There is increasing interest in measuring "whole person" health and deriving an overall summary score. Underlying physical and mental health dimensions have been found consistently in prior studies of self-reported health, but it is unclear whether a single underlying health factor is supported across health domains. We examine the dimensionality of nine domains from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-29+2 profile measure, the PROMIS social isolation scale, the Personal Wellbeing Index, and the EQ-5D-5L preference score in a sample of 1,256 adults with back pain in the United States: mean age was 55 (range 18-94), 52% female, 74% non-Hispanic White, 61% were married or living with a spouse, and the highest level of education completed for 35% of the sample was a high school degree or general education diploma. The sample reported substantially more pain intensity, pain interference, and worse physical function than the U.S. general population. Product-moment correlations among the measures ranged from 0.25 to 0.83 (median correlation = 0.52). A bifactor model showed that a general health factor accounted for most of the covariation among measures, but physical function, pain interference, and pain intensity loaded slightly more on the physical health group factor than on the general health factor. The study provides some support for combining multiple aspects of self-reported health into an overall indicator of whole-person health.

This cross-sectional study examined fear of COVID-19, social participation, loneliness, and adverse psychological health outcomes among Chinese older adults after the pandemic control measures were relaxed. We also tested the correlations among these variables and examined the serial-mediating effects of social participation and loneliness on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and adverse psychological health outcomes. Participants were 508 Chinese elderly individuals ( = 70.53 ± 7.90 years; 56.5% women). We used Pearson correlation analyses and Hayes' PROCESS macro analysis (Model 6). Respondents had a relatively higher level of fear of COVID-19 compared to the general population. Their levels of loneliness, anxiety, and depression were higher than those of Chinese older adults who were surveyed before the restriction policy changed in previous research. The correlations among fear of COVID-19, social participation, loneliness, and adverse psychological health outcomes were significant, supporting the serial-mediating effects of social participation and loneliness on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and adverse psychological health outcomes. Attention should be paid to the mental health issues of Chinese older adults, and the impacts of fear of COVID-19 and social participation on their mental health should be emphasized. Future researchers should use random systematic sampling methods, conduct longitudinal tracking and perform intervention studies.

In the literature on life satisfaction the author came across the hypothesis that happiness oscillates around a set point given by nurture and nature. This assumption implicitly supposes a homeostatic mechanism, which implies resilience against unhappiness. The present paper aims at the exploration and quantitative description of this resilience at the national level, which may be challenged by military conflicts, pandemics, energy crises, etc. In particular, the researcher would like to know, for which European countries the postulated resilience really exists, where the related national set points are, and whether there are limits of unhappiness below which the homeostatic set points cannot be reached anymore. In order to tackle these research questions, country-specific time series of annual happiness between 2007 and 2019 are analyzed by linear and quadratic regressions, where the current national happiness is the independent and the related following level of happiness the dependent variable. By analyzing the resulting regression equations, it is possible to identify and analyze its mathematical fixed points. Depending on whether they are stable or not, they are either homeostatic set points (equilibria) or critical limits, where homeostasis is destroyed. The present empirical analysis reveals that more than 50% of the analyzed European countries have no homeostasis of happiness. Consequently, these countries are psychologically vulnerable with regard to depressing developments like energy crises or pandemics. The remaining cases do often not display the classical form of homeostasis: they have either a shifting set point or only a narrow range, within which the homeostasis of happiness is maintained. Thus, there are only a few European countries with unlimited resilience against unhappiness and a set point that is stable over time.

The COVID-19 pandemic and school closures highlighted the need for research examining the effects of socio-economic status and digital learning on educational performance. Based on a panel dataset from a Chinese high school during school closures in 2020, our study explored whether the digital divide widened during the pandemic. The results showed that digital learning significantly mediates the association of socio-economic status with educational performance. In contrast, the indirect effects of digital learning were not significant before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these effects immediately became significant during school closures and remote education instruction during the pandemic. After the schools reopened, the indirect effects of digital learning declined or even disappeared. Our findings provide new evidence for a widening digital divide during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures.

This paper presents cross-cultural comparisons of well-being among factory workers, as measured by the six well-being domains of happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. Relative ranks of well-being domains across examined groups of workers are also compared. Results are based on survey data from factory workers in Cambodia, China, Mexico, Poland, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Average well-being scores are higher among factory workers in Mexico, China, and Cambodia than in the U.S., Poland, and Sri Lanka across all domains except financial and material stability. Close social relationships were the highest ranked domain in Cambodia and China but ranked much lower (5th) in the U.S. Meaning and purpose, as well as character and virtue were highly ranked across the board. Strong social relationships seem to thrive in contexts where financial insecurity is high.

