Social Indicators of Well-Being: Americans' Perceptions of Life Quality

1: Introduction. - Social Indicators. - Characteristics of Social Indicators. - Quality of Life. - Objective and Subjective Indicators. - The Research Problem. - Research Goals. - Usefulness. - Basic Concepts and a Conceptual Model. - Domains and Criteria. - A Conceptual Model. - Going Beyond the Model. - Dimensional Expansion of the Model. - Feedback Loops. - Processes That Generate Affective Evaluations. - Methods and Data. - The Measurement of Affective Evaluations. - Data Sources. - National-Level Surveys. - Local-Level Survey. - Summary. - 1: Developing Indicators of Perceived Well-Being. - 2: Identifying and Mapping Concerns. - Research Strategy. - Identifying Concerns. - Mapping the Concerns. - Maps and the Mapping Process. - Perceptual Structures-July Respondents. - Description of the Structure. - Interpretation of Dimensions. - Relationships Among Concerns. - Perceptual Structures-May and November Respondents. - Perceptual Structures-April Respondents. - Perceptual Structures-After Equating for Level and Variability of Evaluations. - Perceptual Structures-Subgroups of the Population. - Men and Women. - Four Age Groups. - Blacks. - Groups with High or Low Status. - Selecting and Clustering Concern-Level Measures. - Methodology. - Clusters. - Affective Evaluations Versus Unspecified Feelings. - Summary. - 3: Measuring Global Well-Being. - On the Existence of Global Assessments of Life Quality. - The Global Measures and a Typology for Classifying Them. - General Assessments of Life-as-a-Whole from an "Absolute" Perspective. - Full-Range Measures. - Part-Range Measures. - More Specific Qualities of Life-as-a-Whole, "Absolute" Perspective. - Assessments of Life-as-a-Whole from a Relative Perspective. - Assessment of Life-as-a-Whole from the Perspectives of Long- or Short-Term Change. - Long-Term Change. - Short-Term Change. - Supplementary Global Measures. - Formal Structure of the Typology. - Interrelationships Among Global Measures. - Overview of Results. - Results from April Respondents. - Relationships Among Global Measures. - Smallest Space Analysis. - Results for Subgroups. - Summary of Results from April Respondents. - Results from November Respondents. - Relationships Among Global Measures. - Factor Analysis. - Summary of Results from November Respondents. - Results from July Respondents. - Relationships Among Global Measures. - Factor Analysis. - Summary. - 4: Predicting Global Well-Being: I. - Life 3. A Measure of Global Well-Being. - Topics to Be Discussed and Overview of Results. - Relationships Between Single Concern Measures and Life 3. - Multivariate Prediction of Life 3. - Models for Predicting Life 3 from Concern Measures. - Linearities. - Lack of Interactions. - Weighting Schemes. - Conclusions and Comments About the Prediction Model. - Predicting Life 3 Using Different Sets of Concern Measures. - Results from May Respondents. - Results from November Respondents. - Results from April Respondents. - Results from July Respondents. - Using Classification Variables to Predict Life 3. - Results from May Respondents. - Results from April Respondents. - Lack of Statistical Interactions. - Evaluation of Predictive Levels Achieved. - May Data. - July Data. - November and April Data. - Prediction of Life 3 in Subgroups of the Population. - Summary. - 5: Predicting Global Well-Being: II. - Plan of the Chapter and Overview of Results. - Relationships Between Single Concern Measures and the Global Measures. - Type A Global Measures. - Type B Global Measures. - Type C Global Measures. - Type D Global Measures. - Type E Global Measures. - Type F Global Measures. - Type G Global Measures. - Comment. - Multivariate Prediction of Global Measures. - Summary. - 6: Evaluating the Measures of Well-Being. - Plan of the Chapter and Overview of Results. - Estimation of the Validity and Error Components of the Measures. - Measurement Theory and Models. - Variance Components. - Measurement Models. - Construct Validity and Measurement Models. - Estimates Derived from the July Data. - Nature of the July Data. - The Measurement Model. - The Results. - Summary and Comments Regarding July Results. - The Reliability of the Life Measures in National Data. - Estimates Derived from the May Data. - Estimates Derived from the April Data. - Estimates Derived from the November Data. - Estimates Derived from the October Data. - Comparison of Validity Estimates for Different Methods. - Distributions Produced by the More Valid Methods. - Statistical Results. - Conclusions and Comments About Distribution Forms. - Overall Evaluations, Additional Criteria, Further Improvements. - Category Labeling and Ease of Use. - Overall