Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students

Impact of Culture on spiritedness history pleasure of StudentsABSTRACTDefining purification by reference to deeply situated societal values and beliefs, this content makes three contributions to the growing field of joy research first, it tries to unc all over the birth mingled with international students liveness delight and ethnic life bliss across several(predicate) cultures Second, it explores whether and to what extent a range of cultural values serve as chief(prenominal) moderators of international students life gaiety Finally, it explains the Life Satisfaction differences amidst international students across b wantetball team nations (India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey). A total of 100 international students from the University of Northampton participated in this regard. Analysis of the present tuition is found on data from two surveys. The first is the Dieners Satisfaction with Life Survey (SWL) to monetary standard international students boi lersuit rapture with life across nations. The piece is the cultural satisfaction survey which includes the six determinants of cultural factors satisfaction in universal, job, social relationships, health services, endorsement services and public safety. Using both Pearson and partial correlation coefficient, statistical analysis showed that except for the General Satisfaction region p value is more(prenominal) than 0.05 (p0.05) for each of the subsections. In addition, hypothesis ace showed that thither is not any correlation between Life Satisfaction and Cultural Satisfaction amongst International Students. Therefore, null hypothesis is accepted. One-Way between matters ANOVAs enables us to part accept hypothesis 2, which states there will be a difference in CS between International Students from different countries. Statistical gos of unity-way ANOVAs in addition accepted Hypothesis 3, which states there will be a difference in LS between International Students fro m different nationalities as swell up. According to these results, Hypothesis 2 is partially accepted because four out of the six subsections of the CS (General and Job Satisfaction) showed these differences. These results show the importance of the cultural determinants of the social relationship, health, dictum and public safety satisfaction play a particularly prominent role on individuals Life Satisfaction. Finally, based on the Dieners SWL (Diener et al, 1984) and cultural life satisfaction survey, the empirical results show that some(prenominal) cultural values argon indeed very signifi back endt influences on individuals assessment of their life satisfaction.INTRODUCTIONPsychological research during the past two decades has revealed cultural differences across a wide range of domains. These studies focal point on several factors such(prenominal) as what are wads desires, wants, and needs, and which life domains are decisive in an overall evaluation of financial resist conditions? Does the quality of a society in which a person lives play a significant role? As a result most psychologists are now keenly aware that the way people in different cultures think, feel, and act are, in varying degrees, different.International students entertain in recent years come to constitute a large proportion of the world-wide student body in higher learning institutions. There are just now any countries that are un busheled by the presence of international students in its institutions of higher learning, or the pressure to send some of its own students to study abroad (Paige, 1990). Current estimates suggest that up to 1 million students annually study in countries other than their own (Open Doors, 1996/97). One rationale behind the increasing outlet of international students is the assumption that students can serve both as cultural ambassadors and resources (Klineberg, 1970 Mestenhauser, 1983 Paige, 1990), and as links between cultures (Eide, 1970). It has in like manner been assumed that these cultural links could back up reduce inter-group tension, prejudice, hostility and discriminatory behaviour, and to help increase international understanding and co-operation (Amir, 1969 Baron and Bachman, 1987 Fulbright, 1976). These assumptions, however, fork up not always been support. On the contrary mental health problems such as depression, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and paranoid reactions (Jou and Fukada, 1997a and b Sam and Eide, 1991 Ward, 1967 Ying and Liese, 1991) consume been suggested to characterise international students. These are in addition to socio-cultural problems (e.g., language difficulties, difficulties in negotiating day-to-day social activities and, racial and ethnic discrimination) (Furnham and Bochner, 1982 Kagan and Cohen, 1990 Ward and Kennedy, 1993) and academic problems such as failure (Aich, 1963 Barker et al., 1991) apply been documented as characterising international students overseas sojourn.Life S atisfacion (LS) has been defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her life (Pavot et al., 1991, p. 150), and has been identified as a key feel of quality of life and Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Mannel and Dupuis 1996). SWB is a way of defining a good life, and is often referred to as happiness. People who acquire plentiful SWB have many pleasures and few pains, and they feel agreeable with their lives (Diener, 2000). Satisfaction also refers to the cognitive/judgemental aspects of SWB (Neto, 1995). Diener and his colleagues (1999) argued that, SWB and happiness, has both an affective (i.e., emotional) and a cognitive (i.e., judgmental) component. The affective component consists of how frequently an individual reports experiencing positive and negative effects. In addition to this, previous research (Diener et al., 1999) has show college students consider happiness and LS to be extremely important, and there is evidence that diversify magnitude LS impacts upon academic performance in college students (Rode et al., 2005). Research has shown that increased LS and happiness may be related to goal progression (Emmons, 1986), close social relationships (Myers, 2000), and being voluminous in f woeful activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Moreover, Veenhoven (1991) uses the definition of LS as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life as a