Leisure activities, Subjective well-being, Quality of life, Age, Gender,

The purpose of the present study was to compare children with different levels of hope on measures of life satisfaction, self-esteem, family cohesion, and social support. Two hundred and ninety-eight children filled out measures of hope, life satisfaction, self-esteem, family cohesion, and perceived social support. The results revealed no age or gender differences in hope. A hierarchical cluster analysis was preformed on the Children's Hope Scale scores (Snyder et al. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 22 (3):399-421, 1997). Results from a cluster analysis placed children into either a low-or high-hope group. In line with the predictions of hope theory, children with high hope were more satisfied with their life and had higher self-esteem when compared to children with low hope. Additionally, children with high hope, when compared to children with low hope, reported greater support from others and higher level of family cohesion. The usefulness of children's hope as a positive indicator that differentiates children on various measures is explored in this paper.

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The aim of this study was to examine how social support measured as the subjective assessment of social support adequacy given by family, friends or significant others contributes to well-being (happiness, life satisfaction and domain satisfactions) across the life span. The study was conducted on a representative sample of the Croatian adult population (N = 1.000). For the purpose of analyses the sample was divided into three age groups: 18 to 40 years, 41 to 60 years, and 60+ years. The results were analyzed by means of multiple group structural equation modeling, which was performed separately for two measures of subjective well-being (SWB -a general measure of life satisfaction and happiness, PWI -domain satisfactions). The results showed that in all three age groups, among three sources of social support only the perceived social support from friends was significantly related to both subjective well-being measures. Participants who perceived adequate social support from friends expressed higher levels of subjective well-being.

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The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between the quality of tourist destinations and the subjective well-being of people living in the destination. Two data sets were used for the analysis: one related to the subjective well-being of Croatian citizens and the other related to the quality of tourist destinations in the country. Subjective well-being measures included: overall happiness, life satisfaction and satisfaction with the standard of living, health, achievements in life, relationships, safety, community connectedness, and future security, using a scale from 0 to 10. The final data set included 2,171 residents (aged 15–64) from 41 destinations with varying touristic quality. The destinations were grouped into three categories according to the touristic quality. Results of the ANCOVAs for quality of tourist destination as independent variable, subjective well-being of residents as dependent variables, and sociodemographics as covariates (age, gender, education, monthly income, level of urbanization) showed that the quality of tourist destination was related to residents' life satisfaction and happiness, as well as the satisfaction with personal life domains. The residents of destinations with the higher evaluated quality of tourist offer were more happy, more satisfied with their lives in general, with their material status, personal health, achievements in life, relationships with family and friends, feelings of physical safety, acceptance by the community, and future security than the residents from the destinations with medium and lower quality of tourist offer.

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