* The social context of well-being

Abstract

Large samples of data from the World Values Survey, the US Benchmark Survey and a comparable Canadian survey are used to estimate equations designed to explore the social context of subjective evaluations of well-being, of happiness, and of health. Social capital, as measured by the strength of family, neighbourhood, religious and community ties, is found to support both physical health and subjective well-being.Our new evidence confirms that social capital is strongly linked to subjective well-being through many independent channels and in several different forms. Marriage and family, ties to friends and neighbours, workplace ties, civic engagement (both individually and collectively), trustworthiness and trust: all appear independently and robustly related to happiness and life satisfaction, both directly and through their impact on health.

A Multilevel Analysis of Key Forms of Community- and Individual-Level Social Capital as Predictors of Self-Rated Health in the United States

“…By contrast to the analysis by Helliwell and Putnam, 7 we did not observe a significant association between the community-level scale that included trust (FSC1_) and health, controlling for individual-level social capital. Additionally, we determined a significant relation between the community-level scale that included formal group involvement (FSC3_) and health.…”

Social Trust and Social Network in Iran

“…The modern emergence of social capital concept renewed the academic interest for an old debate in social science: the relationship between trust, social networks and the development of modern industrial society. Previous research has indicated that there is an association between social networks and a number of health outcomes [37]- [38]. Granovetter [3] has argued that social relations and the obligations inherent in them are two main sources of trust in economic life.…”

Suicide among older people in relation to their subjective and objective well-being in different European regions

“…The enhancement of a secure attachment base in older people may assist in moderating agism and improving older people's quality of life (Bodner and Cohen-Fridel 2010). Having a family enhances subjective well-being, and spending more time with one's family helps even more (Helliwell and Putnam 2005). Frequent interactions with both friends and neighbors are associated with systematically higher assessments of subjective well-being (Helliwell and Putnam 2005).…”

“…Having a family enhances subjective well-being, and spending more time with one's family helps even more (Helliwell and Putnam 2005). Frequent interactions with both friends and neighbors are associated with systematically higher assessments of subjective well-being (Helliwell and Putnam 2005). Therefore, the social protection systems based on the priority of males' employment under the Conservative model to some extent might exert negative influence on the functions and roles of males in the family and social life, which may be associated with relatively high suicide rates among older males in these Continental countries.…”

“…Värnik and Mokhovikov (2009) pointed out that people who experienced the transition crises might have psychological reactions called ''Soviet Syndromes,'' such as loss of meaning of life and loss of trust in the support of society (Skrabski et al 2003(Skrabski et al , 2005Värnik and Mokhovikov 2009). Trust and membership are associated with increased life satisfaction and reduced suicide rates (Helliwell and Putnam 2005).…”