Advances in Quality of Life Theory and Research

The International Society for Quality of Life Studies held its first conference in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1997. Participants at the conference were allowed to submit their papers for the present volume. The submitted manuscripts went through a review and revision process, and the papers in this book represent the best articles from that process. Because the society sponsoring this volume is international in character, it is not sur­ prising that the 11 contributions are from 4 different countries: Canada (3), India (1), Netherlands (3), and the United States (4). Thus, the volume is cross-national in authorship, although we hope that future works can include more papers from additional nations. Ten of the eleven papers consider quality of life in terms of some aspect of subjective well-being. The book is broken into three sections: the first section presenting material on broad theories of subjective well­ being, the second section covering how work and income are related to subjective well-being, and the third section containing one chapter on health and one on political representation. I am proud to present these broad-ranging chapters on quality of life.

Section I: Tests of theories of subjective well-being.- Two versions of the American Dream: which goals and values make for a high quality of life?.- Stability in components and predictors of subjective well-being (SWB): implications for SWB structure.- An integrative explanation for quality of life: development and test of a structural model.- Sense of well-being and perceived quality of life in Calcutta.- Section II: Subjective well-being and work: income, employment and job satisfaction.- The relationship between income, changes in income and life-satisfaction in West Germany and the Russian Federation: absolute, relative, or a combination of both?.- Job satisfaction, wages, and allocation of men and women.- The job/life satisfaction relationship among professional accountants: psychological determinants and demographic differences.- Social participation and subjective well-being of long-term unemployed: why is paid work so hard to substitute for?.- Home-based employment and quality of life: a time-use analysis.- Section III: Societal institutions of quality of life: health care assessment and political representation.- Improving mental and physical health care through quality of life therapy and assessment.- Democratic governance: the need for equal representation of women.