signs and sources of community well-being isaac prilleltensky university of miami [email protected]
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Signs and Sources of Community Well-Being
Isaac PrilleltenskyIsaac PrilleltenskyUniversity of MiamiUniversity of [email protected]@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
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-
+
++
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objective
subjective
Well-being
The Case of Colombia: explaining the paradox
Conditions
objective
subjective
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+
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--
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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
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+
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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).