a response rate of 30%). Comparisons between respondents and non-respondents revealed that on the basis of age, gender and tenure, the sample was broadly representative of employees working in the Australian disability employment sector at that time. The results of regression analyses indicate that social support was predictive of all of the outcome measures. Job control and the honouring of psychological contracts were both predictive of job satisfaction and commitment, while the more situation-specific stressors - treatment and workload stressors - were inversely related to psychological health (i.e. as concern regarding the treatment and workload stressors increased, psychological health decreased). Collectively, these findings suggest that strategies aimed at combating the negative effects of large-scale organisational change could be enhanced by addressing several variables represented in the models - particularly social support, job control, psychological contracts and sector-specific stressors.

Is the Genuine Progress Indicator really genuine? Considering well-being impacts of exports and imports

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is estimated as if nations operate within a closed economy. Therefore, in terms of coverage, the GPI is most analogous to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Indeed, within the relevant literature, these two indicators are most often contrasted. However, consideration should be given to adapting the GPI, so it has more in common with Gross National Income (GNI). As with GDP, the GPI is concerned only with a particular physical location. Yet, it may be more effective if the GPI was freed from these physical boundaries in a similar manner to GNI. The GPI should be concerned more with the 'ownership' of the costs and benefits associated with economic growth than with the 'location' of those costs and benefits. Those that derive the most benefit from exploitation of the environment are often physically removed from the location of that damage. The GPI does not consider the net consumers of the negative externalities of environmental costs, merely the producers. Currently, however, the structure of the GPI allows a nation to enjoy, without penalty, the benefits of importing goods from countries which bear a disproportionately large cost of environmental degradation. This results in an overstatement of the real progress experienced by the county importing 'dirty goods'. This paper will investigate how certain GPI adjustments may be adapted to overcome this present shortcoming. However, the purpose of this paper is not only to empirically implement this new approach, but also to stimulate debate as to its potential merit.

Ecosystems and human well-being : health synthesis

This report synthesizes the findings from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment's (MA) global and sub-global assessments of how ecosystem changes do, or could, affect human health and well-being. Main topics covered are: Food, fresh water, timber, fibre, and fuel, nutrient and waste management, pollution, processing and detoxification, cultural, spiritual and recreational services, climate regulation, and extreme weather events.

Deakin University national index of well being

Discussion on the results of Deakin University National index of well being.

Deakin University national index of well being

Discussion on the results of Deakin University National index of well being.

Subjective well-being as an indicator for clinical depression

The Theory of Homeostasis posits that Subjective Well-being (SWB) is regulated by a dynamic biological mechanism, assisting to maintain a positive view of life. Further, the theory suggests that clinical depression is the loss of SWB due to the defeat of this homeostatic defence system. To test this hypothesis it was predicted that people who were diagnosed as clinically depressed with the Semi-structured Clinical Interview (SCID-1/NP) based on the DSM-IV-TR Axis 1 would have a Personal Well-being Index-Adult (PWI-A) score below the normative range (70–80% of scale maximum). Following ethical approval a sample of 146 men was obtained and each was assessed on the SCID-1/NP and on the PWI-A. Subjects diagnosed as having one of several pathologies such as post traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, social phobia and specific phobia were found to score significantly lower on the PWI-A compared to participants who received no diagnosis. However, as the data did not discriminate between currently depressed and persons with other non-depressive psychopathologies, a Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used to explore this data further. Results indicated that the PWI-A was significantly better than guessing in discriminating clinically depressed cases, but only just so. Therefore, while this research found support for the proposition that the loss of SWB indicated clinical depression, the PWI-A is not sufficiently specific for diagnosis, nor can it be concluded that all instances of depression is the failure of SWB.

Can the internet improve the well-being of the elderly?

In this paper we report on a project that aimed to evaluate the potential of the Internet to reduce social isolation amongst the elderly, and thereby, improve psychosocial functioning. Twenty residents of a retirement village volunteered to be given access to, and training in, the use of computers and the Internet. After 3 months, they exhibited little change in measures of self-esteem, positive affect, personal well-being, optimism and social connectedness. However, they reported that they found the use of the Internet to be of great benefit. Over the 12 months of the study 12 participants discontinued their involvement for a variety of reasons. After 12 months, the eight participants who remained in the study again reported a range of positive outcomes however, quantitative survey data did not confirm these findings of a generally-positive experience. This discrepancy between the qualitative (interview) data and the quantitative (survey) data suggests that impact of the Internet on the wellbeing of the elderly may be more complex than suggested, and broader than was assessed psychometrically. We make specific recommendations about the introduction of computers to elderly with care both in how participants are selected and how their well being is monitored subsequently.

Volunteering and well-being : do self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control mediate the relationship?

Volunteers play a vital role in modern societies by boosting the labor force within both the public and private sectors. While the factors that may lead people to volunteer have been investigated in a number of studies, the means by which volunteering contributes to the well-being of such volunteers is poorly understood. It has been suggested through studies that focus on the absence of depression in volunteers that self-esteem and sense of control may be major determinants of the increased well-being reported by volunteers. This is consistent with the homeostatic model of subjective well-being, which proposes that self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control act as buffers that mediate the relationship between environmental experience and subjective well-being (SWB). Using personal well-being as a more positive measure of well-being than absence of depression, this study further explored the possible mediating role of self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control in the relationship between volunteer status and well-being. Participants (N = 1,219) completed a 97-item survey as part of the Australian Unity Wellbeing project. Variables measured included personal well-being, self-esteem, optimism, and a number of personality and psychological adjustment factors. Analyses revealed that perceived control and optimism, but not self-esteem, mediated the relationship between volunteer status and personal well-being.

Does subjective well-being show a relationship between parents and their children?

The relationship between the subjective well-being of parents and their own 12–16-year-old children was explored in a Spanish sample of N = 266 families. A positive relationship was expected due to both a shared environment and the possibility of the genetic transmission of subjective well-being ‘set-points’. A positive significant relationship was found for the summated scale of satisfaction domains forming the Personal Well-being Index, and for the specific domains of health and security for the future. However, no relationship was found for the other five domains that make up this Index or for satisfaction with life as a whole. We conclude while these results provide some evidence for the expected influence of a shared environment, they have failed to provide evidence for high heritability of set-points for subjective well-being.