Research Review

1.  Civic engagement to build a great community together
http://www.redwoodcity.org/manager/initiatives/engagement.html

Chapter on: Health and Happiness
by Ed Everett, City Manager, Redwood City, California, USA

City Manager, Ed Everett, discovered that the statistical connection between social capital and positive health and wellbeing is as strong as the statistical connection between smoking and poor health. His research concludes that moving to a higher social capital state would do almost as much good for health as quitting smoking.

Numerous studies tell us that social engagement has an independent influence on how long we live. The author concludes: “If you belong to no social group but decide to join one as an active member you may reduce your risk of dying to half. If you smoke and belong to no such group, it is a toss up statistically whether you should stop smoking or participate in a social group.”

Happiness is best predicted by the breadth and depth of one’s social connectedness. The research looked at the relationship of happiness to income, education, and marriage and concludes that “regular social club attendance, volunteering, entertaining, or church attendance are the ‘happiness equivalent’ of getting a university degree or more than doubling your income. Civic connections rival marriage and affluence as predictors of life’s happiness.”

The findings indicated that “each generation…since the 1950s had been less engaged in community affairs than their immediate predecessor”. Those born before mid-1940s and those born after 1964 both see family, friends, and co-workers as providing a sense of belonging. However, these two groups separate significantly when it comes to seeing neighbours, churches, local communities, and organisations as giving them a sense of community.

In summary, Ed Everett adds that the present apparent trend of civic disengagement, or a loss of social capital, is what started in the mid-1960s. We now know that the main causes appear to be time spent on electronic entertainment and generational changes.

So what difference does this all make? Are people worse off because of this loss of social capital? Should one care?

According to a new study by a Wake Forest University psychologist, published in the October 2006 issue of Child Development, ethnic pride can help teenagers maintain happiness when faced with stress.

“Adolescents with positive feelings toward their ethnic group inform that they are happier on a daily basis than those who have a more negative attitude about their ethnic identity”, says Lisa Kiang, assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest and lead author of the study.

The research focused on adolescents because that is when identity issues are at the forefront. The study, involving 415 ninth-graders from Chinese and Mexican backgrounds, showed the protective effects of ethnic identity on daily psychological wellbeing. Each participant completed a brief questionnaire regarding their feelings about their ethnic identity. Then, for two weeks, the students filled out a three-page checklist at the end of each day indicating the kinds of stresses they experienced that day. For example, the students would mark whether they had a lot of schoolwork to complete or if they had a lot of demands made by their family.

Finally, the students were asked to rate their daily emotional states on a scale from zero to four, including how happy they felt that day and how nervous they felt that day. Individuals with high ethnic regard rated higher levels of daily happiness than those who had a negative attitude towards ethnic identity and groups.

The findings concluded that adolescents with a high ethnic regard maintained a generally positive and happy attitude in the face of daily stressors despite their anxious feelings. So, having positive feelings about one's ethnic group appeared to provide an extra boost of positivity in individuals' daily lives.

“Although the experience of more daily stressors predicted less daily happiness in individuals with a low to moderate ethnic regard, individuals with a high ethnic regard were protected from these negative effects. The positive effects of ethnic pride found in this study could suggest that parents and society in general should encourage strong ethnic identity in families",says Kiang, who teaches courses in developmental psychology.

Further information on this research from Cheryl V. Walker at Wake Forest University, http://www.wfu.edu/

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=54788

3. The Social Context of Wellbeing

Helliwell JF and Putnam RD, 2004. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences , 2004, Sep 29; 359(1449): 1435-46. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Large samples of data from the World Values Survey, the US Benchmark Survey and a comparable Canadian survey are used to estimate equations designed to explore the social context of subjective evaluations of wellbeing, of happiness, and of health. Social capital, as measured by the strength of family, neighbourhood, religious and community ties, is found to support both physical health and subjective wellbeing.

New evidence of this research confirms that social capital is strongly linked to subjective wellbeing through many independent channels and in several different forms. Marriage and family, ties to friends and neighbours, workplace ties, civic engagement (both individually and collectively), trustworthiness and trust: all appear independently and robustly related to happiness and life satisfaction, both directly and through their impact on health.

Contact for researchers:
John F. Helliwell and Robert D. Putnam, Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, 997-1873 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.

Monika Bhatia
Project Manager and Editor, Quality4life
3 November 2006

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