Project description:A growing number of articles have identified and reported the benefits and importance of urban green spaces for improving human well-being, but there is a significant knowledge gap regarding the impact of urban green spaces on the subjective well-being of older adults. The literature search (August 2015-August 2022) was derived from two major scientific databases, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. As a result, 2558 articles were found, 1527 of which were retrieved from WOS and the rest from Google Scholar. Bibliometric methods and VOSviewer software were used to screen and organize the articles in the relevant fields. Finally, 65 articles met the review criteria. The included studies aim to capture the benefits of various features of urban green spaces in meeting or enhancing the subjective well-being needs of older adults. The results of our review further support the existence of a strong link between older adults' subjective well-being and various features of urban green spaces, providing new insights for future in-depth reexamination and policy development. Furthermore, the relationship between urban green spaces and older adults' subjective well-being depends not only on the urban green spaces themselves but also on the characteristics of the older adult population that uses them.
Project description:Individual perceptions are essential when evaluating the well-being benefits from urban green spaces. This study predicted the influence of perceived green space characteristics in the city of Szeged, Hungary, on two well-being variables: the green space visitors' level of satisfaction and the self-reported quality of life. The applied logistic regression analysis used nine predictors: seven perceived green space characteristics from a questionnaire survey among visitors of five urban green spaces of Szeged; and the frequency of green space visitors' crowd-sourced recreational running paths and photographs picturing green space aesthetics. Results revealed that perceived green space characteristics with direct well-being benefits were strong predictors of both dependent variables. Perceived green space characteristics with indirect, yet fundamental, well-being benefits, namely, regulating ecosystem services had minor influence on the dependent variables. The crowd-sourced geo-tagged data predicted only the perceived quality of life contributions; but revealed spatial patterns of recreational green space use and aesthetics. This study recommends that regulating ecosystem services should be planned with a focus on residents' aesthetic and recreational needs. Further research on the combination of green space visitors´ perceptions and crowd-sourced geo-tagged data is suggested to promote planning for well-being and health benefits of urban green spaces.
Project description:This paper examines the association between the frequency of use of urban green spaces (UGS) and the subjective well-being (SWB) of Mexico City's residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted an online survey (N = 1954) regarding individuals' perceptions and use of UGS and their SWB, evaluated through the short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale. Multilevel mixed-effects regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between the frequency of UGS use and SWB, including individual and municipal level characteristics as covariates. Our results suggest that respondents who used UGS once or more per week during the pandemic reported higher SWB scores (8.7%) than those with zero visits. These findings have public policy implications that could enhance the role of UGS in urban environments during times of crisis.
Project description:This systematic review summarised and evaluated the evidence for associations between green space and adolescents' mental well-being. The PRISMA statement guidelines were followed for reporting systematic reviews. Fourteen articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Synthesis suggests beneficial associations between green space exposure and reduced stress, positive mood, less depressive symptoms, better emotional well-being, improved mental health and behaviour, and decreased psychological distress in adolescents. Several studies found the relationship varied by demographic and socio-economic factors. The limited number of studies and the risk of bias were the main limitations, together with heterogeneity regarding green space and mental well-being assessments. Overall, this review highlights the potential contribution of green space in schoolyards. Improving the availability, accessibility and quality of green space is likely to generate positive impacts on adolescents' mental well-being. More consistent evidence on the use of different types of green space and perceptions of features are needed in the future.
Project description:Activities and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) have been shown to be intricately related to each other. However, no research to date has shown whether individuals understand how their everyday activities relate to their SWB. Furthermore, the assessment of activities has been limited to predefined types of activities and/or closed-ended questions. In two studies, we examine the relationship between self-reported everyday activities and SWB, while allowing individuals to express their activities freely by allowing open-ended responses that were then analyzed with state-of-the-art (transformers-based) Natural Language Processing. In study 1 (N = 284), self-reports of Yesterday's Activities did not significantly relate to SWB, whereas activities reported as having the most impact on SWB in the past four weeks had small but significant correlations to most of the SWB scales (r = .14 -.23, p < .05). In Study 2 (N = 295), individuals showed strong agreement with each other about activities that they considered to increase or decrease SWB (AUC = .995). Words describing activities that increased SWB related to physically and cognitively active activities and social activities ("football", "meditation", "friends"), whereas words describing activities that decreased SWB were mainly activity features related to imbalance ("too", "much", "enough"). Individuals reported both activities and descriptive words that reflect their SWB, where the activity words had generally small but significant correlations to SWB (r =. 17 -.33, p < .05) and the descriptive words had generally strong correlations to SWB (r = .39-63, p < .001). We call this correlational gap the well-being/activity description gap and discuss possible explanations for the phenomenon.
