Journal of Community Psychology Volume 18, January 1990

Subjective Well-Being and Psychological Distress: A Three-Generational Study in the Kibbutz

Michael Reed Department of Social Work

The Children’s Hospital Camperdown, NSW, Australia

Victor Florian Department of Psychology

Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the subjective well-being and psychological distress of kibbutz members representing three- generational strata. A total of 166 male and female Israeli kibbutz members completed the Mental Health Inventory (Veit & Ware, 1983) and reported on their self-evaluation of social position and of involvement in kibbutz life. Analysis of the data revealed the following: Second-generation kibbutz members reported higher subjective well-being as compared with first- and third-generation members. An interaction between gender and generation was found for psychological distress, and it appears that third-generation females have higher psychological distress than do third-generation males. Significant positive correlations were found between social position and sub- jective well-being as well as significant negative correlations with psycho- logical distress only among second- and third-generation kibbutz members. In light of these correlations an ANCOVA revealed that, by covarying out social position and community involvement, the differences between the three generations on psychological distress disappeared. The findings are discussed in terms of social position within a multigenerational kibbutz community.

With the development of modern behavioral sciences, particularly over the last three decades, social scientists have increasingly addressed the issue of “human happiness,” or what has been termed “subjective well-being” (Bradburn, 1969; Deiner, 1984; Freund, 1985; Horley, 1984; Jahoda, 1958; Veit 8z Ware, 1983).

Deiner (1984), in his comprehensive review of the human happiness literature, divided the definitions of subjective well-being into three categories:

( 1 ) those based on external criteria such as virtue and holiness (Coan, 1977); (2) those based on life satisfaction (Chekola, 1975) or a global assessment of the

quality of life (Shin & Johnson, 1978);

(3) those based on pleasant emotional experiences and/or positive affects (Brad- burn, 1969; Ware, 1983).

Probably the most systematic attempt, to date, to construct and validate the con- cept of subjective well-being may be found in the Rand Health Insurance Study (Brook et al., 1979). Veit and Ware (1983) proposed an empirically validated model of mental

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Guy Sapirstein, research assistant in the Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, for his useful assistance.

3

4 REED AND FLORIAN

health which was composed of a high-order structure (mental health index) defined by two correlated, bipolar factors - psychological distress and psychological well-being.

An individual’s well-being has been found to be subject to the influence of a wide variety of psychosocial variables which include age (Stock, Okun, Hering, & Witter, 1982), health (Zautra & Hemple, 1983), income (Andrews & Withey, 1976), education (Campbell, 1981), family status (Haring-Hodire, Stock, Okun, & Witter, 1985), and social network and social support (Abbey, Abramis, & Caplan, 1985). Bearing this in mind, the present study attempted to control the influence of most of these variables by examining an individual’s subjective well-being within a unique type of social milieu, namely, the Israeli kibbutz (Levitan, 1985; Snarey, 1983).

The kibbutz is an ideologically based voluntary social framework, described by Rosner (1 978) as a collective, multigenerational socioeconomic community. This unique “all-encompassing” society includes in its framework all aspects of life -economic pro- visions, consumption, education, recreational activities, etc. The kibbutz attempts to attain an ideal social structure through recognizing the human spirit as a moral value that is above human possessions as well as through the enhancement and maintenance of a deep feeling of personal security (Barzel, 1980).

In recent years, the kibbutz movement has expressed increasing concern over the effects of social, economic, and technological changes on various areas of the lives of its members.

Several studies have documented this concern in areas such as (1) quality of life and working life in the kibbutz (Rosner, 1978; Rosner, Ben-David, Avenet, Cohen, & Levitan, 1978); (2) life expectancy, mental health, and well-being in the kibbutz (Levitan, 1985; Shur, 1984); and (3) intergenerational relations within the kibbutz (Levitan, 1975; Rosner, 1975).

One of the most problematic areas in understanding intergenerational relations in the kibbutz is the differences in values, ideology, and culture styles between the first and second generations (Rosner, 1975). In a subsequent study (Rosner, 1978), it was found that, although both the first and second generations placed the highest value on “equality,” there nevertheless appeared to have been a shift from a community-based outlook on life to a more individual-based outlook in the two generations.

Furthermore, in a study of city and third-generation kibbutz adolescents, Florian (1983) found certain contradicting social tendencies. On the one hand, the kibbutz adolescents still attached less importance to values related to self-orientation and more importance to their peer group success. On the other hand, the kibbutz adolescents attached more importance to values related to innate spiritual capacities as compared with city adolescents. Thus, it can be assumed that third-generation kibbutz members experience a certain amount of internal conflict between the traditional values of the kibbutz and their personal aspirational needs.