Relationships between activity engagement and health related quality of life (HRQOL) can differ based on the level of analyses. For instance, greater exercise on average may be linked with lower fatigue across individuals (between-person level), whereas the momentary experience of exercise may be associated with increased fatigue within an individual (within-person level). Disentangling the between- and within-person associations between everyday activities and HRQOL outcomes may provide insights for personalized lifestyle-oriented health promotion efforts for individuals with chronic conditions. The purpose of this paper was to examine the between- and within-person relationships between activity engagement and HRQOL relevant measures in a sample of 92 workers with type 1 diabetes (T1D), from whom we collected ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data 5-6 times daily over 14 days. At each EMA prompt, information was collected on the activity participants just engaged in, and HRQOL relevant metrics (e.g. mental health, blood glucose, fatigue, functioning). Momentary reports of "caring for others", and more frequently "caring for others", were both associated with decreased HRQOL. Reporting napping 10% or more of the time during a person's waking hours, but not the momentary experience of napping, was associated with decreased HRQOL. Momentary reports of sleeping were associated with low activity satisfaction relative to other activities, but higher activity importance. Study results provided a quantitative representation of the lived experience of T1D covering multiple types of activity engagement, which potentially has health promotion implications for workers with T1D.

In an increasingly urbanized world, understanding the determinants of urban well-being will continue to grow in importance. Although the effects of different indicators of living conditions on well-being have been widely studied individually, little is known about their relative impact when examined jointly. In this study, we use a unique multi-source dataset that allows us to investigate the effect and relative importance of a variety of subjectively and objectively assessed aspects of urban living conditions on the subjective well-being (SWB) of German Foreign Service expatriates. The study captures living conditions in metropolises around the world at different stages of development, and assesses living conditions in a culturally comparably homogeneous set of participants, thus being potentially less confounded with cultural differences. Using linear regression and dominance analysis, we find that 'quality of and access to nature' (i.e., green space), 'quality of housing', and 'quality of public goods' (i.e., water, air, and sewage systems) have the strongest associations with SWB. Subjectively rated characteristics show stronger associations with SWB than externally assessed characteristics. Additionally, we examine whether the size of a city or the level of development of a country has an effect on SWB. Both living in a megacity (≥ 10 million inhabitants) and a lower development status have negative effects on SWB. However, these effects disappear when the various indicators of living conditions are controlled for. Our findings can inform organisations sending employees abroad as well as urban planners seeking to improve their policies and decision-making.

The objective of this work is to deepen the analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of mental health, paying special attention to the impact of inequality, not only in income distribution but also in gender, racial, health and education inequality, social isolation, including new variables to measure loneliness, and healthy habits, on the mental health status. For this purpose, a cross-sectional model for a sample of 2735 counties in the United States is estimated using Ordinary Least Squares in its robust version to solve the detected heteroscedasticity problems. The results obtained show that inequality, social isolation and certain lifestyles, such as smoking or insomnia, are detrimental to mental health, while sexual activity prevents mental distress. On the other hand, poor counties suffer more cases of suicide, with food insecurity being the main problem for mental health. Finally, we found detrimental effects of pollution on mental health.

While positive emotions like happiness and life satisfaction have received great attention, how to eliminate negative affect is largely neglected. This study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between Internet use and people's negative affect. Unlike previous studies that consider only one indicator, we capture negative affect from different dimensions by considering loneliness, sadness, and life hardship. We employ an endogenous ordered probit model to address the selection bias of Internet use and analyze the 20,107 individual-level samples sourced from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies survey. The results show that Internet use significantly reduces people's loneliness, sadness, and life hardship. We also find that studying online and watching short videos would increase people's loneliness feeling and shopping online deepens people's life hardship. In contrast, using WeChat significantly reduces sadness and life hardship. Our findings confirm that guiding people to use the Internet appropriately is necessary to reduce negative affect and improve the quality of their life.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a generally high level of state anxiety resulting from the high contagiousness of the disease and strict prevention and control policies. The present study mainly focused on the relationship between the individual intolerance of uncertainty and state anxiety in the regular epidemic prevention and control phase in China, and aimed to investigate the mediating role of information overload and rumination, as well as the moderating role of self-compassion. A total of 992 Chinese residents from 31 provinces participated in this study, and completed questionnaires regarding intolerance of uncertainty, information overload, self-compassion, rumination, and state anxiety. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses, as well as tests for mediating effects and moderated chain mediating effects, were performed on the data using SPSS 26.0 and Process 3.5 macro program. The findings indicated that intolerance of uncertainty significantly predicted individual state anxiety. Information overload mediates the effects of intolerance of uncertainty and state anxiety. Rumination also mediates the effect of uncertainty intolerance on state anxiety. Information overload and rumination have a chain mediation effect on the link between intolerance of uncertainty and state anxiety. Self-compassion mediates the effect of information overload on rumination. The results illuminate theoretical and practical implications in the regular epidemic prevention and control phases and reveal the protective role of self-compassion.

