Educated and Happy: A Four‐Year Study Explaining the Links Between Education, Job Fit, and Life Satisfaction

Chinese women's years of education and subjective well-being: an empirical analysis based on ordered Logit model and coupling coordination model

In modern society, the improvement of women's education level has become one of the important indicators of national development and social progress. Although there are many useful explorations on the relationship between education and subjective well-being, the research on women's years of education and subjective well-being is very limited. The article focuses on women's years of education to determine whether and how to affect subjective well-being. This study is based on the China general social survey in 2021. The ordered Logit model was used to analyze the impact of women's years of education on subjective well-being, and a binary coupling coordination model was constructed to test the above two variables. The results show that the longer the education years of women, the stronger the subjective well-being. The benchmark regression results show that women's years of education have positive and negative effects on subjective well-being through economic status, physical and mental health, ecological environment, social cognition and personal cognition. The analysis of coupling coordination degree shows that the coupling between the years of education and subjective well-being of women in coastal areas and economically developed areas is the strongest, and the subjective well-being is better realized by increasing the years of education. Based on the above research results, this paper provides some practical suggestions for improving women's subjective well-being, and provides some valuable references for women to effectively balance husband-wife relationship, family relationship and work relationship, improve women's years of education and better obtain happiness.

Influence of education and subjective financial status on dietary habits among young, middle-aged, and older adults in Japan: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Research has suggested an association between lower socioeconomic status (SES) and unhealthy dietary habits. However, differences in the effects of different SES indicators and age remain unclear. The current study addressed this research gap by investigating the relationship between SES and unhealthy dietary habits, specifically focusing on educational attainment and subjective financial status (SFS) among varied age groups.

METHODS

Data were derived from a mail survey of 8,464 people living in a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. Participants were classified into three age groups (20-39 years: young adults; 40-64 years: middle-aged adults; and 65-97 years: older adults). SES was assessed based on individual educational attainment and SFS. Unhealthy dietary habits were defined as skipping breakfast and a low frequency of balanced meal consumption. Participants were asked how often they ate breakfast, and those who did not respond "every day" were categorized as "breakfast skippers." Low frequency of balanced meal consumption was defined as eating a meal that included a staple meal, main dish, and side dishes at least twice a day for less than five days per week. Poisson regression analyses with robust variance adjusted for potential covariates were used to determine the interactive effects of educational attainment and SFS on unhealthy dietary habits.

RESULTS

Individuals with lower educational attainment across all age groups skipped breakfast more frequently compared to those with higher educational attainment. For older adults, poor SFS was associated with skipping breakfast. Young adults with poor SFS and middle-aged adults with lower educational attainment tended to eat less balanced meals. In addition, an interaction effect was found in older adults, where those with lower education despite good SFS and those with poor SFS despite higher education were at a greater risk of falling into unhealthy diet.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggested that different SES indicators affect healthy dietary habits in different generations, and therefore, health policies should consider the potential influence of different SES on promoting healthier dietary habits.

Reacting to Perceived Overqualification: Uniting Strain-Based and Self-Regulatory Adjustment Reactions and the Moderating Role of Formal Work Arrangements

Thus far, research on perceived overqualification has focused on either maladaptive, strain-based versus more adaptive, self-regulatory reactions in isolation. Following person-environment fit theory, we seek to advance this one-sided focus by uniting both types of adjustment reactions and to consider their implications for perceived person-job fit, and performance and wellbeing outcomes. In line with theory, we also examine contextual boundary conditions in the form of indicators of formal work arrangements (i.e., permanent vs. temporary employment contract and job tenure). Utilizing three-wave data from 453 employees, we found that perceived overqualification indirectly and sequentially related to decreases in task performance, organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction via anger toward employment situation and lower levels of perceived person-job fit-thus reflecting the strain-based pathway. For the self-regulatory pathway, findings did not align with our initial proposition that the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization (a form of structural job crafting whereby employees improve their work processes) would be weaker among temporary employees and those with longer tenure. Instead, having a temporary employment contract or having longer job tenure resulted in a negative relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization, which further contributed to a decrease in performance and satisfaction via lower levels of perceived person-job fit. Our study highlights the demotivating role of a temporary employment contract and long job tenure for overqualified employees to reorganize their work. In discussing our findings, we point to the importance of job stage and develop recommendations for managing overqualified employees.

