SATISFACTION WITH LIFE DOMAINS AND SALIENT VALUES FOR ...

SATISFACTION WITH LIFE DOMAINS AND SALIENT VALUES FOR FUTURE: DATA FROM CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS IN FIVE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Ferran Casas, Cristina Figuer, Mònica González, and Germà Coenders Institut de Recerca sobre Qualitat de Vida (IRQV), Universitat de Girona, Spain

ABSTRACT Within the frame of a cross-cultural project directed to explore how New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) affect the life of the adolescents, a study of the relationship between life satisfaction domains and salient values for future, as well as their relation with overall life satisfaction is presented. In order to explore to what extend the different country results could be considered really cross-culturally comparable, two basic topics, sensitive in any research of this kind, such as life domain satisfactions and salient values for future, have been in-depth analyzed. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of each country data and of the total data set have been developed. The sample is composed of 8,995 adolescents between 12 and 16 years old and 4,381 of their parents (48.7 % of the adolescents) from 5 different regions: Catalonia (Spain), Western Cape (South Africa), Norway, Mumbai (India) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Results from PCA offer a four-dimension structure as a good solution for life satisfaction domains and a three-dimension structure for salient values, which are very similar in all the analyzed regions. Life satisfaction domains have been only explored among children. For salient values, a similar structure for children’s and parents’ data has been observed in all regions. Gender and age differences have been examined. The observed similarity of the structure of these two topics allows us to consider the possibility of comparing data of other topics included within the wider project.

INTRODUCTION1 The recent decades a broad consensus among researchers has risen, considering psychological well-being as a key component of quality of life. Some authors name this phenomena as “subjective well-being” (Huebner, 1991; Huebner et al., 1998) or as “subjective quality of life” (Cummins & Cahill, 2000). Most of them agree that it is composed by satisfaction of people with certain life domains, and with life as a whole, and that it is correlated with other phenomena such as self-esteem, perceived control, perceived social support, and other. Among these other correlates of well-being, some authors (Diener & Fujita, 1995; Diener, Suh et al., 1998; Csikzentmihalyi, 1997), have recently defended the inclusion of values, especially as a basis to explore psychological well-being in cross-cultural studies. 1 Wolfgang Glatzer, Susanne von Below, Matthias Stoffregen (eds.), Challenges for the Quality of Life in Contemporary Societies, ###–###. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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FERRAN CASAS, CRISTINA FIGUER, MÒNICA GONZÁLEZ, GERMÀ COENDERS

Value systems have a hierarchical structure, some of them being more nuclear than others (Rokeach, 1973). Although the value system of each individual is relatively stable, it may change in different social contexts and in different cultural conditions, and it is particularly influenced by the social and political development of each society (Pinillos, 1982). Nowadays, satisfaction with life as a whole is understood by many authors as a global evaluation of life (Veenhoven, 1994), contrasting with satisfaction in different domains and being considered the former “something more than” the summing up of the latter. On the other hand, the two types of satisfaction can be explained both through individual and cultural differences (Diener, 1994). As an example, it has been repeatedly observed by Diener and Suh (1997) and Diener et al. (2000) that levels of satisfaction with life as a whole vary by country. Satisfaction with life as a whole studies have often been conducted from an adult perspective. The study of values in relation to children’s and adolescents’ psychological well-being has been, compared to adults, even less considered by the research community. In the few occasions that children or adolescents have been explored, they are not always been systematically asked about their own opinions and perceptions (Alsinet, 2000). However, in the last two decades some exceptions can be identified showing that asking children and adolescents about their own life evaluations is of great interest. Consequently, in this paper, adolescents’ satisfactions and their values have been explored asking them directly. One way of exploring adolescents’ values is asking children to what extent they would like to be appreciated for some concrete values, when they get older. We have used this in previous research in order to identify different value structures between parents and adolescents (Casas, Buxarrais, et al., 2004). This same analysis will be extended to samples coming from five different countries. METHOD Sample Data collection has involved questionnaires to 8,995 boys and girls (12 to 16) and 4,380 of their parents from five different countries (Spain, South Africa, Norway, India and Brazil). In the following table the distribution of sample and age means are displayed:

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Table 1: Sample Characteristics

N Spain 1999

1,634

Spain 2001

3,133

Spain 2002

291

India

1,125

South Africa

1,002

Norway

917

Brazil

893

Total Sample

8,995

Boys 792 (48.5 %) 1,599 (51 %) 127 (43.6 %) 700 (62.2 %) 435 (43.4 %) 466 (50.8 %) 423 (47.4 %) 4,542 (50.5 %)

Girls 842 (51.5 %) 1,534 (49 %) 164 (56.4 %) 425 (37.8 %) 567 (56.6 %) 451 (49.2 %) 470 (52.6 %) 4,453 (49.5 %)

Age Mean 14.12 (1.13) 13.89 (1.24) 13.77 (1.17) 13.65 (0.95) 14.49 (1.08) not available 13.61 (1.15) 13.94 (1.18)

Parents 666 (40.76 %) 1,633 (52.12 %) 143 (49.19 %) 763 (67.82 %) 565 (56.39 %) 347 (37.84 %) 263 (29.45 %) 4,380 (48.69 %)

Source: Own calculations.