The Chinese government has invested much money to help poor college students complete their studies, but the gratitude of the recipients remains to be further studied. This study proposed a parallel mediation model and used questionnaires to investigate 260 thousand college students of China to examine the impact of the level of social support on poor college students' gratitude and the mediating role played by social responsibility and relative deprivation. The results showed that social support positively predicted the gratitude level of poor college students; social responsibility and relative deprivation mediated the relationship between social support and gratitude; gender, school type and difficulty level had a significant influence on gratitude level. In short, education to improve the sense of gratitude of poor college students can be summarized as "two increases and one decrease": increase social support, enhance social responsibility, and reduce relative deprivation.

Drawing on data from the 2008 U.S. National Study of the Changing Workforce, this study (1) examines the associations between access to three types of flexible working arrangements-flextime, flexplace, and culture of flexibility-and psychological distress, (2) tests the mediating roles of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment, and (3) investigates whether these relationships differ by workers' childcare or elder-care obligations as they intersect with gender. Results show that a flexible workplace culture, but not access to flextime or flexplace, is associated with lower psychological distress. Work-family conflict and work-family enrichment partially mediate the relationship between culture of flexibility and psychological distress. In addition, the negative effect of culture of flexibility on psychological distress is stronger among workers sandwiched between preschool childcare and elder-care compared with those with neither caregiving obligations, a pattern especially pronounced among women. We discuss these results and their implications for organizational practices and worker well-being.

In recent years, improving work autonomy as an important priority in the UK labour market has been shown to enhance employee mental health and well-being. However, previous theories and empirical studies have paid little attention to the intersectional inequalities in the mental health benefits of work autonomy, preventing us from gaining a comprehensive understanding of the mental consequences of work autonomy. By integrating literature from occupational psychology, gender and social class, this study develops theoretical hypotheses regarding whether and how the mental health benefits of work autonomy vary alongside the intersectional axes of gender and occupational class and tests these hypotheses using long-term panel data in the UK (2010-2021). Overall, we find that those from higher occupational class and male employees acquire significantly more mental health benefits from high work autonomy compared with those from lower occupational class and female employees. Moreover, further analyses show significant intersectional inequalities of gender and occupational class. While male employees from all occupational classes gain significant mental health benefits from work autonomy, only female employees from higher (but not lower) occupational classes benefit from work autonomy. These findings contribute to the literature in the sociology of work by demonstrating the intersectional inequalities in mental health consequences of work autonomy, especially for women in the lower occupational class, highlighting the need for a more gender- and occupation-sensitive design in future labour market policies.

COVID-19 has generated many negative impacts on the family, including impaired psychological well-being of family members (parents and children) and family processes (such as parenting and family functioning). Regarding social policies to support families under the pandemic, there are several missing links. First, COVID-19 related policies mainly focus on physical well-being with a relatively weaker emphasis on psychological well-being. Second, with social policies primarily aiming at stabilizing the "financial capital" of the public, human capital (particularly personal resilience) and social capital (particularly family resilience) are relatively neglected. Third, while "general" social policies may help "averaged" individuals and families, there is a need to take pre-existing family vulnerabilities (such as poverty and caregiving burdens) and inequalities into account when formulating "down to earth" social policies. Fourth, while social science knowledge and theories have important potential contributions to help develop relevant policies and services to promote quality of life under COVID-19, explicit utilization is not strong. With reference to these missing links, we proposed several research and practice directions for the promotion of quality of life under the pandemic.