Project description:Subjective well-being (SWB) is a major topic of research across the social sciences. Twin and family studies have found that genetic factors may account for as much as 30-40% of the variance in SWB. Here, we study genetic contributions to SWB in a pooled sample of ? 11,500 unrelated, comprehensively-genotyped Swedish and Dutch individuals. We apply a recently developed method to estimate "common narrow heritability": the fraction of variance in SWB that can be explained by the cumulative additive effects of genetic polymorphisms that are common in the population. Our estimates are 5-10% for single-question survey measures of SWB, and 12-18% after correction for measurement error in the SWB measures. Our results suggest guarded optimism about the prospects of using genetic data in SWB research because, although the common narrow heritability is not large, the polymorphisms that contribute to it could feasibly be discovered with a sufficiently large sample of individuals.
Project description:In this paper we analyze the relationship between turnover-driven growth and subjective wellbeing. Our model of innovation-led growth and unemployment predicts that: (i) the effect of creative destruction on expected individual welfare should be unambiguously positive if we control for unemployment, less so if we do not; (ii) job creation has a positive and job destruction has a negative impact on wellbeing; (iii) job destruction has a less negative impact in US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) within states with more generous unemployment insurance policies; (iv) job creation has a more positive effect on individuals that are more forward-looking. The empirical analysis using cross-sectional MSA-level and individual-level data provide empirical support to these predictions.
Project description:Frequent exposure to green space has been linked to positive health and well-being in varying populations. Yet, there is still limited research exploring the restorative benefits associated with differing types of green space use among students living in the university setting. To address this gap, we explored green space use amongst a population of undergraduate students (n = 207) attending a university with abundant opportunities to access the restorative properties of nature. The purpose of this study was to examine the type and frequency of green space interactions that are most strongly associated with indicators of health and well-being, and investigate student characteristics associated with frequent use of green space. Results revealed that students who frequently engage with green spaces in active ways report higher quality of life, better overall mood, and lower perceived stress. Passive green space interactions were not strongly associated with indicators of health and well-being. Having had daily interactions with green space in childhood was associated with frequent green space use as a university student, and identified barriers to green space use included "not enough time," and "not aware of opportunities" These results could assist in the tailoring of "green exercise" interventions conducted in the university setting.
Project description:Business leaders and policymakers within service economies are placing greater emphasis on well-being, given the role of workers in such settings. Whilst people's well-being can lead to economic growth, it can also have the opposite effect if overlooked. Therefore, enhancing subjective well-being (SWB) is pertinent for all organisations for the sustainable development of an economy. While health conditions were previously deemed the most reliable predictors, the availability of data on people's personal lifestyles now offers a new dimension into well-being for organisations. Using open data available from the national Annual Population Survey in the UK, which measures SWB, this research uncovered that among several independent variables to predict varying levels of people's perceived well-being, long-term health conditions, one's marital status, and age played a key role in SWB. The proposed model provides the key indicators of measuring SWB for organisations using big data.
Project description:There is now recognition that a population's overall level of well-being is defined not just by income and wealth. Where we live and who we interact with are likely to be equally important in our overall levels of satisfaction with our lives. This thinking has stimulated studies of subjective well-being, or happiness, at both national and local scales. These studies suggest that where you live does matter, although it is health and family status that have the most direct effects on well-being. In this study, we use a detailed dataset on well-being from the China Household Finance Survey to reexamine well-being across China, where profound socioeconomic changes are taking place. The study controls for self-reported health and examines subjective well-being across extensive and varied Chinese urban and rural environments. We find that the earlier pessimism about China's well-being, which emphasized declining happiness, may be misplaced. We make two contributions: first, we show a rising level of subjective well-being, and second, we show that there is a narrowing gap in well-being across different social indicators. Methodologically, we bring in the perspectives of both social capital and geographic context.