TY - JOUR
T1 - Income, sense of community and subjective well-being
T2 - Combining economic and psychological variables
AU - Jorgensen, Bradley S.
AU - Jamieson, Robert D.
AU - Martin, John F.
PY - 2010/8
Y1 - 2010/8
N2 - The purpose of this study was to test the effects of income and reference group income on well-being while controlling for a range of social psychological variables. A random sample of 1033 residents in a regional Australian city were surveyed by mail on a number of variables including subjective well-being, sense of community, attitudes toward their political officials, civic participation, perceptions of city life, and socio-demographics. Three general findings are reported. First, income had a significant influence on well-being, but individuals' perceptions of their access to health services had a larger effect. Second, we found that the relationship between well-being and some of its determinants (e.g., health service perceptions) varied significantly between low and high levels of income at the household level and at the regional level. Finally, reference group income was not a significant predictor of well-being in any of the analyses we conducted. These results are discussed in light of the results from previous research in this area.
AB - The purpose of this study was to test the effects of income and reference group income on well-being while controlling for a range of social psychological variables. A random sample of 1033 residents in a regional Australian city were surveyed by mail on a number of variables including subjective well-being, sense of community, attitudes toward their political officials, civic participation, perceptions of city life, and socio-demographics. Three general findings are reported. First, income had a significant influence on well-being, but individuals' perceptions of their access to health services had a larger effect. Second, we found that the relationship between well-being and some of its determinants (e.g., health service perceptions) varied significantly between low and high levels of income at the household level and at the regional level. Finally, reference group income was not a significant predictor of well-being in any of the analyses we conducted. These results are discussed in light of the results from previous research in this area.
KW - Comparison income
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Reference group
KW - Relative income
KW - Sense of community
KW - Subjective well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955054240&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.joep.2010.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.joep.2010.04.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77955054240
SN - 0167-4870
VL - 31
SP - 612
EP - 623
JO - Journal of Economic Psychology
JF - Journal of Economic Psychology
IS - 4
ER -