To inhibit the spread of COVID-19 Public health officials stress, and governments often require, restrictions on social interaction ("social distancing"). While the medical benefits are clear, important questions remain about these measures' downsides: How bitter is this medicine? Ten large non-probability internet-based surveys between April and November 2020, weighted statistically to reflect the US population in age, education, and religious background and excluding respondents who even occasionally role-played rather than giving their own true views;  = 6,223. Pre-epidemic data from 2017-2019,  = 4,032. Reliable multiple-item scales including subjective wellbeing (2 European Quality of Life Survey items, Cronbach's alpha = .85); distancing attitudes (5 items, alpha = .87); distancing behavior e.g., standing 6' apart in public (5 items, alpha = .80); emotional cost of distancing and restrictions on social interaction (8-12 items, alpha = .94); and an extensive suite of controls (19 variables). Descriptive statistics, OLS regression, structural equation models. Subjective wellbeing is greater for those who approve of distancing, for those who practice distancing, and particularly for those whose distancing attitudes and behavior are congruent, either both in favor or both opposed (multiplicative interaction). The emotional cost of distancing is strongly tied to wellbeing and is heterogeneous, with some disliking distancing much more than others. An SEM model suggests causality: that emotional costs strongly reduce wellbeing but not vice-versa. During the epidemic, COVID issues constitute two of the top 5 influences on wellbeing, behind only subjective health and religious belief and tied with income. All this is net of family background, religious origins, age, ethnicity, race, gender, rural residence, education, occupational status, marriage, unemployment, income, health, religion, and political party.

The impact of residential proximity (RP) to EPA-designated Superfund sites on personal well-being remains understudied. This study evaluated the well-being of residents living near a former uranium processing facility in Fernald, Ohio, now a Superfund site, which emitted significant amounts of radioactive hazardous waste. Baseline data were collected from 7,957 participants who voluntarily enrolled in the Fernald Community Cohort. Participants completed the Health Risk Appraisal (HRA), which assessed four well-being indicators: Life Satisfaction, Life in Control, Life Perspective, and Overall Physical Health. Separate multivariable ordinal logistic regression models were used to evaluate the cross-sectional relationship between RP and well-being outcomes. The results indicated that residents living within a 1-mile radius of the Superfund site had 38% greater odds of reporting lower Life Satisfaction compared to those residing 4-5 miles away [OR 1.38, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.64]. In the fully adjusted models, other significant risk factors emerged. Participants who reported two or more recent misfortunes in the past year were more likely to report a negative Life Perspective [OR 2.79, 95% CI: 2.36, 3.32]. Additionally, those with a weakened social ties had significantly higher odds of reporting diminished Life Satisfaction [OR 5.16, 95% CI: 4.33, 6.16]. This study identified RP to a Superfund site and psychosocial characteristics as significant predictors of well-being. Given the global prevalence of contaminated sites, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions, further investigation into their impact on local communities is essential.

This study investigates childhood predictors of adult hope across 22 countries, leveraging data from 202,898 participants in the Global Flourishing Study. Key findings indicate that positive childhood experiences, such as excellent or very good health, supportive parental relationships, and regular religious attendance, are strongly associated with higher levels of hope in adulthood. Conversely, negative experiences like abuse and feeling like an outsider during childhood are linked to lower levels of hope. In many countries, excellent self-rated health during childhood emerged as a strong predictor of future hope (β = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.65), whereas experiences of abuse correlated with lower hope levels (β = -0.16, 95% CI: -0.22, -0.10). The association between attending religious services during childhood and future hope showed notable variation in effect sizes across countries, with weekly childhood attendance in Sweden demonstrating a significant increase in hope (β = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.54) on weekly attendance, while Indonesia also showed a significant but smaller increase (β = 0.18, 95% CI: -0.04, 0.40), with Argentina showing essentially no association (β = 0.03, 95% CI: -0.13, 0.20). The impact of parental relationships varied, with notable differences observed in countries like Germany and India. These associations were robust to potential confounding, as indicated by sensitivity analyses using E-values. This cross-national study underscores the potential role of early life experiences in shaping hope, offering valuable benchmarks for future research and interventions aimed at fostering hope from a young age in diverse cultural contexts.

Research regarding workers' well-being over time during COVID-19 has primarily used variable-centered approaches (e.g., ANOVA) to explore changes in negative well-being. However, variable-centered approaches provide insufficient information on the different well-being experiences that diverse workers may have experienced during COVID-19. Furthermore, researchers have understudied positive well-being in workers' general lives and work during COVID-19. We used latent trajectory analysis, a person-centered analysis, to explore diverse well-being trajectories Canadian workers experienced during the first few months of COVID-19 across distress, flourishing, presenteeism, and thriving at work measures. We hypothesized that: H1) Intragroup differences would be present on each well-being indicator at study onset; H2) Different longitudinal trajectories would emerge for each well-being indicator (i.e., some workers' scores would get better, some would get worse, and some would remain the same); and H3) Factors at different ecological levels (self, social, workplace, pandemic) would predict membership to the different trajectories. Canadian workers ( = 648) were surveyed March 20-27th, April 3rd-10th, and May 20-27th of 2020. Depending on the well-being indicator, and supporting H1, three to five well-being trajectories were identified. Providing some support for H2, distress and presenteeism trajectories improved over time or stayed stagnant; flourishing and thriving at work trajectories worsened or stayed stagnant. Providing some support for H3, self- (gender, age, disability status, trait resilience), social- (family functioning), workplace- (employment status, financial strain, sense of job security), and pandemic-related (perceived vulnerability to COVID-19) factors significantly predicted well-being trajectory membership. Recommendations for diverse stakeholders (e.g., employers, mental health organizations) are discussed.