Evaluations. - Toward Further Improvements. - Relationships Between Measures of Perceived Well-Being and Other Types of Variables. - Summary. - 7: Exploring the Dynamics of Evaluation. - Organization of the Chapter and Summary of Results. - Exploration 1: A Statistical Translation Between the Delighted-Terrible Scale and the Faces, Circles, and Ladder Scales. - Exploration 2: The D-T Scale Categories and Three More General Levels of Evaluation. - Exploration 3: Hypothetical Family Incomes and Affective Evaluations on the D-T Scale. - Exploration 4: The Role of Perceptions About the Past and Future in Predicting Present Evaluations. - Exploration 5: Six Frames of Reference and Evaluations of Well-Being. - Exploration 6: An Implementation of the Domains-by-Criteria Model. - The Problem. - Design of the Analysis and Measures Employed. - Results. - Bivariate Relationships. - Multivariate Relationships. - Conclusions. - Exploration 7: Comparisons Between One's Own Well-Being and That of Others. - Exploration 8: Judgments of the "Importance" of Concerns. - Exploration 9: Searching for People with Distinctive Patterns of Feelings About Well-Being. - Summary. - 2: Well-Being in the United States: Americans' Perceptions. - 8: Americans' Well-Being: Specific Life Concerns. - The Nation. - The National Government. - Local Government. - Economic Situation. - Community. - Services and Facilities. - Education. - Jobs. - Neighborhood. - Friends and Associates. - Home. - Leisure and Leisure-Time Facilities. - Family. - Self. - Interpersonal Relations. - Seasonal Changes. - Comparisons Among Means. - Skewness, Bias, and Spread. - Discussion. - Summary. - 9: Americans' Well-Being: Differences Among Population Groups. - Groups Identified. - Comparison of General Well-Being in Different Groups. - Men and Women. - Age Groups. - Family Life-Cycle. - Socioeconomic Status. - Blacks and Whites. - Nondifferences. - Discussion. - Summary. - 10: Americans' Well-Being: Life-as-a-Whole. - Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole by the Total Population. - General Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole. - Absolute Perspective (Type A and B Measures). - Long-Term Changes in Well-Being (Type E Measures). - Own Well-Being Relative to That of Others (Type D Measures). - More Specific Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole (Type C Measures). - Satisfaction, Happiness, Worries. - Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Affect Balance. - Selected Other Qualities of Life-as-a-Whole. - Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole in Population Groups. - General Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole. - Absolute Perspective (Type A Measures). - Long-Term Changes in Well-Being (Type E Measures). - Best Week, Worst Week, Short-Term Changes (Measures of Types B and F). - Own Well-Being Relative to That of Others (Type D Measures). - More Specific Evaluations of Life-as-a-Whole (Type C Measures). - Satisfaction. - Happiness. - Positive and Negative Affect. - Affect Balance. - Worries. - Comments on Defenses, Adaptations, and Coping Mechanisms. - Summary. - 3: Future Applications. - 11: Applications. - Organization of the Chapter. - Instrument Design. - Parameters Affecting Instrument Design. - Substantive Interests. - Resources. - Precision. - Methods of Data Collection. - Specific Proposals on Instrument Design. - Concern-Level Measures. - Global Measures. - Response Scales. - Analysis and Interpretation. - Measure Construction and Analysis. - Interpretation Perspectives. - Summary. - Appendixes. - Appendix A: Interview and Questionnaire Schedules. - Interview Used with May Respondents. - Interview Used with November Form 1 Respondents. - Interview Used with November Form 2 Respondents. - Interview Used with April Respondents. - Questionnaire Used with July Respondents. - Appendix B: Sampling Designs, Response Rates, Sampling Precision. - Appendix C: Clusters of Concern Items. - Appendix D: Interrelationships Among Concern Items in May and April Surveys, by Population Subgroups. - Appendix E: Factor Analyses of Concern Items from May, November, and April National Surveys. - Appendix F: Factor Analysis of Global Measures from the April National Survey. - Appendix G: Scan for Interactions Involving Concern Measures and Life 3. - Appendix H: Demographic Characteristics of July Respondents. - Appendix I: Distributions Produced by the Delighted-Terrible, Faces, and Circles Scales on Five Concerns. - Appendix J: Number of Cases Used in Computing Means Shown in Exhibit 7.1. - Appendix L: Formation of Socioeconomic Status Scale. - Appendix M: Subgroup Ns and Percentage Distributions. - Appendix N: Perceived Well-Being in 1974, 1976. - References.