Cela fait longtemps que nous voulions faire le point sur ce que le bien-être subjectif peut nous dire quant aux enjeux de la transition écologique. Nous sautons le pas ce mois-ci, avec comme première livraison un parcours de la littérature. Sans prétendre à l’exhaustivité, nous espérons montrer comment les métriques de bien-être subjectif informent l’évaluation du changement climatique et dessinent des chemins possibles de transition.
Pour rendre à la fois nos Notes et cette Newsletter plus utile, nous mettons désormais en ligne, sur la plate-forme Zotero, l’ensemble des références que nous citons ou relevons. Nous espérons que cela fera de ces deux produits un outil plus pratique.
Comme tous les ans, nous continuons à publier des travaux en juillet, en particulier notre note de conjoncture sur la vague de juin de notre baromètre, mais nous serons en pause en août. Cette newsletter vous retrouvera donc début septembre.
Observatoire
Note de l’Observatoire du Bien-être n°2022-09 : De l’éco-anxiété à la transition heureuse ?
Dans une Note au format plus long que d’habitude, nous vous proposons un parcours de la recherche mobilisant les métriques de bien-être subjectif pour évaluer les conséquences et adaptations au changement climatique, de l’évaluation des catastrophes naturelles au rôle de la colère et de l’anxiété.
Bibliothèque de la Newsletter
Depuis quelques mois, nous avons (enfin !) pris l’habitude d’utiliser Zotero pour les publications que nous relevons dans cette Newsletter. La bibliothèque correspondante est publiquement consultable en ligne :
N’hésitez pas à nous signaler des articles que vous aimeriez partager avec notre réseau.
Les Notes sur RePEc/IDEAS
La collection des Notes de l’Observatoire est désormais référencée sur la plate-forme RePEc/IDEAS :
https://ideas.repec.org/s/cpm/notobe.html
Tableau de bord de l’OCDE Bien-être de l’enfant
L’OCDE vous invite pour le lancement, en mode hybride, de son Tableau de bord du bien-être de l’enfant, le 05 juillet prochain. Programme et lien d’inscription.
Lu sur le web
L’opinion des Français sur les inégalités reflète-t-elle leur position sur l’échelle des revenus ?
Résumé : D’après le Baromètre d’opinion de la DREES, les Français perçoivent en moyenne correctement leur position sur l’échelle des revenus. Cependant, les plus modestes la surestiment tandis que les plus aisés la sous-estiment.
Plus que par leur position effective dans la distribution des revenus, les jugements des Français sur les inégalités et les politiques redistributives sont fréquemment portés par leur perception de cette position. Ceux qui pensent se situer en haut de l’échelle des revenus – que cette perception soit biaisée ou non – se déclarent moins préoccupés par la pauvreté, considèrent plus souvent que la société est juste et que, pour réussir dans la vie, le mérite individuel est plus déterminant que le hasard des circonstances ou le milieu social de naissance.
La perception qu’ont les individus de leur propre position sur l’échelle des revenus apparaît particulièrement corrélée avec leurs opinions sur les mesures politiques à prendre pour lutter contre les inégalités. En revanche, c’est davantage leur position effective sur cette échelle qui est en phase avec leurs opinions sur l’importance de l’intervention de l’État en matière socio-fiscale et sur le niveau des prélèvements obligatoires, en particulier ceux destinés à financer la protection sociale.
Enfin, si une nette majorité de Français s’expriment en faveur d’une réduction des écarts de rémunération entre professions, les divergences d’opinion sur ce point sont essentiellement associées à la position qu’ils pensent occuper sur l’échelle des revenus plutôt qu’à celle qu’ils occupent effectivement.
Raphaël Lardeux, « L’opinion des Français sur les inégalités reflète-t-elle leur position sur l’échelle des revenus ? », Études et résultats (Paris: DRESS, juin 2022), https://drees.solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/publications-communique-de-presse/etudes-et-resultats/lopinion-des-francais-sur-les-inegalites.
Historical and cross-country differences in life satisfaction across retirement in Germany and Switzerland from 2000-2019
Abstract: Objectives. Recent trends such as changes in pension systems or cohort differences in individual resources have altered the face of retirement transitions. Little is known about how these trends affected older people’s life satisfaction around retirement age in the past decades. Here, we investigated how levels and changes in life satisfaction before and after retirement changed with historical time in Germany and Switzerland.
Method. We used longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP) and the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) from 2000 to 2019. Level, pre-retirement change as well as short- and long-term change in life satisfaction (0 – 10) after retirement were predicted by year of retirement (2001-2019) in a multigroup piecewise growth curve model.
