Measures of Wellbeing and Control Sue Chambers Deakin University

1. Measures of Wellbeing and Control Sue Chambers Deakin University

2. Subjective Wellbeing Measures Single items Life: “How satisfied are with your life as a whole?” Neighbourhood: “How satisfied are with your neighbourhood as a whole?” Control:“How satisfied are you with the control you have over your (personal) life?”

3. Personal Wellbeing Scale (PWB) How satisfied are you with… • your standard of living? • your health? • what you achieve in life? • your personal relationships? • how safe you feel • feeling part of your community? • yourfuture security?

4. Neighbourhood Wellbeing Scale (NWB) How satisfied are you with the…………….in your neighbourhood? • level of trust • amount of social participation • common goals and values • security in your neighbourhood • state of natural environment • availability of public resources • amount of people’s sharing and borrowing

5. Specific Questions • Are personal and neighbourhood wellbeing distinct factors? • Is control satisfaction a distinct wellbeing domain? • Do domain factors vary in their prediction of life and neighbourhood satisfaction?

6. Samples • 2 survey studies of 578 (S1, 2003) and 556 (S2, 2004) Australian adults • Single and scale measures for personal, neighbourhood and control satisfaction

7. Factor Analyses: PWB, NWB and Control items S1 S2 Factors Factors 1 21 2 Common goals .84 .87 Participation .84 .80 Trust .80 .73 Security .78 na Sharing .78.82 Community.65 .59 .51 Natural environment .58 .64 Public resources .45 .58 Control over life.82 .82 Achieve in life.80 .75 Standard of living .74 .71 Personal relationships .68 .67 Future security .62 .76 Health .57 .69 Safe you feel .45 .49 .69 Eigen Values 4.73 3.76 4.37 3.94 % variance explained 31.55 25.08 31.21 28.15

8. Regressions: Predicting Satisfaction (S1) Life Neighbourhood ß sr2 ß sr2 Standard of living .31*** .38 .10** .13 Health .08** .12 .01 Achieve .23*** .28 -.06 Relationships .26*** .35 .10*** .14 Safety .00 .01 Community .05 .19*** .21 Future security -.02 .03 Trust .04 .38*** .37 Social participation -.07 .17*** .16 Common goals .08 -.00 Security -.06 .02 Natural environment -.02 .02 Public resources -.03 .03 Sharing .08* .10 .07 Control over life .16*** .19 .00 R2 = .70 R2 = .67

9. Regressions: Predicting Satisfaction (S2) Life Neighbourhood ß sr2 ß sr2 Standard of living .41*** .50 .09* .10 Health .01 -.02 Achieve .22*** .26 .00 Relationships .20*** .26 .07 Safety -.05 -.04 Community .13*** .16 .15*** .15 Future security -.15*** -.17 -.10* -.09 Trust -.08* -.10 .42*** .42 Social participation .04 .15** .14 Common goals -.09* -.10 .03 Security na na Natural environment .01 .07 Public resources -.05 .08* .09 Sharing .07 .04 Control over life .28*** .30 .02 R2 = .71 R2 = .57

10. Conclusions • Yes: Personal and Neighbourhood wellbeing scales form distinct factors. Satisfaction with “Feeling part of community” item: more related to NWB than PWB • Yes: Satisfaction with control over (personal) life loads highly on PWB factor • Yes: PWB and NWB domain items vary as predictors of life vs neighbourhood satisfaction. Control item predicts life but not neighbourhood satisfaction.

11. Conclusions • Most consistent predictors of life satisfaction are satisfaction with one’s standard of living; life achievement, personal relationships and control. • Most consistent predictors of neighbourhood wellbeing are satisfaction with one’s standard of living, feeling part of the community, and level of trust and social participation in the neighbourhood. • Interesting finding for future security & community items for 2004 sample: for both life and neighbourhood satisfaction • In general: support for SWB being a complex construct with at least personal, neighbourhood and national components. Could be others: e.g. world level, family • Further exploration required re what sense of being in control of one’s life means.