Birth Cohort Changes in the Subjective Well-Being of Chinese College Students: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis, 2002–2017

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Qian Su¹  Guofang Liu² 

[1] Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University;School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University

关键词: birth cohort;    subjective well-being;    cross-temporal meta-analysis;    Chinese college students;    social change;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01011

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

According to the happiness-income paradox, economic growth within a country does not necessarily lead to an increase in well-being. However, previous literature also showed that economic growth has a greater impact on well-being in a low-income country than a high-income country. China is a typical developing country that has experienced dramatic development in recent decades. How did the well-being of the Chinese change? To examine birth cohort changes in Chinese college students' subjective well-being, a cross-temporal meta-analysis that involved 100 studies was conducted (106 data points, N = 55,830). The results showed that Chinese college students' well-being increased by at least 0.45 standard deviations from 2002 to 2017. In addition, their subjective well-being was significantly correlated with social indicators (e.g., GDP per capita, divorce rate, and university enrollment rate) for the corresponding years and 3 years prior to the collection of subjective well-being data. It is evident that social changes play an important role in predicting changes in well-being.

【 授权许可】

CC BY