Results. We found improvements of levels, as well as pre- and post-retirement change in life satisfaction with historical time in both countries. Furthermore, we found that in the SOEP, short-time change in life satisfaction across-retirement improved over historical time only among higher educated retirees, not among lower educated retirees.
Discussion. Our findings imply that life satisfaction trajectories around retirement age have improved in the last 20 years. These findings may be explained by general improvements in health and psychosocial functioning of older people. Nevertheless, there is evidence for increasing social inequalities in life satisfaction, which may be taken into account in the design of pensions systems.
Georg Henning, Isabel Baumann, et Oliver Huxhold, « Historical and Cross-Country Differences in Life Satisfaction across Retirement in Germany and Switzerland from 2000-2019 » (PsyArXiv, 24 mai 2022), https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/tq6ug.
Not all types of nature have an equal effect on urban residents’ well-being: A structural equation model approach
Abstract: A growing amount of research shows a positive association between urban nature and urban residents’ psychological and physical well-being and quality of life. With its focus on specific dimensions of well-being and reliance either on large-scale objective data sets or experimental and comparative designs, prior research does not explicitly address the relationships between the various types of urban nature as experienced by citizens and their overall well-being. The present research proposes a model for the potential influence of the perceptions of the type and characteristics of nature close to urban residences and citizens’ well-being via their frequency of exposure to, and their activities in, nature. Using WHOQOL-26 as a measure of well-being and constructing or adapting measurements for the other variables, a questionnaire was designed and administered among a sample of 2500 French urban residents. Psychometric tests, structural equation modeling, and mediation analyses were conducted on the collected data. The results show that: (1) The perceived characteristics of nature near urban residences have both direct and indirect influences on the psychological, physical, environmental, and resources-related dimensions of citizens’ well-being; (2) Less domesticated nature—forests, fields, and scrubland—contributes to psychological well-being by favoring light or calm activities in nature, and to physical well-being by supporting exposure to nature. Such wilder nature is also positively associated with the perceived quality of urban residences; (3) Small spots of nature, located close to one’s residence—a balcony, a patio, or a roof garden—make a similar but smaller contribution to well-being; (4) Domesticated nature—city gardens and parks—contribute marginally to the physical and resources-related dimensions of well-being. These results complement past research on the perceived characteristics of nature by showing how nature, as experienced by urban citizens, refers to different vegetation spaces. They also invite urban planners and policymakers to acknowledge the positive association between “wilder” natural spaces and well-being.
Florence Allard-Poesi, Lorena B. S. Matos, et Justine Massu, « Not All Types of Nature Have an Equal Effect on Urban Residents’ Well-Being: A Structural Equation Model Approach », Health & Place 74 (1 mars 2022): 102759, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102759 .
Voir aussi la présentation par les autrices pour The Conversation France.
Panel des élèves entrés en CP en 2011 – Performances à l’école élémentaire selon le niveau scolaire initial et l’origine sociale
Résumé : Cette étude met en exergue des profils d’élèves qui semblent davantage prédisposer à la réussite scolaire, en fonction notamment de leur niveau d’entrée en CP et de leur environnement socio-économique. Mais on voit aussi que la moitié des élèves les plus en difficulté à l’entrée en CP ne le sont plus en CM2, aussi bien en français qu’en mathématiques. La progression de ces élèves dépend beaucoup du profil socio-économique du milieu familial de l’élève et plus particulièrement en mathématiques.
Par ailleurs, on constate des évolutions des compétences selon le sexe entre le CP et le CM2, et ce particulièrement en défaveur des filles en mathématiques. Enfin, l’estime de soi des élèves en CM2 est différenciée selon le sexe, le secteur de scolarisation et le niveau des acquis.
Donna Fleury, Marion Le Cam, et Ronan Vourc’h, « Panel des élèves entrés en CP en 2011 – Performances à l’école élémentaire selon le niveau scolaire initial et l’origine sociale », Note d’information (Paris: DEPP, mai 2022), https://www.education.gouv.fr/panel-des-eleves-entres-en-cp-en-2011-performances-l-ecole-elementaire-selon-le-niveau-scolaire-341320.
