The Psychology of Quality of Life: Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health

804 Pages·2021·11.145 MB·English

by  M. Joseph Sirgy

Social Indicators Research Series 83
M. Joseph Sirgy
The Psychology
of Quality
of Life
Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health
Third Edition
Social Indicators Research Series
Volume 83
SeriesEditor
Alex C. Michalos, Faculty of Arts Office, Brandon University, Brandon, MB,
Canada
EditorialBoardMembers
EdDiener,PsychologyDepartment,UniversityofIllinois,Champaign,IL,USA
WolfgangGlatzer,J.W.GoetheUniversity,FrankfurtamMain,Hessen,Germany
TorbjornMoum,UniversityofOslo,Blindern,Oslo,Norway
RuutVeenhoven,ErasmusUniversity,Rotterdam,TheNetherlands
This series provides a public forum for authored and edited volumes on social
indicators research. It is a companion series to the journal Social Indicators
Research. The book series deals with problems associated with the quality of life
fromabroadperspective.Itwelcomesresearchonawiderangeofsubstantiveareas,
includinghealth, crime,housing, education,family life, leisure activities, transpor-
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representedinthisseriescoverandinvolveavarietyofsegmentations,suchassocial
groups,spatialandtemporalcoordinates,populationcomposition,andlifedomains.
The series presents empirical, philosophical and methodological studies that cover
theentirespectrumofsocietyandaredevotedtogivingevidencethroughindicators.
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indicators that are able to meet the need of understanding social realities and
phenomena that are increasingly more complex, interrelated, interacted and
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of Oslo, Norway; Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The
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Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/6548
M. Joseph Sirgy
The Psychology of Quality
of Life
Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health
Third Edition
M.JosephSirgy
VirginiaPolytechnicInstituteandStateUniversity
Blacksburg,VA,USA
NorthWestUniversity,PotchefstroomCampus
Potchefstroom,SouthAfrica
ISSN1387-6570 ISSN2215-0099 (electronic)
SocialIndicatorsResearchSeries
ISBN978-3-030-71887-9 ISBN978-3-030-71888-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71888-6
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This book is dedicated to all quality-of-life
and well-being researchers worldwide.
Preface
In 2002, I wrote The Psychology of Quality of Life that was published by Kluwer
Academic Publishers. In 2012, the second edition of the Psychology of Quality of
Life was published. Much research on quality of life and well-being had been
published between 2002 and 2012. As such, the second edition of the book was a
major overhaul of the2002 book. Much more research on qualityof life and well-
being was published between 2012 and 2020, calling for a third edition. The
references in each chapter are a testament to the quality and quantity of research
conductedonthepsychologyofqualityoflifeandwell-beingpublishedduringthe
lastdecade.
Thethirdedition,likethesecondedition,isdividedintosixmajorparts.PartIis,
essentially, an introduction. This part has three chapters. Chapter 1 lays the philo-
sophical foundation of much of the research in the subjective aspects of quality of
life in terms of three major constructs: hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and
Eudaimonia.AlthoughthroughoutthebookItriedtobeasspecificaspossibleinthe
way quality-of-life and well-being researchers use the concepts of hedonic well-
being (other interchangeable terms and concepts include emotional well-being,
happiness, the affective component of subjective well-being, positive and negative
affect, etc.), life satisfaction (researchers refer to this concept as the cognitive
component of subjective well-being), and Eudaimonia (researchers use terms such
as psychological well-being, self-actualization, self-realization, individual growth,
self-development, mental health, flourishing, etc.), I sometimes used the term sub-
jectiveaspectsofqualityoflifeasan“umbrella”term.InChap.2,Icovermuchof
theresearchdealingwithmajordistinctionsamongconstructsthatareencompassed
by the “subjective aspects of quality of life.” In Chap. 3, I make a case for the
importanceoftheresearchinthepsychologyofqualityoflife.Idiscussmuchofthe
research showing the beneficial effects of happy people at work, health, and to
societyatlarge.
Part II of the book focuses on research dealing with objective reality. That is, I
describe research showing how socio-cultural factors (Chap. 4), income factors
(Chap. 5), other demographic factors such as age, gender, and education
(Chap. 6), personal activities (Chap. 7), and biological and health conditions
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viii Preface
(Chap. 8) influence the subjective aspects of quality of life. These conditions,
essentially, reflect the actual internal and the external physical environment of the
individual.Thisobjectiverealityimpingesontheirhedonicwell-being,lifesatisfac-
tion,andEudaimonia.
Part III of the book focuses on subjective reality. Objective reality ultimately
translates into subjective reality, and in this context the individual transforms
information from “objective reality” into “subjective reality,” which in turn influ-
