Societal Factors and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Low Income Urban Societies in a Developing Country

  • Chengedzai Mafini Vaal University of Technology,
  • Daniel Meyer North West University, Vaal Triangle Campus,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v8i3(J).1291

Abstract

This paper tested the influence of four societal factors, namely marital status, religion, age and gender on the life satisfaction of low income urban earners in a developing country. A survey was conducted using a sample consisting of 985 individuals drawn from three low income townships in Gauteng Province, South Africa. In order to measure life satisfaction the validated Satisfaction with Life Scale developed by Diener et al. (1985), was utilised. Associations between each societal factor and life satisfaction were tested using multiple regression analysis. Marital status was statistically insignificant (β=0.058; P=0.170). All categories of religion were statistically significant, with Christianity (β=0.424; P=0.044) exerting the highest influence on life satisfaction. In terms of age, young adults demonstrated higher satisfaction with life than older adults, with young adults (β=0.369; P=0.019) exerting the highest influence on life satisfaction than other age categories. Gender was statistically insignificant (β=0.059; P=0.307) depicting that life satisfaction is not dependent on gender. The paper closes by drawing conclusions based on the results and suggesting several policy implications for improving the impact of each societal factor on life satisfaction.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Barro, R. & McCleary, R. (2001). Religion, economy, and society in an international panel. Religion-Factor Research: Personal and Social Transformation Symposium at University of Pennsylvania. Blanchflower, D. G. & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Money, sex and happiness: an empirical study. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 106(3), 393–415. Blanchflower, D. G. & Oswald, A.J. (2008). Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle? Social Science and Medicine, 66, 1733–1749. Blanchflower, D. G. & Oswald, A. J. (2009). The U-shape without controls: a response to Glenn. Social Science and Medicine, 69(4), 486–488. Botha, F. & Booysen, F. (2012). The relationship between marital status and life satisfaction among South African adults. Acta Academica, 45(2), 150–170. Bordeaux, D. (2006). South Africa’s tribal traditions prevent new freedoms. The World & I., 21(3), 6–15. Bradshaw, M., Ellison, C. G. & Flannelly, K. J. (2008). Prayer, God imagery, and symptoms of psychopathology. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47, 644–59.

Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 1913–1915. Chen, C. (2001). Aging and life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 54, 57–79. Clark, A. E. & Oswald, A. J. (1994). Unhappiness and unemployment. Economic Journal, 104, 648–59. Clark, A. E., Etilé, F. Postel-Vinay, C. Senik, C. & Van der Straeten, K. (2005). Heterogeneity in reported well-being: evidence from twelve European countries. The Economic Journal, 115, 118–132. Clark, A. E. & Oswald, A. J. (2006). The Curved Relationship between Subjective Well-Being and Age. PSE Working Paper No 2006-29. Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194–204. Cohen, A. B. & Johnson, K. A. (2013). Religion and well-being. A paper presented at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture consultation on Happiness and Human Flourishing, sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation, November 20-21. New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Cohen, A. B. & Hall, D. E. (2009). Existential beliefs, social satisfaction, and well-being among Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant older adults. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19, 39–54. Cornman, J. C., Goldman, N., Glei, D. A., Weinstein, M. & Chang, M. C. (2003). Social ties and perceived support: two dimensions of social relationships and health among the elderly in Taiwan. Journal of Aging and Health, 15, 616–644.

Crabtree, S. & Pelham, B. (2009). Religion Provides Emotional Boost to World’s Poor. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116449/religion-provides-emotional-boost-world-poor.aspx. Date of access: 15 Dec 2014. Demirel, H. (2014). An investigation of the relationship between job and life satisfaction among teachers. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 4925–4931. Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J. & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. Diener, E., Gohm, C. L., Suh, E. & Oishi, S. (2000). Similarity of the Relations between Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being across Cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3(4), 419–436. Diener, E., Tay, L. & Myers, D. (2011). The religion paradox: if religion makes people happy, why are so many dropping out? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10(1/6), 1278–1290. Diener, E. D. & Seligman, M. (2004). Beyond money: toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1–31. Ebrahim, A., Botha, F. & Snowball, J. (2013). Determinants of life satisfaction among race groups in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 30(2), 168-185. Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 463–482. Easterlin, R. A., McVey, L. A., Switek, M., Sawangfa, O. & Zweig, J. S. (2010). The happiness-income paradox revisited. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(52), 224–263. Epley, N., Akalis, S., Waytz, A. & Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). Creating social connection through inferential reproduction: loneliness and perceived agency in gadgets, gods, and greyhounds. Psychological Science, 19(2), 114–120.

