Different Things Make Different People Happy: Examining Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being by Gender and Parental Status

Autor/in	Kroll, Christian
Titel	Different Things Make Different People Happy: Examining Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being by Gender and Parental Status
Quelle	In: Social Indicators Research, 104 (2011) 1, S.157-177 (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0303-8300
DOI	10.1007/s11205-010-9733-1
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Mothers; Life Satisfaction; Rewards; Social Capital; Males; Citizen Participation; Gender Differences; Correlation; Surveys; Social Indicators; Social Theories; Sociometric Techniques; Economic Factors; Social Influences; Social Environment; Well Being; Psychological Patterns; Parents; Social Life; Volunteers; Individual Differences; Case Studies; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Mother; Mutter; Lebensvollendung; Reward; Belohnung; Sozialkapital; Male; Männliches Geschlecht; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Geschlechterkonflikt; Korrelation; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Social indicator; Sozialer Indikator; Gesellschaftstheorie; Soziometrie; Ökonomischer Faktor; Sozialer Einfluss; Soziales Umfeld; Well-being; Wellness; Wohlbefinden; Eltern; Soziales Leben; Freiwilliger; Individueller Unterschied; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Großbritannien
Abstract	This paper addresses a number of key challenges in current subjective well-being (SWB) research: A new wave of studies should take into account that different things may make different people happy, thus going beyond a unitary "happiness formula". Furthermore, empirical results need to be connected to broader theoretical narratives. Using a re-examination of the social context of well-being as its case study, this article therefore resorts to sociological theory and fills a gap by investigating how social capital is correlated in different ways with the SWB of men, women, parents, and non-parents. Ordered logit and OLS regression analyses systematically examine slope heterogeneity using UK data from the European Social Survey. It turns out that civic engagement is not at all associated with higher life satisfaction for mothers, while the relationship is positive for men and strongest for childless women. Moreover, informal socialising is positively and more strongly associated with life satisfaction among women, although only when OLS is used. In sum, the social context of well-being varies considerably by gender and parental status. Mothers do not seem to benefit from formal social capital, indicating a "motherhood penalty" (see Correll et al., Am J Sociol 112(5):1297-1338 in 2007) regarding the psychological rewards usually associated with volunteering. Given the high levels of formal social capital among mothers, the findings also highlight the importance of the homo sociologicus concept. Consequently, SWB research can be successfully used to provide new insights into long-standing interdisciplinary theory debates such as the one on homo economicus versus homo sociologicus. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10