Relative Income and Life Satisfaction among Chinese Adults

Abstract

Life satisfaction is a key component of people’s subjective well-being. This study assessed the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction among Chinese adults, using data from a cross-sectional survey. Individual-level data (N = 1369) came from the 2016 China Genuine Progress indicator Survey (CGPiS) conducted in Beijing and Chengdu, China. Ordered logistic regressions were performed to examine the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction among CGPiS adult respondents. Respondents’ life satisfaction was positively associated with relative income in comparison to their relatives and friends but not associated with relative income in comparison to their residing community and city. Subgroup analyses replicated the findings among male respondents and respondents with good or excellent self-rated health. In contrast, female respondents’ life satisfaction was positively associated with relative income in comparison to their city of residence, but not associated with relative income in comparison to their relatives, friends, and residing community. Life satisfaction among those with poor or fair self-rated health was not associated with any of the four dimensions of relative income. Relative income in comparison to relatives and friends was positively associated with life satisfaction in Chinese adults. Future studies adopting a longitudinal or experimental design are warranted to replicate the findings.

Empirical Analysis of Population Urbanization and Residents’ Life Satisfaction—Based on 2017 CGSS

“…In China, there are obvious economic policy differences from the eastern to the western regions [30]. As a result, government investment in different regions will be affected by exploitation, increasing the sense of social inequality [31] and seriously affecting the life satisfaction of residents [32,33].…”

Good governance matters for well-being: the case of Kazakhstan

“…The existing research on subjective well-being has identified, among others, the following determinants of subjective well-being (Dolan et al , 2008; Ngoo et al , 2015): personality traits (Okun and George, 1984; Diener et al , 1999; Helliwell, 2006); socio-demographic characteristics (Fernandez and Kulik, 1981; Evans and Kelley, 2004; Blanchflower and Oswald, 2008); culture and religion (Diener, 2000; Exton et al , 2015; Ngamaba and Soni, 2017), social capital (Powdthavee, 2008; Helliwell and Putnam, 2004; Helliwell and Barrington-Leigh, 2010; Helliwell and Shun, 2011); neighborhood context (Shields et al , 2007; Sorensen, 2013; Ma et al , 2017); economic factors such as income (Easterlin, 1974, 1995; McBride, 2001; Clark et al , 2005; Deaton, 2008; Tella et al , 2010; Mikucka et al , 2017; Guan et al , 2019) and employment (Clark and Oswald, 1994; Bockerman and Ilmakunnas, 2006; Booth and van Ours, 2009; Helliwell and Huang, 2014; Baslevent and Kirmanoglu, 2014). There is also a strand of literature that analyzes the role of institutional factors, government performance and public policies in subjective well-being.…”

Absolute Income and Life Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Relative Income and Social Reference Income Effect

“…Nispi gelir ve mutluluk arasındaki pozitif ilişkiyi destekleyen çok sayıda çalışma mevcuttur (Caporale, Georgellis, Tsitsianis ve Yin, 2009;Oshio, Nozaki ve Kobayashi, 2011;Tibesigwa, Visser ve Hodkinson, 2016). Bir çalışmada Çin'li yetişkinlerin çoğu nispi gelir ve yaşam memnuniyeti arasında pozitif bir ilişki olduğunu bildirmişlerdir (Guan, Qiu ve An, 2019). Bununla birlikte literatürde gelirinin başkasının gelirinden daha düşük olduğunu düşünen bireylerin daha mutsuz olduklarını bildiren çalışmalar da mevcuttur (Hopkins, 2008).…”