whole favourably. (1991 10). This idea emphasises satisfaction with ones life, implies contentment with or acceptance of ones life circumstances, or the fulfilment of ones wants and needs for ones life as a whole.Furthermore, the need satisfaction model (Maslow, 1970 McClelland, 1961) and the spill over (Diener, 1984Wilensky, 1960) theories provide useful frameworks to conceptualise the processes that underlie happiness in a life domain. The basic premise of the need satisfaction model is that people have basic needs they seek to fulfil in each life domain. Individuals derive sa tisfaction in a particular life domain when events and live on related to that domain fulfil their needs. Therefore, this model seems to suggest that people who are successful in satisfying their needs are likely to enjoy greater SWB than those who are less(prenominal) successful. For example, a person reports high satisfaction of her health life domain based on positive experiences concerning health-related activities such as a well diet, regular exercise and attention to medical needs. Moreover, the spill over theories of quality of life are viewed as having two broad types bottom-up and top-down theories. Firstly, bottom-up theories assume that LS is a summary evaluation of aspects of ones life. For example, one is satisfied with life because one has good social relationships, enough money, weight under control, and an kindle job (Choi et al., 2007 George and Landerman, 1984 Larsen, 1978). Secondly, top-down theories assume that LS is due to personality influences. For example , a neurotic individual is more dissatisfied in general with his or her job, social relationships, weight, and income in particular ( Shepard, 1974 Kremer and Harpaz, 1982).Although there may be some agreement more or less the important qualities of the good life, with considerations like health and successful relationships, each individual assigns different values to these factors (Diener et al., 1985). Each person has his or her own values, criteria, and basis for evaluation. Furthermore, considerable research effort has been devoted to the study of adults perception of the quality of their lives, including LS judgements. LS research is supported by the variety of accounts appropriate for adults, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985 Pavot and Diener, 1993), Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1992), Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten et al., 1961), and the Salamon-Conte LS in the Elderly Scale (Salamon and Conte, 1984).Several studies have been car ried out regarding LS and the results of these studies emphasise that LS is related to different factors. A great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. Due to discrepancy in the characteristics of the include takes such as age, gender or culture questions which are commonly found in questionnaires as well as included indicators, different factors have been found to be associated with LS. Campbell (1981) indicates that there are at least 12 domains touch in contributing to LS. These are health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreational activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation, and education (Campbell, 1981). Specific cultural and social factors also have been found to play an important role in determining LS and happiness (Triandis, 2000). LS is apply worldwide in research including adults, young people, students, older people etc. (Baiyewu and Jegede 1992 Hilleras et al. 2001b,Neugart en et al. 1961 Vitterso et al. 2002 Wood et al. 1969) and is supposed to be a useful outcome variable in different countries.Cultural context is an important element that influences an individuals cognitive evaluation of ones life. Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains, including self-concept, attribution and reasoning, social communication, negotiation, intergroup relations, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007 Fiske et al., 1998 Markus Kitayama, 1991 Oyserman et al., 2002). Sociologists and social psychologists are interested in socio-demographic patterns that emerge when people evaluate their overall living conditions (Veenhoven 1984 Argyle 1999 Headey and Wearing 1992 Hagerty et al. 2000 Glatzer and Zapf 1984). However, socio-demographic factors rate for less than 20% of the variance of SWB, a finding confirmed in several studies (Campbell et al. 1976 Andrews and Withey 1976 Diener and Suh 1997). Many efforts have been made to analyse determinants of LS and researchers from several disciplines illuminate this subject from different perspectives. The study revealed that the standard of living, access to employment, job satisfaction, marriage, social relationships, social networks, and health were the most decisive factors when explaining variations in LS within countries. Previous research also indicate that these factors have a positive impact on individuals LS (Diener et al. 1999) with results also showing that individuals with high LS have such benefits including physical health, mental health, good interpersonal relationships, and educational and vocational success (Frisch, 2000 Park, 2003, 2004 Veenhoven, 1989).More recently, economists have shown an interest in explaining LS outcomes with respect to reported SWB as a proxy for individual utility. They primarily focus on cross-country comparisons, the question of marginal utility of income, and the relationship between absolute and relative levels of income on SWB (Frey and Stutzer 2002a, b Oswald 1997 Layard 2005). Moreover, LS differs a great deal between individuals and between European countries. The previous study within the enlarged European Union shows average LS in 2003, heedful on a plate from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied), ranged from 8.38 in Denmark to 4.41 in Bulgaria. In every country high income goes hand in hand with higher LS scores. However, curt people in Denmark are nevertheless more satisfied than rich people in Bulgaria. The large differences in the overall level of LS between old and new member states have so far been explained with reference to the level of economic prosperity in each country (Fahey and Smyth 2004). Moreover, several studies have pointed out that poorer countries tend to possess set down LS than richer ones. To support this idea, Leelakulthanit and Day (1993) compared the LS scores of Americans