Spanish data have been collected in three different moments and have been used as different samples. Data for the rest of the samples were obtained between 2000 and 2002. Gender distribution is around 50 % in all samples, excepting in the Indian one, where the percentage of boys is much higher than girls. The whole sample age mean is 13.94 years old (SD=1.18) and is very similar for all country samples. Parents’ responses range from 29 % to 68 %, being the whole sample percentage of about 48 %. Instruments Two questionnaires were designed for this research: one for adolescents and other for their parents. The original questionnaires were in Castilian-Spanish and in Catalan languages and had already been tested in previous studies. For the international study, the Spanish version was translated into English and participants from all research teams across the five countries discussed the results at an international meeting, where many cultural and social specific factors were then taken into account. As a result of this discussion, some items of the original questionnaires were changed and a few new ones were added. Then, the English version was translated into all other lan-

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FERRAN CASAS, CRISTINA FIGUER, MÒNICA GONZÁLEZ, GERMÀ COENDERS

guages. In the cases of Brazilian-Portuguese and Norwegian, the translations also used the Spanish version, because at least one team member was fluent in Spanish. All translations were tested in each country, and a long e-mail discussion developed among all research teams, until agreement was reached on a new English standard version, and all translated questionnaires were re-adapted to that version. The questionnaire for adolescents includes closed and open-ended questions aimed to systematically explore the different activities, perceptions and evaluations of adolescents in regard to different audiovisual media (television, computer and video console), and some of their facilities as well (educational CD-Roms, Internet and games). We have explored to what extent their activities with these media are present in their conversations with parents, siblings, peers, teachers and other people. We also collected information about children’s perspectives towards their future related to media use. Some general values, satisfaction with different life domains and overall life satisfaction, self-esteem, mastery and perceived social support have been additionally explored. The questionnaire for parents includes only closed-ended items, which are very similar to the ones on the children’s questionnaire in order to compare answers. Parents were asked about their present interest in NICTs (New Informational and Communication Technologies), the information they have about the above mentioned audiovisual media, their perceptions of how interested and informed is their child, how satisfied they think the child is with conversations about media with different people, and about their own values. Measures Most of the questions in the different questionnaire versions are exactly the same, and thus comparison is possible. For the goals of this paper only the following variables have been explored: Overall life satisfaction An item on overall life satisfaction measured through a five-point Likert scale, value 1 meaning “very dissatisfied” and 5 “very satisfied”, was included. Life satisfaction domains Nine items exploring satisfaction with specific domains were included in the questionnaire. Domains are: satisfaction with school performance, with learning, with time use, with amusement, with preparation for future, with family, with friends, with sports, and with own body. In 1999 and 2001 Spanish samples, this last domain was lacking. These variables are measured through a five-point Likert scale, value 1 meaning “very dissatisfied” and 5 “very satisfied”. Salient values for future To explore adolescents’ expectations they were asked to what extent they would like to be appreciated for some concrete values, when they get older. Parents also were asked to what extent they would like his/her child to be appreciated for the same