In order to clarify further the complex nature of the existing differences and similarities among the three generations of kibbutz members, additional social variables should be considered. In an extensive sociological study, Ben Raphael (1986) found that in the kibbutz, age is related to seniority and experience; thus, the social stratification according to generational affiliation has a special significance. Because the first-generation members are viewed as founders of the kibbutz, they might receive respect depending on their involvement in economic and social activities. This is evident in the positive correlation between age as well as seniority and social position, as the senior members tend to be polarly divided between the central, higher social position and the peripheral, lower social position.

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 5

Regardless of generational affiliation, Ben Raphael (1986) emphasized that the social status of the kibbutz member largely depends on his or her actual potential capacity to carry out productive and administrative duties as well as the level of performance of those duties. For example, most males tend to belong to the higher social position, although some belong to the lower social position, whereas females tend to belong to the medium category.

In light of the above-mentioned literature, the purpose of the present study was twofold: first, to examine differences among the three generations of kibbutz members with regard to their level of subjective well-being and psychological distress and second, to investigate the influence of their level of involvement in the kibbutz community and their social position on the subjective well-being and psychological distress among the three generations.

Method Participants

A total of 166 individuals participated in the study. All participants were members of large kibbutz communities (more than 300 members) of similar wealthy socioeconomic status within the kibbutz movement. All kibbutz communities represented in the study were established prior to the Israeli Declaration of Independence (1948). Therefore, they have among their members representatives of several generations. The participants were selected according to a quota-sampling design, approximately 24 from each kibbutz, approximately half of whom were male and the other half female, who met the criterion of belonging to families that had three adult generations actually living in the kibbutz.

Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the participants. From Table 1 it is evident that the distribution of males and females in the three generations is similar. As can be expected from their age, out of the first generation 47.5% are married and 50.8% are widowed. In the second generation, 94.1% are married, and in the third generation only 25.9% are married and 70.4% are single.

All three generations have a similar level of education - an average of more than 11 years. In addition, 93% of the total research population described themselves as “healthy.” Ninety-one percent of the total research population stated that they had not experienced a significantly stressful event over the last year, i.e., change in health status, family status, etc.

Instruments Participants in the present study filled out the Mental Health Inventory (MHI)

developed by Veit and Ware (1983). This is a multidimensional, general questionnaire consisting of 38 items, each answered on a five- or six-choice response scale, ranging from complete confirmation to complete rejection of the applicability of the question to the subject’s life over the last month (i.e., All of the time = 1, to None of the time = 6, or Very often = 1, to Never = 6). These items were constructed from items con- tained under the heading “General Well-Being,” part of the Rand Health Insurance Study of Adult Health Status Measures (Brook et al., 1979).

The Mental Health Inventory is based substantially on the General Well-Being Schedule (GWB) developed by Dupuy (1978). Revisions of the original 38 items that appeared under the General Well-Being heading were based on combined-sites and site- by-site confirmatory factor analysis of seven factor-correlated models (Veit & Ware, 1983). Cross-validation and combined sites analyses led Veit and Ware (1983) to con-

6 REED AND FLORIAN

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of the Research Sample

Generation

Variables 1st

(n = 61) 2nd 3rd

(n = 51) (n = 54)

Gender

Family status

Males n 22 21 19

Females n 39 30 35 Vo 36.1 41.2 35.2

Yo 63.9 58.8 64.8

Married n 29 Vo 47.5

Single - n Vo -

Divorced n 1 Vo 1.6

Widowed n 31 Vo 50.8

M SD

Number of children M SD

48 94.1

1 2.0 1 2.0 1 2.0

14 25.9 38 70.4 2 3.7

75.34 48.22 23.93 5.01 3.98 3.36

2.72 3.88 * 44 .92 .84 .90

Years of education M 11.20 13.47 12.43 SD 2.45 1.73 1.06

clude that the best interpretation of the Mental Health Index was a hierarchical factor model composed of a general underlying mental health factor, a high-order factor struc- ture defined by two correlated, bipolar factors - psychological well-being and psychological distress. Items describing positive states clustered together to define psychological well-being (N = 14), and items describing negative states clustered together to define psychological distress (N = 24). A higher score on the psychological well-being items indicated a higher level of psychological distress. These factors were found to be clearly distinct and supported the practice of scoring them separately (Bradburn, 1969; Ware, 1983).