Filipić, P., Perović, L. M. & Kosor, M. M. (2012). The relative importance of religious denominations for life satisfaction. http://www.happinesseconomics.net/ocs/index.php/heirs/ market happiness/paper/view/237/115. Date of access: 21 October 2014. Frey, B. S. & Stutzer, A. (2006). Does marriage make people happy or do happy people get married? The Journal of Socio-Economics, 35, 326–347. Frey, B. S. (2008). Happiness: a revolution in economics. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Friedman, J.H. (2012). Fast sparse regression and classification. International Journal of Forecasting, 28(3), 722–738. Frijters, P. & Beatton, T. (2008). The Mystery of the U-Shaped Relationship between Happiness and Age. NCER Working Paper 26. Frijns, M. (2010). Determinants of life satisfaction: a cross-regional comparison. Masters dissertation. School of Business and Economics. Maastricht University. Netherlands. Graham, M. C. (2008). Measuring Quality of Life in Latin America: What Happiness Research Can (And Cannot) Contribute. Inter-American Development Bank Research. Department Working Paper 649, Washington, DC. Graham, M. C. (2014). Facts of Life: Ten Issues of Contentment. Parker, Colorado: Outskirts Press.

Grant, L. (2015). 10 things about marriage in South Africa. Mail and Guardian. 19 May. http://mg.co.za/data/2015-05-19-10-things-about-marriage-in-south-africa-1. 20 May 2015 Greeley, A. & Hout, M. (2006). Happiness and lifestyle among conservative Christians: the truth about conservative Christians. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. Gilman, R. & Huebner, E. S. (2006). Characteristics of adolescents who report very high life satisfaction. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 311–319. Guiso, L., Sapienza, P. & Zingales, L. (2003). People’s opium? Religion and economic attitudes. Journal of Monetary Economics, 50(1), 225–282. Gwozdz, W. & Sousa-Poza, A. (2010). Ageing, health and life satisfaction of the oldest old: an analysis for Germany. Social Indicators Research, 97, 397–417. Habib, A. (2010). The state of the nation and its public service in contemporary South Africa: a critical reflection. Administration Publica, 18(3), 2–24. Hansson, A., Hillerås, P. & Forsell, Y. (2005). Well-being in an adult Swedish population. Social Indicators Research, 74, 313–325. Harmse, L. (2013). South Africa’s Gini Coefficient: causes, consequences and possible responses. Master’s Dissertation. Gordon Institute of Business Studies. University of Pretoria. South Africa. http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/40181/Harmse_South_2013.pdf?sequence=1Date of access: 24 May 2015. Hayo, B. & Seifert, W. (2003). Subjective economic well-being in Eastern Europe. Journal of Economic Psychology, 24, 329–348. Hinks, T. & Gruen, C. (2007). What is the structure of South African happiness equations? Evidence from quality of life surveys. Social Indicators Research, 82:311–336. Hosegood, V. (2009). The demographic impact of HIV and AIDS across the family and household life-cycle: Implications for efforts to strengthen families in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS Care, 21, 13–21. Inglehart, R. F. (2010). Faith and freedom: traditional and modern ways to happiness. In Diener, E.D., Helliwell, J.F. & Kahneman, D (Eds). International differences in well-being. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 351– 397. International Women’s Forum. (2011). The status of women in South Africa. A Preliminary Report Incorporating the Findings of Consultative Roundtable Discussions on Women Empowerment in South Africa. Https. Date of access: 21 May 2015. Jan, M. & Masood, T. (2008). An assessment of life satisfaction among women. Studies in Home Community Science, 2(1), 33–42.

Jephta, A. (2013). Young South Africans are the Happiest in Sub Saharan Africa – But they Don’t Feel Safe and Don’t Like the Look of the Future!http://www.every1mobile.net/young-south-africans-are-the-happiest-in-sub-saharan-africa-but-they-dont-feel-safe-and-dont-like-the-look-of-the-future/. Date of access: 24 May 2015. Johnson, K. A., White, A. E., Boyd, B. M. & Cohen, A. B. (2011). Matzah, meat, milk, and mana: Psychological influences on religion-cultural food practices. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 42, 1421–1436.

Kay-Hymowitz, J. S. Carroll, W., Bradford W. & Kaye, K. (2013). The benefits and costs of delayed marriage in America. 2012. The national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. http://nationalmarriageproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/KnotYet-FinalForWeb.pdf. Accessed 15 April 2016.

