Signs and Sources of Community Well-Being

Isaac PrilleltenskyIsaac PrilleltenskyUniversity of MiamiUniversity of Miamiisaacp@miami.eduisaacp@miami.edu

http://www.education.miami.edu/isaac

Signs of community well-being: objective and subjective

Colombia: Happy but Dead Highest rate of murders per capita in the world Highest number of kidnappings in the world

Colombia 5181 in 7 years Mexico 1269 Brazil 515 Venezuela 109 Severe under reporting

Colombians report highest level of satisfaction 8.31 (out of 10) in the world in the 90s

Mountain of Risk

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

PovertyInjusticeViolenceDiscrimination

No child carePoor housingLack of cohesionCrime

Teen parentingFamily sizeStressorsPoor parentingAddictionsPoor mental health

Poor temperamentPoor healthBirth weight

Cake of Well-being

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

Values, ResourcesPrograms, Policies

EmploymentJusticeSafety netsQuality education

Child careAdequate housingCohesionAccess to health care

Good parentingMutual SupportGood mental health

Easy temperamentPhysical healthAdequate birth weight

New definition of well-being

Well-being is a positive state of affairs in individuals, relationships, organizations, communities, and the natural environment, brought about by the simultaneous and balanced satisfaction of material and psychological needs; and by the promotion of justice in each one of these ecological domains.

According to Stokols

“Efforts to promote human well-being should be based on an understanding of the dynamic interplay among diverse environmental and personal factors rather than on analyses that focus exclusively on environmental, biological, or behavioral factors. (Stokols, 2000, p. 27)”

Ecological, Material, Psychological, Moral Model of Well-Being

Sites of Well-Being

Individual Relational Organizational Communal Environmental

Objective signs

health networks resources social capital low emissions

Subjective signs

efficacy voice support belonging safety

Values autonomy caring participation diversity protection of resources

Justice My due/our due

Your due/our due

Its due/our due

Their due/our due

Nature’s due/our due

The relationship between objective and subjective measures of well-being

Conditions

objective

subjective

+

-

+

++

--

-

objective

subjective

Well-being

The Case of Colombia: explaining the paradox

Conditions

objective

subjective

+

-

+

++

--

-

objective

subjective

Well-being

crime

hope

subjective measures inconsistent with

objective measures

The relationship between objective and subjective measures of well-being

Conditions

objective

subjective

+

-

+

++

--

-

objective

subjective

Well-being

The Case of Relative Deprivation in Sweden and UK: How the worst off fare

Conditions

objective

subjective

+

-

+

++

--

-

objective

subjective

Well-being

Low co

ntro

l / hig

h de

man

d

High

effo

rt / l

ow re

ward

Higher morbidity

Unfair

ness

Is happiness a genetic phenomenon? Lykken and

Tellegen (1996, Psychological Science).

In the Minnesota twins study, authors report, “Neither socioeconomic status, educational

attainment, family income, marital status, not an indicant of religious commitment could account for more than about 3% of the variance in WB” (in monozygotic twins)

“We estimate that the heritability of the stable component of subjective well-being approaches 80%”

Change in life satisfaction over the years(Inglehart, 2004)

Russia’s happiness and satisfaction plunges

Seligman’s Authentic Happiness (2002, pp. 61)

“If you want to lastingly raise your level of happiness by changing the external circumstances of your life, you should do the following: Live in wealthy democracy, not in an

impoverished dictatorshipGet marriedAvoid negative events and negative emotionAcquire a rich social networkGet religion”

Seligman’s Authentic Happiness (2002, pp. 61)

“As far as happiness and life satisfaction are concerned, however, you needn’t bother to do the followingMake more moneyStay healthyGet as much education as possible (no effect)Change your race or move to a sunnier climate

(no effect)”

Seligman concludes….

“Even if you could alter all of these external circumstances, it would not do much for you, since together they probably account for no more than between 8 and 15 percent of the variance in happiness” (Authentic Happiness, 2002, p. 61).

Really?

Place Matters

Income Matters for Well-Being

Education Matters

How the World Has Changedwww.gapminder.org

Watch Hans Rosling on global changes at link below

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

Answer the following question

When families in countries have fewer children, life expectancy increases A. True B. False

04/19/23 copyright (c) 2009 Prilleltensky Do not reproduce without permission

Income is not everything though

Wealth matters for life expectancy

Relative deprivation matters in Sweden

Relative deprivation matters in UK

Clicker question:Where would you rather live?A. A country with large inequality but more

opportunities to make lots of money B. A country with more equality but fewer

opportunities to become very rich

Sources of Community Well-Being:Childhood Poverty (Evans, 2004)

Low-income children are disproportionately exposed to:• sub-optimal physical conditions

• Sub-optimal social conditions

Risk FactorsPersonalFamilialSocietal

Protective factorsPersonalFamilialSocietal

Resilience

The Physical Environment of Childhood PovertyExposure to toxins (lead, pesticide, air

and noise pollution, etc.)Unhealthy living conditions (crowding,

structural defects, rodent infestation, etc.)Home Injuries (scalding water, fewer

smoke-detectors & fire extinguishers, etc.)Hazardous neighborhoods (crime, poor

infrastructure, abandoned lots, traffic accidents, etc.)

School conditions (overcrowded, leaky roofs, inadequate plumbing, etc.)

The Psychosocial Environment of Childhood Poverty: Family

More family violence, disruption, and separationMore likely to experience parental divorceMore punitive, unresponsive, and harsher parentingLess parental monitoringLess cognitive stimulation and enrichment

Quality, quantity, and function of parental speechReading by parents, literary activities, other

scaffolding experiences

The Psychosocial Environment of Childhood Poverty: Beyond the Family

More contact with aggressive peersGreater instability in peer relationshipsGreater dependence on peers versus

parents for social supportLess warmth, responsiveness and

sensitivity in day-care centersStaff (in child-care centers) speak in more

authoritarian, less cognitively-complex ways

The Psychosocial Environment of Childhood Poverty: Neighborhood and Community

Families experience less social supportLess interpersonal trust and norms of

reciprocity in neighborhoodsLess parental involvement in school

activitiesLess of a sense of belonging to schoolLess likely to have well-qualified teachers

“Although each of these singular psychosocial and physical risk-factors has adverse developmental consequences, exposure to cumulative risks accompanying poverty may be a key, unique aspect of the environment of poverty” (Evans, 2004, p. 88)

Resilience

Individual capabilities, behaviours and protective processes associated with health outcomes despite exposure to a significant number of risks (Unger, 2005, xvi).

“…daily exposure to an unhealthy and oppressive work environment will likely spill over to the home front, just as a board decision to close down an unprofitable plant could lead to dire consequences for particular individuals and families. Factors such as these, however, are rarely taken into consideration when Johnny’s parents are summoned to a school conference to discuss his problem behavior or when a previously happily married couple experiences a high level of marital discord” (Prilleltensky, Prilleltensky & Voorhees, 2007).

Sayings such as “love conquers all” are based on romantic beliefs that “close, committed, and loving relationships are impermeable and unsinkable vessels that can sail through any environmental storm with impunity” (Berscheid, 2004, p.31).

Why do we neglect environmental factors?

Foreground versus backgroundThe fundamental attribution errorJust world phenomenonRugged individualism (based on Wright and Lopez, 2002)

Context Minimization Error

“Tendency to ignore the impact of enduring neighborhood and community contexts on human behavior. The error has adverse consequences for understanding psychological processes and efforts at social change” (Shinn and Toohey, 2003, p. 428).