Human Wellbeing and Machine Learning
Abstract: There is a vast literature on the determinants of subjective wellbeing. International organisations and statistical offices are now collecting such survey data at scale. However, standard regression models explain surprisingly little of the variation in wellbeing, limiting our ability to predict it. In response, we here assess the potential of Machine Learning (ML) to help us better understand wellbeing. We analyse wellbeing data on over a million respondents from Germany, the UK, and the United States. In terms of predictive power, our ML approaches do perform better than traditional models. Although the size of the improvement is small in absolute terms, it turns out to be substantial when compared to that of key variables like health. We moreover find that drastically expanding the set of explanatory variables doubles the predictive power of both OLS and the ML approaches on unseen data. The variables identified as important by our ML algorithms – i.e. material conditions, health, and meaningful social relations – are similar to those that have already been identified in the literature. In that sense, our data-driven ML results validate the findings from conventional approaches.
Ekaterina Oparina et al., « Human Wellbeing and Machine Learning » (arXiv, 1 juin 2022), https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2206.00574.
Nighttime smartphone use and changes in mental health and wellbeing among young adults: a longitudinal study based on high-resolution tracking data
Abstract: Frequent nighttime smartphone use can disturb healthy sleep patterns and may adversely affect mental health and wellbeing. This study aims at investigating whether nighttime smartphone use increases the risk of poor mental health, i.e. loneliness, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and low life satisfaction among young adults. High-dimensional tracking data from the Copenhagen Network Study was used to objectively measure nighttime smartphone activity. We recorded more than 250,000 smartphone activities during self-reported sleep periods among 815 young adults (university students, mean age: 21.6 years, males: 77%) over 16 weekdays period. Mental health was measured at baseline using validated measures, and again at follow-up four months later. Associations between nighttime smartphone use and mental health were evaluated at baseline and at follow-up using multiple linear regression adjusting for potential confounding. Nighttime smartphone use was associated with a slightly higher level of perceived stress and depressive symptoms at baseline. For example, participants having 1–3 nights with smartphone use (out of 16 observed nights) had on average a 0.25 higher score (95%CI:0.08;0.41) on the Perceived stress scale ranging from 0 to 10. These differences were small and could not be replicated at follow-up. Contrary to the prevailing hypothesis, nighttime smartphone use is not strongly related to poor mental health, potentially because smartphone use is also a social phenomenon with associated benefits for mental health.
Agnete Skovlund Dissing et al., « Nighttime Smartphone Use and Changes in Mental Health and Wellbeing among Young Adults: A Longitudinal Study Based on High-Resolution Tracking Data », Scientific Reports 12, no 1 (15 mai 2022): 8013, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10116-z.
Change in Subjective Well-Being, Affluence and Trust in Judiciary in India
Abstract: The present study tests the hypothesis that trust in the lower judiciary in India – comprising High Courts at the state level and District Courts at the lower level – is associated with improvement in subjective economic well-being. The analysis is based on the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 1 and 2 in 2005 and 2012, a large nationally representative household panel dataset. Using 2SLS and Lewbel IV models to take into account the endogeneity of trust in the lower judiciary, our analysis confirms that trust in the lower judiciary has a positive association with the change in SWB. The policy significance of this result is substantial as the pace of judicial reform tends to be slow in developing countries, such as India. Attention is drawn to specific reforms to reduce the pendency of cases. These include repeal of long outdated and dysfunctional laws, greater funding for expansion of the judiciary and, more importantly, for increasing the productivity of judges through the creation of a specialised administrative agency to support the judiciary and more effective use of IT in case management. This also has the potential for reducing rampant corruption, frequency of adjournments in court hearings as well as in ensuring autonomy of the judiciary.
Vani Kulkarni et al., « Change in Subjective Well-Being, Affluence and Trust in Judiciary in India », Population Center Working Papers (PSC/PARC), 12 mai 2022, https://repository.upenn.edu/psc_publications/90.
Trajectoires famille-travail et bien-être subjectif des femmes et hommes en Suisse
Résumé : Les parcours professionnels et familiaux sont devenus de plus en plus diversifiés en Suisse, mais les différences entre les hommes et les femmes persistent. Les données issues du Panel suisse de ménages montrent que le parcours le plus courant chez les femmes nées entre 1952 et 1966 est un retour au travail à temps partiel après la transition à la parentalité. Cependant, ce n’est pas ce groupe qui a la satisfaction par rapport à sa propre vie la plus élevée. C’est la minorité des femmes qui combine un emploi stable à temps plein avec une trajectoire familiale traditionnelle – un mariage durable avec des enfants – qui bénéficie d’une « prime » de bien-être subjectif et financier après 50 ans. Chez les hommes, on observe beaucoup moins de variations au niveau des trajectoires sur le marché du travail.
