Determinants of Satisfaction for Blacks and Whites

Abstract

The study analyzes the determinants of satisfaction for blacks and whites with data from the Quality of American Life survey conducted in 1971 and replicated in 1978. A domain satisfaction scale is the dependént variable and a series of demographic, social relationship, SES, and religion variables are used as independent variables. Separate regression analyses by race, and tests for the significance of the interaction of the independent variables with race reveal (1) perceived quality of important relationships (i.e., friends, neighbors, children, parents, and siblings) more strongly affects levels of satisfaction for both blacks and whites than demographic variables. SES, or religion; (2) black females report significantly lower levels of satisfaction than any other gender/race group; (3) blacks living in the East report lower satisfaction than any other region/race group; (4) feeling close to their parents more strongly impacts black than white levels of satisfaction; (5) religion is more important for blacks than for whites in producing satisfaction; and (6) SES is more important for whites than blacks in producing satisfaction. Theoretical interpretations are presented.

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Psychological Well-being Among US Adults

“…For example, several studies over the years have reported that religiousness may be more closely linked with psychological well-being (a) among women as compared with men (e.g., Idler 1987;Mirola 1999), (b) among African Americans as compared with whites (e.g., St. George and McNamara 1984;Thomas and Holmes 1992;Krause 2003), (c) among older adults as compared with younger persons (e.g., Ellison 1991), and (d) among lower SES individuals-especially those with lower levels of education-as compared with others (e.g., Pollner 1989;Ellison 1991;Krause 2006c). Given such findings, there is a clear rationale for investigating the extent to which the associations between ordinary or daily spiritual experiences and well-being may differ across various sociodemographic subgroups within the US population.…”

Religious Involvement, Stress, and Mental Health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit Area Study

“…Mounting evidence links aspects of religiosity with a wide range of favorable mental health outcomes, including higher levels of psychological well-being (Ellison 1991;Thomas & Holmes 1992), fewer symptoms of distress and depression (Brown, Ndubuisi & Gary 1990;Idler 1987;Levin, Markides & Ray 1996;, and lower risk of recognized psychiatric disorders such as major depressive episode , generalized anxiety disorder (Koenig et al 1993), and alcoholism .…”

Economic stress and depressive symptoms among southern African American women: an examination of mediating and moderating factors

“…Of particular concern was the finding that African American women were more likely to report feelings of stress than African American men, and they reported feeling less satisfied with their lives as a whole compared to all of their counterparts. Later findings by Mookheijee (1987) and Thomas and Holmes (1992) also indicated that African American women were less satisfied with their lives than any other race or gender group.…”

“…Several studies have indicated that African American women report lower levels of mental well-being than all of their counterparts (Bracy 1976;Thomas and Holmes 1992; Thomas and Hughes 1986). However, these findings were problematic in that 9 little is known about the ways in which community context, sociocultural factors.…”

“…Of particular concern was whether political enfranchisement and greater access to public accommodations, especially for southern African Americans, would result in more positive quality of life (Thomas and Hughes 1986;Thomas and Holmes 1992). In addition, proponents of social indicators research, which relates to the documentation of social trends, became increasingly interested in the subjective well-being of African Americans in terms of overall life satisfaction and happiness (Land 1983;Ellison and Gay 1990).…”