Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 11:11:1011.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01011. eCollection 2020.

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

Qian Su  1 , Guofang Liu  2
Affiliations

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

Qian Su et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

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.

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

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow chart for study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in Chinese college students' SWB scores, 2002-2017.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Amato P. R. (2010). Research on divorce: continuing trends and new developments. J. Marriage Fam. 72, 650–666. 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00723.x - DOI
    1. Bai H. M., Xu Y., Zhang R. H. (2009). A study on the relationship between social comparison and subjective well-being of college students. Chin J. Health Psychol. 17, 418–420. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ZLRRpw
    1. Bartolini S., Mikucka M., Sarracino F. (2017). Money, trust and happiness in transition countries: evidence from time series. Soc. Indic. Res. 130, 87–106. 10.1007/s11205-015-1130-3 - DOI
    1. Bernat J. A., Ronfeldt H. M., Calhoun K. S., Arias I. (1998). Prevalence of traumatic events and peritraumatic predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms in a nonclinical sample of college students. J. Trauma. Stress 11, 645–664. 10.1023/A:1024485130934 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brewer R. (2006). Parental relationships and emotional distress and well-being among college women (Unpublished doctor's dissertation). University of Cincinnati, Ohio, America.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources