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.

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.

Measuring life balance through discrepancy theories and subjective well-being

The concept of life balance implies that there is some optimal time allocation between the various forms o(human activity we engage in each day. So life balance can be measured by the size of the discrepancy between how we should and how we do allocate our time.
If someone chooses to spend all of their discretionary time writing poetry, is this a balanced life? Many people would say no. They would judge such a life to be imbalanced because life is full of competing demands, and writing poetry all day means that other aspects of life are neglected.
But is this just an imposed value judgment, or does the concept of a balanced life have deeper meaning? The answer must lie with whatever we use to measure the outcome. Any conclusion that balance is better than imbalance must be based on empirical evidence. So, what should be measured?

The language of Well-Being

The language of Well-Being is a linguistic analysis of acute hospital patients not suffering depression. Despite patients' ill health, their language revealed a 'positive' attitude, particularly a capacity to be resilient, extroverted and optimistic. This thesis describes the language that 'works' for mentally healthy people in extremely challenging circumstances.

Controlling subjective well-being

This thesis focused on the impact of disordered eating and obesity, and found that people with better self-esteem and personal control experience greater satisfaction with their lives overall. Although people reporting disordered eating reported lower self-esteem and obese people were less satisfied with their health, overall life satisfaction was maintained. The portfolio examined the Scientist-Practitioner Model (S-P) of psychology whereby practitioners perform dual roles as clinician and researcher. The clinical utility of the S-P model was then evaluated in four case studies.

Subjective well-being

This thesis challenges the orthodox view in the quality of life field by demonstrating, using different methodologies across multiple samples, that subjective judgments of life satisfaction are determined by an individual's affective style, rather than cognition or personality. This suggests that subjective wellbeing is a function of our Core Affect.

The processes through which Affect infuses judgements of subjective well-being

This thesis clarifies the processing routes through which Affect can influence global subjective well-being, and reveals that the strength of these processing routes is moderated by dispositional factors. This has important implications that furthers understanding in the field of subjective well-being. The portfolio focuses on the client characteristics that are indicated to be influential upon the effectiveness, and thus the suitability of cognitive behavioural therapy. Four case studies are presented which illustrate how the suitability of CBT can be influenced by client factors.

Women's psychosocial well-being following a major life transition

Some women are devastated by divorce, while others learn from the experience. In-depth interviews with sole-parenting women yielded themes that were then assessed using structured questionnaires. Statistical models showed that psychological adjustment and physical well-being related more strongly to psychological factors, such as sense of coherence, than to situational variables.

Measuring non-economic well-being achievement

Income per capita and most widely reported, non- or non-exclusively income based human well-being indicators are highly correlated among countries. Yet many countries exhibit higher achievement in the latter than predicted by the former. The reverse is true for many other countries. This paper commences by extracting the inter-country variation in a composite of various widely-reported, non-income-based well-being indices not accounted for by variations in income pre capita. This extraction is interpreted inter alia as a measure of non-economic well-being. The paper then looks at correlations between this extraction and a number of new or less widely-used well-being measures, in an attempt to find the measure that best captures these achievements. A number of indicators are examined, including measures of poverty, inequality, health status, education status, gender bias, empowerment, governance and subjective well-being.

Well-being achievement in Pacific Asia

The world has undergone rapid and tremendous change in recent decades. While many nations have achieved ever-higher per capita incomes, and higher well-being according to traditional measures, they have also experienced profound internal change. This change has lead to widespread concerns regarding social exclusion, human security, levels of personal satisfaction and happiness. Other countries have faired much less well, as according to many well-being measures they are worse off than they were 10 or 20 years ago. Life expectancies, for example, have fallen dramatically in many countries and are likely to fall substantially in others. The incidence of income poverty is higher today in many countries than it was ten years ago. Worldwide, more than a billion people currently live on less than one dollar per day. Social science research on living standards, human well-being and quality of life has come a long way over recent years, altering in response to changing global conditions, new research priorities, new conceptualisations and improved data resources. Twenty five years ago, national well-being achievement comparisons relied very heavily, and in some circles exclusively, on measures of income per capita. The same exercise would today be based a range of indicators, including summary measures of human well-being such as the well-known Human Development Index (UNDP, 2005). This is consistent with the commonly accepted view that human well-being is best treated as a multidimensional concept along the lines advocated by Sen (1985, 1993), Stewart (1985), Doyal & Gough (1991), Ramsay (1992), Cummins (1996), Narayan et al. (2000) or Nussbaum (2000) and others, as summarised in Alkire (2002). This view tends not to reject the relevance of income based or economic measures per se, simply positing that there is more to well-being achievement than simply increasing incomes. The widespread acceptance that well-being is multidimensional has more recently been accompanied by another important recognition. This relates not so much to current levels of well-being, but to the likelihood of declines in future levels. This recognition has spawned a rapidly growing literature on what is now termed as ‘vulnerability’. The vulnerability literature has primarily been concerned with the likelihood of individuals falling below the poverty line, be it defined in terms of income, consumption or health. Among the influential early vulnerability studies are Ravallion (1998), Jalan & Ravallion (1998) and Dercon & Krishnan (1999), each of which distinguished between transient and chronic poverty.