and Thais. The results showed that Americans were more satisfied with their lives tha n Thais. Similarly, Diener et al., (1995) investigated LS among American, Korean, and Chinese college students. The results of the study illustrated that American college students scored more highly on LS, positive feelings and influential factors (e.g., income and wealth of the countries) than both Chinese and Korean college students. The results of these studies emphasized that the countries with high qualities (such as income, wealth, education) have higher LS scores than the countries who have low quality of standards . Conversely, Heady et al. (2004) instead analysed household card data for five countries and found the happiness cadence to be considerably more affected by economic factors than found in most of the in the beginning literature. The economic factors in the study include wealth and consumption expenditures and among the findings are that wealth has a stronger impact on happiness than income and that non-durable consumption expenditures are as important for happi ness as income. Recent cross-country studies have therefore returned to this issue, questioning the insignificance of economic factors, which led to a heated debate in social Science Indicators between Richard Easterlin, who defended the standard conclusion that average income does not matter, and Michael Hagerty and Ruud Veenhoven, who opposed this and argued that positive happiness trends in most nations were caused by income growth (Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003 Easterlin 2005 Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006).Moreover, a itemize of previous studies exposed evidence about health playing a critical role in overall LS. In fact, health has long been viewed as one of the major factors to LS as previous studies have found that health plays a crucial role on individuals LS (Linn et al., 1988 Michalos, Zumbo, Hubley, 2000 Okun et al., 1984 Parkerson, Broadhead, Tse, 1990). Additionally, a number of previous studies have examined the relationship between LS and health factors such as obesity, alcohol use, suicidal thoughts, physical activity, stress, and academic performance in different populations. For example, the study of the Moum (1996) found that people who score high on LS measures are less likely to attempt suicide. Lewinsohn et al., (1991) also pointed out that people who score high on LS are less likely to become depressed in the future . Several researches have also examined that LS is related to healthy behaviours in a number of different populations (Kelly, 2004 Rudolf Watts, 2002 Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b). To support this idea, Statistics Canada Web Site (2009), found that Canadians LS was related to their health. The statistics showed that people who were satisfied with their lives reported that their health was excellent (62.5%) and only 8.4% of people who were satisfied with life reported poor health. Conversely, of those people who were not satisfied with their lives, 54.2% reported that their health was poor. As a result, this study fou nd that weak levels of health are directly related to low levels of satisfaction with life, low levels of morality, and low levels of satisfaction. This study also stresses that public health provisions have an important role on the improvements of individuals quality of life. For example, Life presentiment in France or Germany has risen sharply. However, this improvement is not due to high-technology. These countries attach importance to improve the quality of health in urban sanitation. The main work out here is relatively low-cost treatment (for example antibiotics for childrens ear infections) (Deaton, 2008).From the past to the present, a great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. These sources include ones overall wealth, whether one is single or married, male or female (Gold et al., 2002 Murtagh Hubert, 2004), or young or old (Diener, 1984 Mercier et al., 1998 Prenda Lachman, 2001) A few studies have investigated international undergradua te students Satisfaction with Life (SWL) in the pattern of culture associates. Definition of the SWL emphasises the individuals own Quality of Life (QoL) based on their selected standards (Shin and Johnson, 1978). Each individuals decisions about their own particular criteria of their QoL can help them to judge and establish their own SWL (Diener et al., 1985). This shows that ones SWL is not a universally determined criteria of QoL, because each individual is judging their SWL by their own evaluation of the QoL. This is one of the important reasons to focus on people of diverse ethnic background and their different values and perceptions of what may characterise the good life (Diener et al., 1985).Another important reason to study SWL and Culture across different nations is based on cultural factors (such as ones quality of life) that play an important role on individuals happiness. Veenhoven (1991) found that living in an economically prosperous country where freedom and democracy are respected political stability being a part of a majority rather than a minority being toward the top of the social ladder being married and having good relationships with family and friends being mentally and physically healthy being active and open minded feeling in control of ones life having aspirations in social and moral matters rather than money-making and being politically conservativist are significantly related with individuals happiness rather than unhappiness.Moreover, other researchers have established that individuals from different cultures have different levels of economic and social satisfactions with their Jobs. For example, people who have the same jobs but who live in different countries might have different levels of job satisfaction because of cultural influences (Cranny et al., 1992 Gallie Russell, 1998). This signifies that both economic (money) and social (interest) satisfaction with work, such as individuals quality of their working styles, experience s and masterments, is another very important component of individuals overall SWL (Frijters et al., 2003 Kraft 2000).Furthermore, health is a subjective phenomenon manifested as the experience of wellness/illness based on individuals evaluations of how they are feeling and doing. There are variety of factors on an individuals health satisfaction