Chiara Comolli, Laura Bernardi, et Marieke Voorpostel, « Trajectoires Famille-Travail et Bien-Être Subjectif Des Femmes et Hommes En Suisse », Social Change, 30 mai 2022, https://doi.org/10.13094/SMIF-2022-00001.
Worker well-being and quit intentions: is measuring job satisfaction enough?
Abstract: While the links between worker well-being and quit intentions have been well researched, most studies to date rely on a very narrow conceptualisation of well-being, namely job satisfaction, thus ignoring the documented multidimensionality of subjective well-being. This paper explores whether this approach is justified. Using novel survey data, I compare the extent to which hedonic (job satisfaction and affect) and eudemonic (disengagement and basic psychological needs) well-being indicators individually and jointly explain variation in the quit intentions of 994 full-time UK workers. Well-being indicators perform well, explaining four to nine times more variation in quit intentions than wages and hours combined, with the disengagement measure performing best. I find systematic differences in the hedonic and eudemonic well-being profiles of workers who report positive quit intentions and those who do not. A composite model containing all seven well-being indicators offers the best fit, explaining 29.4% of variation in quit intentions versus 24.0% for job satisfaction on its own. My findings suggest that the standard single-item job satisfaction indicator is probably good enough for organisations who are looking for a quick and easy way to identify workers who may be most at risk of forming positive quit intentions. For organisations seeking to develop effective preventative quit strategies however, supplementing single-item job satisfaction with multifaceted well-being indicators is likely to yield valuable additional insights.
Diane Pelly, « Worker well-being and quit intentions: is measuring job satisfaction enough? », Working Paper (Geary Institute, University College Dublin, 17 mai 2022), https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/ucdwpaper/202204.htm.
Working from Home and Work–Family Conflict
Abstract: Longitudinal evidence on whether, and under what conditions, working from home is good or bad for family life is largely absent. Using 15 waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, this study investigates the association between working from home and work–family conflict among parents. Fixed-effects structural equation models reveal that more hours worked at home are associated with less work–family conflict. This association, however, is only sizeable (and significant) for those working most of their hours at home. Furthermore, mothers benefit significantly more from home working than fathers. Additionally, mediation analysis suggests the association between working from home and work–family conflict is partly mediated by the level of schedule control, commuting time, and unsocial work hours. Whereas increased schedule control and less commuting among home workers reduce work–family conflict, home working is also associated with more unsocial work hours, which increases work–family conflict.
Inga Laß et Mark Wooden, « Working from Home and Work–Family Conflict », Work, Employment and Society, 8 juin 2022, 09500170221082474, https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170221082474.
The Intrinsic Value of Childcare: Positive Returns of Childcare Time on Parents’ Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Italy
Abstract: An extensive literature shows that parental childcare time has increased considerably over the past decades in Western countries and that children benefit from spending time with their parents. In contrast, less is known about whether and to what extent parents benefit from spending time with their children. This article fills this gap by asking whether parents enjoy childcare, and whether an association exists between time spent doing childcare and life satisfaction. Moreover, it tests whether the association varies among parents with different working statuses, specifically by comparing full-time employed fathers with full-time employed, part-time employed, and non-employed mothers. Multivariate analyses based on nationally representative time use data for Italy (2013–2014) show that parents find childcare—especially interactive childcare activities—much more pleasant than other daily activities such as employment or housework. Furthermore, the results reveal a positive association between childcare time and life satisfaction among full-time employed parents, but not among part-time employed or non-employed mothers, pointing to important between and within gender inequalities in the costs and benefits of investments in family time.
Giulia M. Dotti Sani, « The Intrinsic Value of Childcare: Positive Returns of Childcare Time on Parents’ Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Italy », Journal of Happiness Studies 23, no 5 (1 juin 2022): 1901‑21, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00477-z.
Can a Website Bring Unemployment Down? Experimental Evidence from France
Abstract: We evaluate the impact of an online platform giving job seekers tips to improve their search and recommendations of new occupations and locations to target, based on their personal data and labor market data. Our experiment used an encouragement design and was conducted in collaboration with the French public employment agency. It includes 212,277 individuals. We find modest effects on search methods: the users of the platform adopt some of its tips and they are more likely to use resources provided by public employment services. However, following individual trajectories for 18 months after the intervention, we do not observe any impact on time spent looking for a job, search scope (occupational or geographical), or self-reported well-being. Most importantly, we do not find any effect on any employment outcome, whether in the short or medium run. We conclude that the enthusiasm around the potential for job-search assistance platforms to help reduce unemployment should be toned down.