Job satisfaction has differential associations with delay discounting and risk-taking

Low job satisfaction has been associated with both negative health and negative organizational outcomes. Knowledge on which factors influence job satisfaction remains limited. This study assesses the associations between job satisfaction and three personality traits related to cognitive- and inhibitory control: delay discounting, risk-taking and sensation seeking (DRS-traits). Delay discounting and sensation seeking were inferred using self-reported behavioral data and health measurements for 80,676 participants in the UK Biobank. Multiple linear regression analysis produced beta coefficients and confidence intervals for each DRS-trait and job satisfaction. Analyses were adjusted for age, socioeconomic status and sleep quality. A combination of the three DRS-traits (CDRS) was assessed as well. Delay discounting and risk-taking were associated with, respectively, lower and higher job satisfaction in both sexes. Sensation seeking had no significant association with job satisfaction for either sex. The combined score, CDRS, was only negatively associated with job satisfaction in females but not in males. We discuss that the negative association between delay discounting and job satisfaction may be due to career related delay discounting effects, but also highlight that low job satisfaction itself may also lead to increased delay discounting. Additionally, we discuss why increased risk-taking behavior may have a positive effect on job satisfaction.

Multidimensional Factors Affecting Successful Aging among Empty-Nesters in China Based on Social-Ecological System Theory

BACKGROUND

This study aims to identify the status of successful aging and the factors influencing empty-nest elderly in China based on the social-ecological system theory.

METHODS

The data came from the follow-up survey (2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and 3074 empty-nesters aged 60 and over are included. Chi-squared tests and logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with successful aging.

RESULTS

The successful aging rate of empty-nesters in China was 5.9%. The results of the multifactor analysis showed that younger age, higher education level, good self-rated health, good hearing, high life satisfaction, availability of financial resources at the microsystem level, higher frequency of contact with children at the mesosystem level, and medical insurance at the macrosystem level were the contributing influencing factors for successful aging of empty-nesters in China.

CONCLUSION

This study is an important attempt to explore the successful aging of empty-nesters in China. Because this study is based on social-ecological system theory, it confirms the important role of individual characteristics of older adults and their surrounding environment in achieving successful aging. Therefore, we should pay attention not only to the individual characteristics of the elderly, but also to the role of the surrounding environment on the health of the elderly, so that we can develop intervention measures to promote their successful aging.

Crafting work-nonwork balance involving life domain boundaries: Development and validation of a novel scale across five countries

Ongoing developments, such as digitalization, increased the interference of the work and nonwork life domains, urging many to continuously manage engagement in respective domains. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent home-office regulations further boosted the need for employees to find a good work-nonwork balance, thereby optimizing their health and well-being. Consequently, proactive individual-level crafting strategies for balancing work with other relevant life domains were becoming increasingly important. However, these strategies received insufficient attention in previous research despite their potential relevance for satisfying psychological needs, such as psychological detachment. We addressed this research gap by introducing a new scale measuring crafting for a work-nonwork balance and examining its relevance in job-and life satisfaction, work engagement, subjective vitality, family role and job performance, boundary management and self-rated work-nonwork balance. The Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale was validated in five countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland), encompassing data from a heterogeneous sample of more than 4,200 employees. In study 1, exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factorial scale structure. Confirmatory factor analysis, test for measurement invariance, and convergent validity were provided in study 2. Replication of confirmatory factor analysis, incremental and criterion validity of the Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale for job and life satisfaction were assessed in study 3. Study 4 displayed criterion validity, test–retest reliability, testing measurement invariance, and applicability of the scale across work cultures. Finally, study 5 delivered evidence for the Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale in predicting work-nonwork balance. The novel Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale captured crafting for the challenging balance between work and nonwork and performed well across several different working cultures in increasingly digitalized societies. Both researchers and practitioners may use this tool to assess crafting efforts to balance both life domains and to study relationships with outcomes relevant to employee health and well-being.