Reliability (internal consistency) coefficients and intercorrelation among the scales using site-by-site group comparisons based on the final two-factor models ranged from .92 to .96 (Veit & Ware, 1983). The authors reported that a principal components analysis revealed that the total matrix variance explained increased from 4370, based on the first extracted factor, to 50% when a second factor was extracted. The item groupings in- dicated by the factor loadings observed in the two-factor solution corresponded to those predicted by the authors’ two-dimensional (psychological well-being and psychological distress) structural hypothesis. In addition, Ware (1 983) reported that the Mental Health Inventory had a substantial predictive effect on the likelihood of use of mental health care services (2 = -7.97) as well as the level of care delivered by formally trained mental health specialists ( Z = -2.39). Those with low scores on the Mental Health Inventory were more likely to receive mental health care than were those with higher scores. The Mental Health Inventory is scored according to the instructions appearing in the Rand Memorandum (Ware, 1983).

SUBECTIVE WELL-BEING 7

For the present study, after receiving the author’s permission, a Hebrew version of the Mental Health Inventory was prepared using the Brislin back-translation tech- nique. A Cronbach’s alpha reliability test of this version was performed on the scores obtained by 24 Israeli university students who participated in a pilot study. This test revealed an internal reliability of .94 for the scales based on the two higher order factors - psychological well-being and psychological distress. An additional test of reliability was performed on the scores obtained by the 166 participants in the present study. This test revealed a Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .88 to -93 for the two high- order factor scales. The correlation between the two factors was r = - .71.

Participants were also asked to evaluate (a) their social position on a 5-point scale (Not good = 1, to Very good = 5 ) and (b) their involvement in the daily life of the kibbutz on a 3-point scale (Not involved = 1, to Very involved = 3). In addition, respondents filled out a short demographic questionnaire relating to age, gender, level of education, marital and family status, and recent life events.

Procedure After the identification of the seven kibbutz communities suitable for the study,

the general secretary of each kibbutz was approached by mail with a request for per- mission to undertake the study in his community. After giving his consent, he compiled a list of kibbutz members who fulfilled the research population criteria. From the 168 prospects initially approached, only two refused to participate; the remaining 166 gave their consent to participate in the study.

Each respondent filled out the questionnaire in his or her name in the presence of the researchers. The completion of the questionnaire required 20 to 35 minutes.

Results In order to examine the possible difference in the levels of subjective well-being

and psychological distress among the three generations, the score of each factor was calculated for each respondent. Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations of the two factors for each generation according to gender.

A 3 x 2 (3 Generations x 2 Genders) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out. A significant difference was found among the three generations, F(4,318) = 3.13, p < .05. Univariate analyses for each factor revealed significant differences among the three generations on the subjective well-being factor, F(2, 160) = 3.53, p < .05. As Table 2 shows, it appears that second-generation respondents have a higher subjective well-being compared with the first- and third-generation respondents. This was endorsed by a Scheffk procedure.

The MANOVA also indicated a significant interaction effect of Generation x Gender, F(4, 318) = 3.53, p < .01. The univariate analyses for each factor revealed a significant interaction with regard to psychological distress, F(2, 160) = 4.32, p < .05. As Table 2 shows, it seems that there are differences between gender groups only among the third generation. In this group, women have a higher level of psychological distress than do men, t = 2.75, p < .001.

From another perspective, it can be seen that males from the three generations do not differ with respect to their level of psychological distress, F(2, 59) = 1.25, p > .05. However, among the females there is a significant difference between the three genera- tions. Scheffk-paired comparisons show that the third-generation females have a higher

8 REED AND FLORIAN

Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations of Well-Being and Psychological Distress for the Three Generations