Aïcha Ben Dhia et al., « Can a Website Bring Unemployment Down? Experimental Evidence from France », SSRN Scholarly Paper (Rochester, NY, 1 mars 2022), https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4069961.
Summary on VoxEU.
The Roles of Social Media Use and Friendship Quality in Adolescents’ Internalizing Problems and Well-being
Abstract: Adolescents spend increasing amounts of time using social media, but whether social media use has a beneficial or harmful role in internalizing problems and well-being during adolescence remains under debate. The present study explored associations of social media use and friendship quality with adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being both concurrently and longitudinally, including the exploration of interactive effects between social media use and friendship quality and the examination of gender differences. Online questionnaire data collected in Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 from 1,298 Dutch adolescents aged 11–17 years (mean age 13.7 ± 1.1 years, 53.2% girls) were used. Path analyses showed that, cross-sectionally, girls (not boys) who used social media more frequently had more internalizing problems and lower well-being. Boys and girls with higher-quality friendships reported fewer concurrent internalizing problems and higher concurrent and longitudinal well-being; the association with internalizing problems was significantly stronger for girls as for boys. We found no significant interaction between social media use and friendship quality. Thus, the present study indicates that social media use and friendship quality have unique roles in adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being. Furthermore, the findings support the importance of gender-specific approaches to decrease adolescents’ internalizing problems and enhance their well-being.
Chantie Charissa Luijten, Daphne van de Bongardt, et Anna Petra Nieboer, « The Roles of Social Media Use and Friendship Quality in Adolescents’ Internalizing Problems and Well-Being », Journal of Happiness Studies, 6 juin 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00539-w.
Gender and the Subjective Well-Being of Older Widows and Widowers
Abstract: Previous research on older adults who are widowed often focuses on the immediate subjective impacts of spousal loss, and how gender might influence this. Our interest here is on the factors that influence subjective well-being after a period of at least two years’ post-bereavement, and how this might differ for men and women. We draw on theoretical considerations from previous research on gender and on widowhood and use two different measures—life satisfaction and happiness—to assess possible differences in this subjective outcome. We used data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study on 692 widowed adults aged 65 and over (578 females and 114 males) and employed regression and postestimation analyses to examine whether and how gender influences their subjective well-being. Our findings show that gender did not affect overall levels of subjective well-being, regardless of measure. However, gender did influence the predictors, such as total household income, total wealth, and social support from children and friends, for life satisfaction and happiness somewhat differently. Our study highlights the importance of examining gender differences among older widows and widowers and also underlines the importance of introducing different measures of subjective well-being that might yield different yet valuable findings.
Jing Geng et Toni M. Calasanti, « Gender and the Subjective Well-Being of Older Widows and Widowers », The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 25 avril 2022, 00914150221092990, https://doi.org/10.1177/00914150221092990.
Retirement routes and the well-being of retirees
Abstract: As the Baby-Boomer generation approaches the retirement stage of the life cycle, understanding the implications of the labour market transition for individuals’ well-being is increasingly important for policy making. In this article, we assess whether individuals successfully navigate the transition from work to retirement by analysing changes in subjective well-being with retirement using Australian panel data. To account for the fact that retirement is often a choice, we exploit social security eligibility rules to identify the causal effect of retirement on well-being. We find that life satisfaction significantly improves for the large majority of individuals who voluntarily retire from the labour force. However, there are also important disparities and individuals forced to retire early do not experience gains in life satisfaction with retirement. Moreover, the negative impact of involuntary retirement is greatest for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. We also present new evidence on intra-household retirement spillovers by assessing the effect of one partner’s retirement circumstances on their spouse’s life satisfaction. The article further extends the literature by examining the mechanisms through which retirement affects individuals’ life satisfaction. We find that declines in life satisfaction are in part driven by an increase in financial hardship and reduced social interactions.
Kadir Atalay et Garry Barrett, « Retirement Routes and the Well-Being of Retirees », Empirical Economics, 17 février 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-022-02213-9.
Offshoring and well-being of workers
Abstract: Using long panels of industry-specific offshoring information and subjectively reported well-being datasets mainly from Germany, which is also supported by datasets from the UK and Australia, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between offshoring and workers’ subjective well-being in the source country. We employ panel data fixed-effects models with time-variant personality measures and industry-specific measures to alleviate the bias stemming from the non-random sorting of individuals in industries. Our findings suggest t