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2013). Hot Prospects, Cold Facts. A Survey of South African Youth. https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kff-lovelife_a.pdf. Date of access: 24 May 2015. Keyes, C. L. M. & Shapiro, A. (2004). Social well-being in the United States: a descriptive epidemiology. In O. G. Brim, C.D. Ryff, & R.C. Kessler (Eds.), How Healthy Are We? A National Study of Well-Being a Midlife. University of Chicago Press. pp. 350–372. Krause, N. (2006). Religious doubt and psychological well-being: a longitudinal investigation. Review of Religious Research, 47, 287–302. Kreider, R. M. (2005). Number, timing, and duration of marriages and divorces: 2001. Current Population Reports, P70-97. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Kusago, T. (2008). Japan's development: what economic growth, human development and subjective well-being measures tell us about? Thammasat Economic Journal, 26(2), 88–116. Layard, R. (2006). Happiness and public policy: A challenge to the profession. Economic Journal, 116, 24–33.

Liu, H., Li, S. & Feldman, M. W. (2013). Gender in marriage and life satisfaction under gender imbalance in China: the role of intergenerational support and SES. Social Indicators Research, 114(3), 915–933. Lang, F. R., Baltes, P. B. & Wagner, G. G. (2007). Desired lifetime and end-of-life desires across adulthood from 20 to 90: a dual-source information model. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 62, 268–276. Lelkes, O. (2006). Tasting freedom: happiness, religion and economic transition. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 59(2), 173–194. Lewis, A. D., Huebner, E. S., Malone, P. S. & Valois, R. F. (2011). Life satisfaction and student engagement in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 249–262. Mahadea, D. & Rawat, T. (2008). Economic growth, income and happiness: an exploratory study. South African Journal of Economics, 76, 276–290. Møller, V. (2007). Satisfied and dissatisfied South Africans: results from the general household survey in international comparison. Social Indicators Research, 81, 389–415. Mookerjee, R. & Beron, K. (2005). Gender, religion and happiness. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 34, 674–685. Musick, K. & Bumpass, L. (2012). Re-examining the case for marriage: union formation and changes in well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(1), 1–18. Mwambene, L. & Sloth-Nielsen, J. (2011). Benign accommodation? Ukuthwala, ‘forced marriage’ and the South African Children’s Act. African Human Rights Law Journal, 11(1), 1–22.

National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. 2015. Marriage Trends in Africa: A Fact Sheet. http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/index.aspx. Date of access: 20 May 2015. Neugarten, B. L., Havighurst, R. J. & Tobin, S. S. (1961). The measurement of life satisfaction. Journal of Gerontology, 16, 134–143. Neyrinck, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., Duriez, B. & Hutsebaut, D. (2006). Cognitive, affective, and behavioral correlates of internalization of regulations for religious activities. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 323–334. Ohtake, F. (2012). Unemployment and happiness. Japan Labor Review, 9(2), 59–74. Oshio, T. (2011). Gender differences among elderly Japanese: importance of family and social relations for life satisfaction. RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 11-E-051. Oswald, A. J. & Powdthavee, N. (2008). Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges. Journal of Public Economics, 92, 1061-1077. Özer, B. U. & Sackes, M. (2011). Effects of academic procrastination on college students’ life satisfaction. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 12, 512–519.

Powdthavee, N. (2003). Happiness and the standard of living: the case for South Africa. Warwick Economic Research Papers No. 675. http://www.powdthavee.co.uk/resources/ handbook2006.pdf. Date of access: 8 Jul. 2014. Powdthavee, N. (2005). Unhappiness and crime: evidence from South Africa. Economica, 72(587), 531–547.

Roemer, M. (2006). Do religious beliefs and membership affect life satisfaction and happiness in Japan? http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/0/4/5/7/pages104577/ p104577-1.php. Date of access: 15 Dec 2015. Roshani, K. (2012). Relationship between religious beliefs and life satisfaction with death anxiety in the elderly. Annals of Biological Research, 3(9), 4400–4405. Rule, S. (2007). Religiosity and quality of life in South Africa. Social Indicators Research, 81, 417–434. Saundra, H. S. & Hughey, A. (2003). African American Women at Mid-life. J African American Women, 18(2), 133-147. Sano, S. & Ohtake, F. (2007). Employment and Happiness. Nihon RôdôKenkyûZasshi, 558, 4–18.

Schatz, E., Gómez-Olivé, X., Ralston, M., Menken, J. & Tollman, S. (2012). The impact of pensions on health and wellbeing in rural South Africa: does gender matter? Social Science and Medicine, 75(10), 1864–1873. Soyer, E. & Hogarth, R. M. (2011). The illusion of predictability: how regression statistics mislead experts. International Journal of Forecasting, 28(3), 695–711. Shapiro, A. & Keyes, C. L. M. (2008). Marital status and social well-being: are the married always better off. Social Indicators Research, 88, 329–346. Sheldon, K. M. (2006). Catholic guilt? Comparing Catholics’ and Protestants’ religious motivations. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 16, 209–223.

