Determinants of life satisfaction in Canada: A causal modeling approach

Abstract

Abstract. Most research studies on Life Satisfaction/Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) have focused on one main determinant and a variety of social demographic variables to delineate the determinants of life satisfaction. However, very few research studies examine life satisfaction from a holistic approach. The aim of this study was to utilize a holistic approach to construct a causal model and identify major determinants of life satisfaction. This study utilized data from the General Social Survey, with a sample size of 19,597. Several multiple regression models were run sequentially to estimate standardized path coefficients for the causal model. Overall, above average satisfaction with life was reported by Canadian respondents. Respondents who were female, younger, married, from high socioeconomic status background, born in Canada, very religious, and demonstrated high level of neighborhood interaction had greater satisfaction with life. Similarly, respondents had greater life satisfaction if they had better health, social contact, leisure activities, more time with family and friends, more enjoyment with volunteer activities, and a greater sense of belonging to the community. Our results suggest that a holistic approach is necessary for understanding the causal process of life satisfaction. A significant number of causal connections contradict some of the findings in literature today. We have provided some possible explanations for these anomalies and policy implications.

Sustaining Retirement during Lockdown: Annuitized Income and Older American’s Financial Well-Being before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Lastly, we examined the interaction effect between annuitized income and mental/physical health on financial well-being. Past studies found evidence that physical and mental health conditions are directly related to individuals' financial well-being (e.g., Çelik et al 2017;Branch-Allen and Jayachandran 2016;Temple and Williams 2018). This study contributes to this body of literature by exploring whether annuitized income mediates the negative effect of poor mental/physical health on individuals' financial well-being.…”

Determinants of life satisfaction and self-rated health in Iranian children and adolescents: A structure equation model

“…Although infectious disease, malnutrition, and mortality have been lowered in children and adolescent populations, however, shifting attention to chronic diseases, mental health problems, obesity, and physical illness, which their prominence during childhood and adolescence is very concerning (3). Life satisfaction (LS) and self-rated health (SRH), assess different dimensions of individuals' own health that show some non-biomedical factors of general well-being framed by individual, familial and social dimensions (4). LS can be de ned as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a-whole favorably (5).…”

Determinants of life satisfaction and self-rated health in Iranian children and adolescents: A structure equation model

“…Although infectious disease, malnutrition, and mortality have been lowered in children and adolescent populations, however, shifting attention to chronic diseases, mental health problems, obesity, and physical illness, which their prominence during childhood and adolescence is very concerning (3). Life satisfaction (LS) and self-rated health (SRH), assess different dimensions of individuals' own health that show some non-biomedical factors of general well-being framed by individual, familial and social dimensions (4). LS can be defined as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a-whole favorably (5).…”