Non-economic well-being achievement in Pacific Asia

It is well known that income per capita and most widely reported non-economic well-being achievement measures are highly correlated among countries. Yet many countries exhibit higher achievement in the latter than predicted by the former. The reverse is true for many other countries. This paper commences by extracting the inter-country variation in a composite of three widely reported educational and health status indicators not accounted for by variations in income per capita. This extraction is interpreted inter alia as a measure of non-economic well-being. Using data for a sample of Pacific Asian countries, the paper then looks at correlations between this extraction and a number of new or less widely-used well-being measures, in an attempt to find the measure that best captures these achievements.

Fuzzy well-being in Pacific Asia

This paper develops a framework that uses fuzzy-set theory to measure human well-being. Fuzzy sets allow for gradual transition from one state to another while also allowing one to incorporate rules and goals, and hence are more appropriate for measuring outcomes that are ambiguous. Such ambiguity is an inherent characteristic of cross-country achieved well-being assessments. This framework is used to provide a fuzzy representation of the well known Human Development Index (HDI) and its three components. Fuzzy HDI estimates for 14 Pacific Asian countries are provided and compared with non-fuzzy estimates. Quite large differences in rankings emerge. The paper concludes by suggesting that fuzzy measures should be used more widely to measure achieved well-being outcomes.

Subjective well-being maintenance

This thesis research examined the relationship between SWB and depression in the context of homeostasis theory. Results provide support for homeostasis as the SWB maintenance mechanism and strong support for conceptualising depression as a loss of SWB. Remarkable, results also indicate that some SWB measures outperform depression inventories in detecting depression. The portfolio uses attachment theory as a conceptual framework for understanding the contribution of attachment relationships to the development of borderline and antisocial personality pathology in children and adolescents. Four case studies are presented in illustration.

Annual high-dose vitamin D3 and mental well-being: randomised controlled trial

Background Epidemiological evidence supports a relationship between vitamin D and mental well-being, although evidence from large-scale placebo-controlled intervention trials is lacking.

Aims To examine if vitamin D supplementation has a beneficial effect on mood in community-dwelling older women; if a single annual large dose of vitamin D has a role in the prevention of depressive symptoms; and if there is an association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and mental health.

Method A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of women aged 70 or older (the Vital D Study: ISRCTN83409867 and ACTR12605000658617). Participants were randomly assigned to receive 500 000 IU vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) orally or placebo every autumn/winter for 3–5 consecutive years. The tools utilised at various time points were the General Health Questionnaire, the 12-item Short Form Health Survey, the Patient Global Impression–Improvement scale and the WHO Well-Being Index. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were measured in a subset of 102 participants.

Results In this non-clinical population, no significant differences between the vitamin D and placebo groups were detected in any of the measured outcomes of mental health. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in the vitamin D group were 41% higher than the placebo group 12 months following their annual dose. Despite this difference, scores from the questionnaires did not differ. Furthermore, there was no interaction between those on antidepressant/anxiety medication at baseline and the treatment groups.

Conclusions The lack of improvement in indices of mental well-being in the vitamin D group does not support the hypothesis that an annual high dose of vitamin D3 is a practical intervention to prevent depressive symptoms in older community-dwelling women.

A 32 year longitudinal study of child and adolescent pathways to well-being in adulthood

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relative importance of child and adolescent social and academic pathways to well-being in adulthood (32-years) indicated by a sense of meaning, social engagement, positive coping and prosocial values. Data were drawn from a 15 wave (32-year) longitudinal study of the health and development of around 1000 New Zealanders (Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, New Zealand). Moderate continuity in social connectedness (0.38) and high continuity in academic ability (0.90) was observed across childhood and adolescence. Adolescent social connectedness was a better predictor of adult well-being than academic achievement (0.62 vs. 0.12). There was evidence of an indirect pathway from adolescent academic achievement to adult well-being through social connectedness (0.29). Indicators of well-being in adulthood appear to be better explained by social connection rather than academic competencies pathways. Implications for promoting longer term well-being during the school years are discussed.