Shisana, O., Rehle, T., Simbayi, L. C., Zuma, K., Jooste, S., Zungu, N., Labadarios, D. & Onoya, D. (2014). South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey, 2012. Cape Town, HSRC Press.

http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageContent/4565/SABSSM%20IV%20 LEO%20final.pdf. Date of access: 20 May 2015. Smit, D. & Du Plessis, V. (2011). Sexual harassment in the education sector. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 149(6), 173–217.

Smith, J. (2015). Gender equality a signature failure. IOL News. 8 March. http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gender-equality-a-signature-failure-1.1828655#.VV458Pmqqkp. Date of access: 21 May 2015. Soons, J. P. M., Liefbroer, A. C. & Kalmijn, M. (2009). The long-term consequences of relationship formation for subjective well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(5), 1254–1270. Stack, S. & Eshleman, J. R. (1998). Marital status and happiness: a 17-nation study. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(2), 527–536. Stanca, L. (2009). With or without you? Measuring the quality of relational life throughout the world. Journal of Socio-Economics, 38(5), 834–842. Statistics South Africa. (2012). Statistical Release P0307: Marriages and divorces, 2011. Statistics South Africa. 10 December 2012. http://www.statssa.gov.za/ publications/P0307/P03072011.pdf. Date of access: 19 May 2015. Stevenson, B. & Wolfers, J. (2009). The paradox of declining female happiness. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 1(2), 190–225. Stone, A. A., Schwartz, J. E., Broderick, J. E. & Deaton, A. (2010). A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 9985–9990. Suikkanen, J. (2011). An improved whole life satisfaction theory of happiness. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1(1), 149–166. South African Institute of Race Relations. (2013). First Steps to Healing the South African Family.http://irr.org.za/reports-and-publications/occasional-reports/files/first-steps-to-healing-the-south-african-family-final-report-mar-2011.pdf. Date of access: 19 May 2015.

Tiefenbach, T. & Kohlbacher, F. (2013). Happiness from the Viewpoint of Economics: Findings from Recent Survey Data in Japan. DIJ Working Paper 13/1. Tokyo. http://www.dijtokyo.org/publications/WP1301_Tiefenbach_Kohlbacher.pdf. Date of access: 12 Oct 2014. Tiliouine, H. & Belgoumidi, A. (2009). Health and subjective wellbeing in Algeria: a developing country in transition. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4(2), 223–238. Tsuji, T. (2011). Regional analysis of personal income and happiness: is there a regional gap in the relationship between personal income and happiness? Journal of Economics, 15(2), 1–24. Urakawa, K. & Matsuura, T. (2007). The effect of economic disparity and class mobility on life satisfaction. Seikatsu Keizaigaku Kenkyû, 26, 13–30.

United Nations. (2014). Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. http://millenniumindicators. un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm.Date of access: 20 May 2015. Willitts, M., Benzeval, M. & Stansfel, S. (2004). Partnership history and mental health over time. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 58, 53-58. Windle, K., Francis, J. & Coomber, C. 2011. Preventing loneliness and social isolation: interventions and outcomes. Social care Institute for Excellence Research Briefing 39. http://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/health_and_adult_care/health/SCIE2039%20-%20Preventing%20Loneliness_0.pdf. Date of access: 14 June 2015.

Women’s Wealth. (2013). Single Mothers Take More Strain. http://www.fin24.com/Womens-Wealth/Empowerment/Single-mothers-take-more-strain-20130827. Date of access: 19 May 2015.

World Economic Forum. (2013). The Global Gender Gap Report. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2013.pdf#page=20. Date of access: 21 May 2015. Van Praag, B. M. S. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A. (2008). Happiness quantified: a satisfaction calculus approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yamane, S., Yamane, S. & Tsutsui, Y. (2008). Interregional Inequalities measured by Happiness. GCOE Discussion Paper Series 7. Yul, D. D. & Gaibie, F. (2011). Quality of life in post-apartheid South Africa. Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 38(2), 231–256.

Published
2016-07-03
How to Cite
Mafini, C., & Meyer, D. (2016). Societal Factors and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Low Income Urban Societies in a Developing Country. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 8(3(J), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v8i3(J).1291
Issue
Vol 8 No 3(J) (2016)
Section
Research Paper

Copyright (c) 2016 Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of a revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.

This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.