Violence and the Academic Lives of College Students at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity

To ascertain whether sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) students at a Hispanic-serving institution who experience violence are more likely to experience interference with their academic lives when compared to heterosexual, cisgender students, and how this relationship differs by race/ethnicity. Data came from 736 undergraduate students at a university in the Southwestern United States responding to a 2017 Campus Climate Survey. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted on self-identified SGM students and reported interference with their academic lives. The model was also tested for effect modification by race/ethnicity. Two-thirds (67.65%) of SGM students reported four or more incidences of violence. Nearly one-fifth (18.83%) of SGM students reported being harassed, insulted, threatened, or intimidated, and 2.63% reported being physically hurt (including forced sex), because the perpetrator thought the individual might have been gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. SGM students had 2.44 (95% CI: 1.29, 4.61) increased odds of interference with academic life as a result of violence victimization compared with non-SGM students. When the model was evaluated for effect modification by race/ethnicity, large effect sizes were observed, although the results were not significant. SGM undergraduate students are at significantly increased risk of violence and interference with their academic lives. This research emphasizes the need for institutions of higher education to ensure that their policies and practices support equal access to education by SGM students. Additionally, this study contributes insights into a potential protective effect of Hispanic ethnicity that warrants further research.

Mental health groups in high school students and later school dropout: a latent class and register-based follow-up analysis of the Danish National Youth Study

Background

Mental health represents an important public health issue, and mental health problems have been linked to school dropout. This study aimed to identify mental health groups of high school students using both positive and negative aspects of mental health and to examine whether these mental health groups longitudinally predict school dropout.

Methods

We conducted latent class analysis using the Danish National Youth Study 2014 (n = 60,526; mean 17.9 years) to identify clustering of mental health (11 items covering positive and negative aspects of emotional wellbeing and functioning in daily life), separately by sex. The relationship with subsequent school dropout was examined using logistic regression models, adjusted for age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Information on dropout status was obtained through educational registers.

Results

School dropout rates was highest among first-year students. Four mental health groups were identified: Flourishing (females: 38%, males: 55%), moderate mental health (females: 15%, males: 20%), emotionally challenged (females: 28%, males: 15%) and languishing (females: 19%, males: 10%). Compared to the flourishing group, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for dropout were 3.43 (95% CI: 2.98, 3.95), 1.73 (95% CI: 1.45, 2.06) and 1.76 (95% CI: 1.52, 2.04) in the languishing, moderate mentally healthy and emotional challenged females. Results in males were comparable.

Conclusions

Mental health in high school students cluster together in four categories among both males and females. Students who are languishing, emotionally challenged or moderate mentally healthy have about 1.5-fold to threefold higher risk of dropping out of high school compared with flourishing students. Universal mental health interventions may be a promising strategy, particularly in the first year of high school where most students drop out of school.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-021-00621-7.

Personality, lifestyle and job satisfaction: causal association between neuroticism and job satisfaction using Mendelian randomisation in the UK biobank cohort

Job-related stress has been associated with poor health outcomes but little is known about the causal nature of these findings. We employed Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach to investigate the causal effect of neuroticism, education, and physical activity on job satisfaction. Trait-specific genetic risk score (GRS) based on recent genome wide association studies were used as instrumental variables (IV) using the UK Biobank cohort (N = 315,536). Both single variable and multivariable MR analyses were used to determine the effect of each trait on job satisfaction. We observed a clear evidence of a causal association between neuroticism and job satisfaction. In single variable MR, one standard deviation (1 SD) higher genetically determined neuroticism score (4.07 units) was associated with -0.31 units lower job satisfaction (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.38 to -0.24; P = 9.5 × 10^-20). The causal associations remained significant after performing sensitivity analyses by excluding invalid genetic variants from GRS_Neuroticism (β(95%CI): -0.28(-0.35 to -0.21); P = 3.4 x 10^-15). Education (0.02; -0.08 to 0.12; 0.67) and physical activity (0.08; -0.34 to 0.50; 0.70) did not show any evidence for causal association with job satisfaction. When genetic instruments for neuroticism, education and physical activity were included together, the association of neuroticism score with job satisfaction was reduced by only -0.01 units, suggesting an independent inverse causal association between neuroticism score (P = 2.7 x 10^-17) and job satisfaction. Our findings show an independent causal association between neuroticism score and job satisfaction. Physically active lifestyle may help to increase job satisfaction despite presence of high neuroticism scores. Our study highlights the importance of considering the confounding effect of negative personality traits for studies on job satisfaction.