which have been related to their LS such as weight (Ball et al., 2004), alcohol use (Murphy et al., 2005), stress (Schnohr et al., 2005), and physical activity (Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b) These have been shown to be related to life satisfaction in different populations. The relationship between LS and various aspects of perceived health has been investigated in different nations because in different cultures people have different health institutions and services which can affect both their QoL and SWL. Previous researchers found that there is a positive relationship between subjective health and LS (Arrindell et al., 1999 Lohr et al., 1988 Rapkin Fischer, 1992 Willits Crider, 1988).The information above supports that to study both SWL and culture have been useful in illuminating how individuals differ in their SWL from different nations and the role of culture. A Number of studies emphasize that culture affects individuals from several basic psychological domains. For example, attribution and reasoning, intergroup relations, interpersonal communication, self-concept, negotiation, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007 Fiske et al., 1998 Lehman et al., 2004 Markus Kitayama, 1991 Oyserman et al., 2002).From the theory and research presented in this review, it can be seen that cultural factors are the integrative parts of the LS. According to this, this study will focus on the Culture and LS amongst international students to see whether culture plays an important role on the undergraduate students LS from five different cultures. The particular aims of the study are three-fold. Firstly, it dete rmines whether there is a relationship between international students LS and CS amongst five different countries. Secondly, it specifies whether the international students have differences in CS in general factors (i.e. quality of services/ city/life etc.), social relationships, job satisfaction, health, authority and public safety across five different countries. Thirdly, it explores whether there is an LS difference between International Students from five different countries which are China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. In this study, I will focus on more cross-cultural phenomenon of the students satisfaction as well as its link with cross-cultural differences in the bases of LS (Schimmack et al., 2002 Suh et al., 1998) and provide tests of an empirically supported explanation for the differences. When people construct judgments about their overall LS, different cultural members position relative emphasis on different aspects of life.Therefore the hypotheses for this study are There will be correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students from five different countries .There will be a difference in CS between International Students from five different countriesThere will be a difference in LS between International Students from five different countries.METHOD SECTIONParticipantsA total of 100 students from the University of Northampton (UCN) in Northampton participated in the study. The sample for the current study comprised of 100 students, with twenty participants from each of the five nations India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey. Participants were selected from these five countries because many students from these countries came across to study in the University of Northampton. All participants were more than 18 years of age. Both males and females between the ages of 18-25 were selected. Each participant was required to complete both Questionnaire Section A of Life Satisfaction and Section B of the Cultural Satisfaction (see App endix 2). All student company was voluntary.Apparatus/MeasurementsThe measures for the study were either taken directly or with modification from existing scales as described below. With the exception of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, all the items reported here were answered on a 5-point Likert Scale.Life Satisfaction Global life satisfaction was thrifty by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) to measure the life satisfaction of the international undergraduate students. The SWLS is a five-item inventory with a 7-point scale. The five items used to measure satisfaction with life are (a) In most ways my life is close to ideal (b) The conditions of my life are excellent (c) I am satisfied with my life (d) So far I have gotten the important things I want in life and (e) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Participants respond to each item on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), yie lding a possible total score ranging from 5 to 35 (see accompaniment 2).Satisfaction With Culture Participants cultural life satisfaction was measured by questions both from Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey (2003) (QLS) (cited in Delhey, 2004) and the 2006 General User Satisfaction Survey (GUSS) (Torbay Council, 2006). Researcher also ready some of the questions. The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction within six cultural life domains general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety were considered important influences on individuals life satisfaction. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see appendix 2).General The general questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of twenty-three out of the 70 items, was added to the beginning of the Cultural life sa tisfaction scale in order to measure general life satisfaction about the cultural factors. The researcher also prepared the questions from 1 to 19. However, questions 20 to 23 from the general section were obtained from QLS. Students were expected to respond to each item based on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of items are It is a good place to live, overall quality of life in the city, water quality, tone etc. However, nine items were measured on an ordinal scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of general services (e.g. health services, public transport, education administration etc.). Participants again respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (very high). Higher values indicate higher LS.Social Relationships To achieve a high level of joy and happiness in life, people must be socially involved with people. This involves getting along well with others, having friends and companions, and go he lp to those who need it. This part evaluates international students social relationships in their home countries through sixteen items. However, five questions about the tensions between different groups were obtained from QLS. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer Very many tensions and 5 to No tension at all. Moreover, eleven questions consisted of general problems about parents, children, teenagers etc. These eleven questions were also prepared by the Researcher. Statements such as parents not taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children, noisy neighbours or loud parties and people being attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic foundation or religion etc. The items were also based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (a very big problem) to 5 (not a problem at all).Job Satisfaction In this section questions asked students to evaluate their overall Job satisfaction and financial situation. Questions in the Job Satisfaction section were adapted from QLS. A list of seven items was constructed to measure the job satisfaction variable. Items were presented on a 5- point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items included My work is deaden and boring , I am well paid, and My job offers good prospects for career advancement etc.Health Perception The health perception variable was measured on a Likert scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of health services in international students countries. This section consisted of eight items. Questions 1 to 4 from the health section were obtained from QLS. However, questions from 5 to 8 were obtained from GUSS. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied where 1 corresponds to the answer very dissatisfied and 5 to very satisfied, and included statements such as waiting time to see doctor on day of appointment, Quality of Hospitals and Deal with patients etc.Authority The authority sectio n consists of seven items. Question 1 and 7 from the authority section were adapted from GUSS . Also, questions 2 to 6 were prepared by the researcher . The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and included statements such as how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with each of the following services provided or supported by your country metropolis Council such as Sports/leisure facilities and events, libraries, museum, galleries, theatre etc. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer strongly disagree and 5 to strongly agree.Public safeguard Public safety questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of nine items. Questions in the Public Safety section were prepared by the researcher. Questions include how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood during the day? and how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood after dark? etc. The responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe to very safe, and 1 (strong ly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).ProcedureBefore the experiment participants were asked to read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 ) and to give their consent verbally. According to the standardised instructions, participants were fully informed what the study was going to investigate. The standard instructions informed the students of the purpose of the study that participation was voluntary and the responses were going to be treated hush-hushly. Also, it explained the details of what participants would have to do and were allowed to ask any questions. Experimenters informed the participants that the aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a relation between participants general life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction. By openhanded their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved in this study and were then asked to sign the consent form (see appendix 4) and read the brief (see appendix 4). After that, participants w ere asked to fill in the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two sections section A and section B. Section A was about the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS Diener et al., 1985) to measure life satisfaction. The scale comprises of five-items and the responses were made on a 7-point agree-disagree Likert scale (Diener et al., 1985). On the other hand, section B was about cultural life satisfaction (Questions were obtained from QoL). The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale and was designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction. The scale provides scores for six dimensions namely for the participants satisfaction with their nations. The six sections of the cultural satisfaction are general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety considered important on individuals cultural life satisfaction. According to participants responses, negative scores indicate dissatisfaction, whereas positive s cores indicate satisfaction of the specific domain for the individuals life satisfaction. In this experiment, participants were not timed. Therefore, all the participants had the same life satisfaction and cultural satisfaction scale. Participants were also aware that they were allowed to withdraw at anytime without giving reason. After the experiment, the experimenter gave the participants a cue sheet which consisted of a brief explanation of what the study was about and the experimenters e-mail address (see appendix 5). Also, each Life satisfaction scale had the participant number recorded on the top of the paper so, if the participants changed their minds and wanted to retract their results from the study, they could email the experimenter and give their paper number by 01-01-2010. Also, participants were allowed to ask any questions. There was no deception of the participants in this study. Finally, no personal data was requested. As a result, the participants were anonymous . Q uestionnaires will be kept confidential and securely kept in the locked answers cupboard.DesignThis study was performed to determine the relation between culture and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of the study was the life satisfaction and the independent variable was culture. In this experiment, participants were sampled around the university campus and each participant received only one questionnaire. All experime