ences the individual’s sense of well-being. Subjective reality can be in theform of
personality(Chap.9),affectandcognition(Chap.10),beliefsandvalues(Chap.11),
needs and need satisfaction (Chap. 12), goals (Chap. 13), self-concept (Chap. 14),
andsocialcomparisons(Chap.15).Idiscussnotonlyhowpeopleprocessinforma-
tionfromtheobjectiveenvironmentbutalsohowtheymanipulatethisinformation
thatultimatelyputsadentintothesubjectiveaspectsofqualityoflife(hedonicwell-
being,lifesatisfaction,andEudaimonia).
PartIVfocusesonthepsychologyofwell-beingthatisspecifictolifedomains.In
this context, I begin this part of the book with a chapter dealing with domain
dynamics (Chap. 16). This chapter covers much of the theories explaining how
domainsatisfactionplaysaroleinsubjectivewell-being.Then,Idescribemuchof
the research in relation to work well-being (Chap. 17), residential well-being
(Chap. 18), material well-being (Chap. 19), social/family/marital well-being
(Chap. 20), health well-being (Chap. 21), leisure well-being (Chap. 22), and well-
being in other less salient life domains such as spiritual well-being, political well-
being,educationalwell-being,andenvironmentalwell-being(Chap.23).
In Part V of the book, I review much of the research on special populations.
Specifically, Chap. 24 focuses on the psychology of quality of life in relation to
children, youth, and college students. Chapter 25 focuses on the well-being of the
elderly; Chap. 26 on well-being issues of women, Chap. 27 on the well-being of
entirecountries;andChap.28coversapotpourriofotherpopulationgroupssuchas
the disabled, drug addicts, prostitutes, emergency personnel, immigrants, teachers,
andcaregivers.
The final part of the book (Part VI) has two chapters. Chapter 29 focuses on
theoriesandmodelsofwell-beingthataredesignedtointegrateandunifydisparate
concepts and programs of research in well-being. In the final chapter (Chap. 30), I
offer my concluding thoughts by addressing the importance of the psychology of
qualityoflifeinthecontextofpublicpolicy.Thatis,Iechotheoverallsentimentby
the vast majority of well-being researchers that public policy should be, at least in
part, guided by well-being research. But also, I warn the reader that well-being
researchisnotenough. Thecalltoactionistobroaden ourapproachinwell-being
research to incorporate other aspects of quality of life at higher levels of analysis
(i.e.,thegrouplevel,thecommunitylevel,thesocietallevel).
This book holds much information about the psychology of quality of life
(hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and Eudaimonia). It is not designed to be a
comprehensive review of every concept in quality of life and well-being research.
The reviews are highly selective, and they are designed to give the reader a good
Preface ix
overview of the established concepts as well as the emerging ones. I hope that
readersofthisbookwillfindthisbookhelpfultotheirownunderstandingofquality-
of-life and well-being issues, in guiding their own research agenda in this
blossomingfieldofstudy,andmostimportantlyinguidingpolicy-making.
Happyreading,
JoeSirgy
Blacksburg,VA M.JosephSirgy
Acknowledgements
Iamgratefultoallmycolleaguesandfriendswhohavecollaboratedwithmeonall
aspects of research related to quality of life and well-being over the many years.
Among them are my many co-authors: Alan Andreasen, Murphy Bird, Michael
Bosnjak, Carol Brown, Jim Brown, Jean-Charles Chebat, Kaye Chon, C. B.
Claiborne,MurisCicic,DennisCole,TerriCornwell,BobCummins,DavidEfraty,
Ahmet Ekici, El-Sayed El-Aswad, Karma El-Hassan, Richard Easterlin, Richard
Estes, Abbott Ferriss, Thomas Foscht, Tao Gao, Marvin Goldberg, Dhruv Grewal,
Stephan Grzeskowiak, Eda Gurel-Atay, Salah Hassan, Kamel Hedhli, Ibrahim
Hegazi, Andreas Hermann, Pamela Jackson, J. S. Johar, Jinfeng Jiao, Mohsen
Joshanloo, Derya Kara, Dohee Kim, Hyelin Kim, Kyungmi Kim, Minyoung Kim,
Rustan Kosenko, Frank Kressmann, Stefan Kruger, Kenneth Land, Val Larsen,
Dong-Jin Lee, Jim Littlefield, Tammy Mangleburg, Joao Maroco, Janet Marta,
Elaine Mathis, Lee Meadow, Tom Mentzer, Dwight Merunka, Alex Michalos,
Chad Miller, Michael Morris, Janet Neal, Jae Park, Jooanha Park, Seolwoo Park,
Donald Patrick, Bill Pavot, Richard Perdue, Mark Peterson, Rhonda Phillips, Don
Rahtz, Nora Reilly,Josh Samli,AudreySelian, Kalaynee Senasu, Andrew Sharpe,
Cliff Shultz, Philip Siegel, Anusorn Singhapakdi, Jorge Sinval, Berhard Swoboda,
ChentingSu,BobUnderwood,MuzafferUysal,JoachinVogel,DaveWebb,Robin
Widgery,NewellWright,EunjuWoo,JiyunWu,GraceB.Yu,amongothers.
I am most grateful to Alex Michalos, the editor of Springer’s Social Indicators
Research Book Series. Alex Michalos is my role model and a major source of
inspirationsinceIfirstmethimbackintheearly1990s,andsincethenwebecame
friends. I am equally grateful to Shinjini Chatterjee, senior editor at Springer who
hadenoughconfidenceinmetoproduceaneweditionofthePsychologyofQuality
ofLifethatwasfirstpublishedin2002(1stedition)withthesecondeditionpublished
in 2012. My gratitude also extends to Springer’s production team who helped
produce this third edition of the book, especially Bharat Sabnani and Chitra
Sundarajan.
I am additionally grateful to my family for their love and moral support—my
wife, Pamela Jackson, my four daughters: Melissa Racklin (her husband Anton
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