Generation Well-being

M SD Psychological distress M SD

~~~

1st Males (n = 22) Females (n = 39)

Total (n = 61)

2nd Males (n = 21) Females (n = 30)

Total (n = 51)

3rd Males (n = 19) Females (n = 35)

Total (n = 54)

52.68 10.26

50.28 9.52

51.15 9.78

55.16 11.09

51.17 11.13

56.94 11.05

56.26 11.31

51.20 8.82

52.98 9.96

46.95 13.59

46.23 11.81

46.49 12.38

42.10 10.80

43.83 11.23

43.12 10.98

42.11 9.62

54.17 14.54

50.31 14.29

American norms 59.16 12.16 (Veit & Ware, 1983)

41.54 15.39

level of psychological distress compared with the first and second generations, F(2, 101) = 6.97, p <.Ol.

The participants in the present study evaluated their social position in their kib- butz and their level of social/communal involvement in the kibbutz on the respective 5- and 3-point scales described earlier. A Pearson correlation between these two items was revealed to be very low, although statistically significant, r = .14, df = 166,p < .05.

In order to examine whether differences exist among the three generations on these two items, a 3 x 2 (3 Generations x 2 Genders) MANOVA was carried out. The MANOVA revealed only a significant main effect of generation, F(4, 318) = 9.11, p < .001. Table 3 presents the means and standard deviations of the three generations on the two items. In addition, the univariate F test for each item is presented.

The univariate F tests revealed significant differences between the three generations on the two variables. A Scheffk-paired comparisons test showed that on the social posi- tion variable, the first generation reported having a better social position as compared with the third generation, whereas the second generation did not differ significantly from either of the generations. Regarding the kibbutz community involvement variable, the second generation reported having greater involvement than did the other two generations.

In order to examine the possible relationship between participants’ social position as well as level of involvement in the kibbutz and their psychological well-being and distress, Pearson product moment correlations were calculated for the entire sample and for each generation separately. Table 4 presents these correlations.

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 9

Table 3 Means and Standard Deviations of the Three Generations on Respondents’Social Position and Community Involvement in the Kibbutz

Generation Social position Community involvement

1st M 3.66 SD .63

2nd M 3.35 SD .87

3rd M 3.15 SD 1 .oo

1.56 .56

2.10 .54

1 .I2 .56

F(2, 160) 3.22* 13.72**

*p < -05. **p < ,001.

Table 4 Correlation of Social Position and Involvement in Kibbutz Llfe with Scores on the Subjective Well-Being and Distress Scales by Generation

Social position Involvement

1st generation .09 .25

.40* .12 Subjective well-being 2nd generation

3rd generation .40** .16

1st generation - .08 - .I0

Psychological distress 2nd generation - .32* -.I3

3rd generation - .37* -.lo

Note. “n” is not equal for all generations. (See Table 2.) *p < .01. **p < .001.

It can be seen that there are differences between generations in these correlations. In the second and third generations, significant positive correlations were found between social position and psychological well-being. Significant negative correlations were found between social position and psychological distress. In contrast, in the first generation low and insignificant correlations were found.

Because one can argue that the differences between generations on the two factors of the MHI were due to the respondents’ social position and community involvement, additional ANCOVA tests were performed. In these analyses the scores on the two MHI factors - well-being and distress - were adjusted by covarying social position and com- munity involvement. Because the data did not fit the assumption of homogeneous slopes, the ANCOVA used separate regression coefficients for each of the three generations.

10 REED A N D FLORIAN

The differences between the three generations on subjective well-being were main- tained after covarying social position only, F(2, 160) = 4.40, p < .05. The differences in psychological distress between the three generations disappeared after covarying both social position and community involvement.

Discussion Among today’s human and social service professions, one of the most problematic

areas of scientific concern is understanding and measuring the concept of mental health (Bradburn, 1969; Jahoda, 1958; Veit & Ware, 1983). The present study investigated two aspects of this concept, namely, subjective well-being and psychological distress in three generations of kibbutz members. It is interesting to point out certain similarities be- tween the American norms reported by Veit and Ware (1983) and the scores of this study sample. However, in this study sample there is a trend to lower scores.

In general, results of the present study indicate that subjective well-being of the second generation was significantly higher as compared with that of the other two groups. This generation also reported a higher level of involvement in kibbutz life, although they didn’t differ in social position from the others.

The third generation in the kibbutz seems to present an interesting picture. Third- generation females reported higher levels of psychological distress compared with the other generations of females as well as with the males of their own generation. In addi- tion, third-generation respondents, both male and female, reported having lower social position than did first-generation kibbutz members.

Analysis of the results indicates that in the second and third generations, there is a significant positive correlation between social position and subjective well-being and a significant negative correlation between social position and psychological distress. No significant correlations were found for community involvement.

It seems, therefore, that in a well-defined, more or less homogeneous community like the kibbutz, one of the main determinants of an individual’s subjective well-being is his or her social position. This is corroborated by the results of the ANCOVA analysis which found that, by covarying out social position, only the relative higher level of well- being in the second generation remained and all other differences between the genera- tions disappeared. Thus, one can argue that generational affiliation is of less impor- tance than the individual’s position in the social milieu.

Some kibbutz researchers contend (Ben Raphael, 1986; Rosner, 1978) that the second generation plays a central role in terms of duties and responsibilities. This is evident in the present study in the higher level of involvement in community activities. This situation of “being in charge” probably enhances feelings of subjective well-being. In contrast, the third-generation kibbutz members today probably do not feel strong in- volvement and commitment to the kibbutz idea, and therefore, for some, especially females, this may result in higher levels of psychological distress. Some support is given to this line of thought by the numbers of third-generation youngsters born on the kibbutz who have been leaving in their early twenties. It appears that, in order to strengthen the third generation’s bond with their communities, special efforts should be undertaken. This could be done by increasing their opportunities for community involvement and by developing strategies of enhancement of their social position.

Due to possible methodological limitations, particularly sample size, the generalizability of the present findings should be viewed carefully; only future studies will be able to determine the impact of the individual’s social milieu on his or her men- tal health.

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 1 1

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