Despite the growing consensus that midlife appears to be a particularly vulnerable life phase for lower mental health and wellbeing, little is known about the potential reasons for this phenomenon or who the individuals at higher risk are. Our study used six waves (2013-2018) of the Swiss Household Panel (n = 5,315), to compare the distribution of mental health and wellbeing, as well as their key correlates, between midlife (40-55 years) and younger adults (25-39 years) in Switzerland. Moreover, using network analysis to investigate interrelationships across life domains, we describe the complex interrelations between multiple domain-specific correlates and indicators of both mental health and wellbeing across the two age groups. Middle-aged (age 40-55) individuals reported lower life satisfaction and joy, as well as higher anger, sadness, and worry than young adults (age 25-39), with the effect sizes reaching up to 0.20 Cohen's d. They also reported lower social support, relationships satisfaction, health satisfaction, and higher job demands and job insecurity. Relationships satisfaction and social support were the most consistent correlates across all three indicators of wellbeing in both age groups. Health satisfaction was more strongly, and directly, interrelated with energy and optimism in midlife compared with young adulthood (0.21 vs 0.12, p = 0.007). Job demands were more strongly linked with anger and sadness in midlife. The network model helped us to identify correlates or their clusters with direct and strong links to mental health and wellbeing. We hypothesised that health satisfaction, relationships satisfaction, social support, and job demands may help to explain worse mental health and wellbeing in midlife.

This qualitative study explored the role of neglected properties and neighborhood environment characteristics on a sample of New Orleans, Louisiana residents' health and well-being, sense of community, sense of safety, and civic engagement. We hypothesized that residents would identify conditions of their neighborhood's physical environment, including neglected properties, as one factor that impacted their health and other aspects of well-being. Seventy-four (N = 74) participants, including women, men, youth, young adults, and community leaders, took part in 11 focus groups (n = 51) and 23 key informant interviews. Thematic content analysis through inductive and deductive coding cycles of interview transcripts revealed five main categories related to urban neighborhood-built and social environments: 1) health and well-being, 2) sense of community, 3) sense of safety, 4) civic engagement, and 5) youth and family violence. Ten themes were developed and included, for example, the role of neighborhoods in delineating access to health-promoting characteristics and resources; the role of neighborhood social networks as crime prevention strategies; resident-led decision-making in neighborhood improvements; the negative impact of neglected properties; and the role of the local government in improving physical infrastructure. These findings affirm that residents were aware of and impacted by the cyclical nature of built environment neglect on health and well-being, community violence, neighborhood cohesion, civic engagement, and youth violence. Participants recommended improving neighborhood conditions to shift resident mindsets about the health of neighborhoods, reduce violence, and improve quality of life.

A robust body of empirical evidence suggests that forgiveness of others is positively related to individual wellbeing. However, less empirical work has been done to identify the factors that may help children not only forgive better during childhood but also develop into adults who practice forgiveness more consistently. To support a population health agenda aimed at the promotion of forgiveness, further research is needed to identify potential determinants of forgiveness. In this preregistered study, we used the first wave of nationally representative data from 22 countries included in the Global Flourishing Study ( = 202,898) to explore associations of 13 individual characteristics and retrospectively assessed childhood factors with dispositional forgivingness in adulthood. We estimated country-level modified Poisson models in which forgivingness was regressed on all candidate predictors, and then aggregated results for the 11 predictors that were common across countries using a random effects meta-analysis. Risk ratios from the meta-analyses showed that a combination of individual characteristics (e.g., older birth cohort, female gender), early life conditions or experiences (e.g., more frequent religious service attendance, better health, more secure family financial status), and social circumstances or influences when growing up (e.g., higher quality maternal and paternal relationships) were associated with a higher likelihood of forgivingness in adulthood. Associations were somewhat heterogeneous across the countries. Our findings suggest that childhood may be important in shaping forgivingness in adulthood and provide some potential foci for population-level interventions.