Main description:

The second edition will be an update and further elaboration of the literature related to subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. It will have a new substantial section that focuses on reviewing much of the literature of subjective well-being within specific life domains (social life, material life, leisure life, work life, community life, spiritual life, family life, health life, sex life, travel life, etc.) In the 1st edition the research in these various life domains was discussed only briefly. The second edition will maintain the same organizational structure of the first edition; that is, Part 1 will focus on introduction (definitions and distinctions; examples of measures of subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction; and motives underlying subjective well-being). Part 2 will focus on psychological strategies that are allow people to optimize subjective well-being by engaging in psychological processes related to the relationship between and among life domains (e.g., social life, family life, love life, spiritual life, community life, financial life, etc.) This part will contain four chapters related to these various “inter-domain” processes: bottom-up spillover, top-down spillover, horizontal spillover, and compensation. Part 3 of the book will focus on “intra-domain” psychological strategies designed to optimize subjective well-being. These include re-evaluation based on personal history, re-evaluation based on self-concept, re-evaluation based on social comparison, goal selection, goal implementation and attainment, and re-appraisal. Part 4 of the book will focus on balance processes—how people attempt to create balance in their lives using psychological processes within specific life domains (intra-domain strategies) and processes that relate one domain to another (inter-domain strategies).

Feature:

Revised edition of an authorative work in Quality of Life Studies

Thorough literature review of subjective

Well-being within life domains

Back cover:

The updated edition of this popular book covers up-to-date research on hedonic well-being (emotional well-being, positive/negative affect, affective dimension of happiness, etc.), life satisfaction (subjective well-being, perceived quality of life, subjective well-being, and cognitive dimension of happiness), and eudaimonia (psychological well-being, self-actualization, self-realization, growth, mental health, character strengths, etc.). 

The book is divided in six major sections.  Part 1 begins with a chapter that covers much of the history and philosophical foundations of the psychology of quality of life in terms of three major pillars: hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia.  This part also covers much of the research that has successfully made distinctions among these three major constructs and its varied dimensions.  To establish to the importance of the topic (the psychology of quality of life), this part also covers much of the literature on the positive benefits of hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia on the individual, the community, organizations, and society at large.  Part 2 focuses on capturing much of research dealing with the effects of objective reality (objective factors grounded in real, environmental conditions) on hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia.  Specifically, this part captures the quality-of-life literature related to biological and health-related effects, income effects, other demographic effects, effects of personal activities, and socio-cultural effects.  Part 3 shifts gears to focus on the effects of subjective reality on hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia.  In this context, the book reviews research on personality effects, effects of affect and cognition, effects of beliefs and values, effects of goals, self-concept effects, and social comparison effects.  Part 4 focuses on quality-of-life research that is domain specific.  That is, the book covers the research on the psychology of life domains in general and delves in some depth to describe research on work well-being, residential well-being, material well-being, social well-being, health well-being, leisure well-being, and the well-being of other life domains of lesser salience.  Part 5 focuses on covering much of the psychology of quality-of-life literature dealing with specific populations such as the elderly, women, children and youth, and specific countries.  Part 6 is essentially an epilogue.  This part discusses a variety of theories proposed by quality-of-life scholars designed to integrate much of the literature on the psychology of quality of life.  The last chapter covers the author’s own integrative theory.

M. Joseph Sirgy is a social/consumer/organizational psychologist who has written extensively on quality-of-life research.  He is the co-founder of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS, www.isqols.org), has served as ISQOLS’ executive director for many years, and is currently ISQOLS development director.  He also served as editor-in-chief of Applied Research in Quality of Life, ISQOLS’ flagship journal.   ISQOLS has honored him as the Distinguished Quality-of-Life Research for research excellence and a record of lifetime achievement in quality-of-life research.

Contents:

Preface.-

Part I: Introduction.-

Chapter 1: Philosophical Foundations, Definitions, and Measure.-

Chapter 2: Further Distinctions among Major Subjective QOL Concepts.-

Chapter 3: Consequences of Hedonic Well-being, Life Satisfaction, and Eudaimonia.-

Part II: Objective Reality and Its Effects on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 4: Effects of Socio-Economic, Political, Cultural, and Other Macro Factors on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 5: Effects of Income and Wealth on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 6: Effects of Other Demographic Factors on QOL.-

Chapter 7: Effects of Personal Activities on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 8: Effects of Genetics, Health, Biology, the Environment, and Drugs on Subjective QOL.-

Part III: Subjective Reality and Its Effects on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 9: Effects of Personality on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 10: Effects of Affect and Cognition on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 11: Effects of Values on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 12: Effects of Needs and Need Satisfaction on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 13: Effects of Goals on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 14: Effects of Self-Concept on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 15: Effects of Social Comparisons on Subjective QOL.-

Part IV: Life Domains and Their Effects on Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 16: Domain Dynamics.-

Chapter 17: Work Well-Being.-

Chapter 18: Residential Well-Being.-

Chapter 19: Material Well-Being.-

Chapter 20: Social, Family, and Marital Well-Being.-

Chapter 21: Health Well-Being.-

Chapter 22: Leisure Well-Being.-

Chapter 23: Other Life Domains Varying in Salience.-

Part V: Population Groups and QOL.-

Chapter 24: Children, Youth, and College Students and Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 25: The Elderly and Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 26: Women and Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 27: Countries and Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 28: Other Population Segments and Subjective QOL.-

Part VI: Epilogue.-

Chapter 29: Integrative Theories of Subjective QOL.-

Chapter 30: Final Thoughts about Subjective QOL.-

Appendix: Measurement Issues.-

References.-

Index.-

About the Author.