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concrete values, in the future. We have used this technique in previous research in order to identify different value structures between parents and adolescents (Casas, Buxarrais, et al., 2004). For the present study, twelve values were considered: intelligence, technological skills, social skills, computer knowledge, professional status, family, sensitivity, sympathy, money, power, knowledge of the world and own image. The family and own image values were not included in parents’ questionnaire for 1999 Spanish sample. Variables regarding values were measured through a fivepoint Likert scale, value 1 meaning “not at all” and 5 “very much” (concerned about being appreciated). PROCEDURE First of all school directors and presidents of the mothers and parents association of each selected school were contacted to ask for permission. The next step was to contact teachers responsible for each class-room group in order to establish the days and hours that were better to administrate the questionnaires. The questionnaires were group administered in their regular classroom. One of their usual teachers and one or two researchers were present during the administration and clarified any of the children’s questions that rose. The session is usually about one hour long for the youngest and about 35-40 minutes for the oldest. At the end of the session we give each one of the children a letter and a questionnaire for their parents in a sealed envelope, to be delivered by hand. They were asked to return it to the teacher within around one week, also in a sealed envelope. Parents are asked to co-operate in the research with their answer and the questionnaire may be answered by one of them or both together. In their questionnaire, parents are requested to answer with only the child who had answered our school questionnaire in mind. Both questionnaires have a code, so that they can be paired with each other. RESULTS Principal Component Analysis of Life Satisfaction Domains across Samples Principal Component Analysis (PCA), with Varimax rotation, was used to explore how the 9 items related to satisfaction with several domains of children’s lives are organized in different satisfaction dimensions. The 9 items referred to satisfaction with school performance, learning, amusement, preparation for future, time use, family, friends, sports, and own body. PCA analysis was therefore applied to the 7 available country samples and to the whole sample2. 2- and 3-dimension structures with explained variances ranging from 46% to 65% are explored. Two kinds of items have been differentiated according their loadings, in order to define those dimensions: nuclear and non-nuclear items. Nuclear items are those that consistently have its highest loading in a concrete dimension for all or almost all country samples as well as for the whole sample. Non-nuclear items are those with important loadings in a particular dimension but that also have impor-

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FERRAN CASAS, CRISTINA FIGUER, MÒNICA GONZÁLEZ, GERMÀ COENDERS

tant loadings in other dimensions and this being not necessarily consistent across samples. In the 2- or 3-dimension structures were not always evident how to classify an item into nuclear or non-nuclear, as the structures by samples may vary among each other. So, the decision of using 4 dimensions was taken in order to clarify the model. The 4-dimension structure appears to be conceptually clearer than the 2 or 3dimension ones. In this new structure we obtained explained variances from 66% to 75%. Dimension I has been named Enjoying time satisfaction and includes nuclear items as satisfaction with time use and with amusement. Satisfaction with school performance, learning and preparation for future are nuclear items for Dimension II, that has been named Learning related satisfaction. Dimension III, Family and friends, includes satisfaction with family and with friends. Lastly, nuclear items of Dimension IV, called Physical activities satisfaction, are the items satisfaction with sports and with own body (table 2).

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Table 2: Adolescents’ Satisfaction Domains

S 1999 S 2001 S 2002 IND (Catal.) (Catal.) (Catal.) N 1,634 3,133 291 1,125 Time Use X X X X Nuclear Amusement X X X X Sports (3) I. Own Body Enjoying NonLearning Time Nuclear Preparation (2) (2) (2) for Future Friends (2) (2) (2) School X X X X Performance Nuclear II. Learning X X X X Learning Preparation X X X X Related for Future (2) (2) (2) Non- Time Use Nuclear Family (2) (2) (2) Family X X X X Nuclear Friends X X X X III. Sports (2) Family and Non- Amusement (2) (2) Friends Nuclear Preparation for Future Sports X X X X Nuclear IV. Own Body X X Physical Time Use Activities Non- Preparation Nuclear (2) for Future Explained Variance (%) 74.2 74.9 73.6 66.4 Items

SA

N

BR

Total

1,002 X X

917 X (2)

893 X X (2)

8,995 X X

X

(2) (2)

(2)

(3)

(3)

(2)

(2) (2)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

(2) X X

(2) X X

(2) (2) X X

X

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(3)

X X

X

X X

X X (3)

67.0

73.5

71.1

68.0

X X

Source: Own Calculations. (2)=Loadings are important but rank in the second place. (3)=Loadings are important but rank in the third place. Note: codes used for each country sample are Spain (S), India (IND), South Africa (SA), Norway (N) and Brazil (BR). Total means the whole sample.

The distribution of nuclear items in the four different dimensions has shown to be the same for all countries and for the whole sample as well. Only few differences have been observed for Norway, where another structure in Enjoying time satisfac-

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FERRAN CASAS, CRISTINA FIGUER, MÒNICA GONZÁLEZ, GERMÀ COENDERS

tion and in Physical activities satisfaction dimensions is observed. These differences stem from the items of satisfaction with amusement and with own body. Concretely, satisfaction with own body, which is a nuclear item of the Physical activities dimension, obtains its highest loading on the Enjoying time dimension in the case of Norway. And satisfaction with amusement, which is a nuclear item of the Enjoying time dimension, only ranks in the second place in this same dimension and obtains its highest loading on the Family and friends dimension. Gender and age differences were studied in the whole sample. By gender, we observe significant statistical differences between boys and girls referring to punctuations in Learning related satisfaction (t3598=3.518; p