Abstract
Australians enjoy a relatively high degree of life quality as judged by comparative international statistics. This chapter reviews the distribution of Quality of Life in Australia by considering both the objective and subjective wellbeing (SWB) of the Australian population. The review begins with an overview of objective circumstances, including income, social support, and life expectancy. It also considers the distribution of trust. Two extant measures of the subjective wellbeing of Australians are then reviewed, and it is revealed that SWB has demonstrated remarkably stable properties over the last 12 years. This chapter provides some insight into the properties of the measures and the theoretical construct of Subjective Wellbeing to explain fluctuations that occur for different components of SWB. Further, this chapter considers the demographic characteristics that are common to Australians with higher and lower SWB and offers a basis of research upon which future measures of population wellbeing can be founded.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Andrews, F., & Withey, S. (1976). Social indicators of wellbeing: American’s perceptions of life quality. New York: Plenum Press.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2003–2004). 6523.0 – Household income and income distribution, Australia, 2003-04. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/f509e18b84372c25ca25732a00211901!OpenDocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). 4326.0 – National survey of mental health and wellbeing, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4326.0
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). 4714.0 – National aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4714.0
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010a). 4102.0 – Australian social trends, Dec 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20Dec+2010
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010b). 4159.0 – General social survey: Summary results, Australia, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/10DB8F87510973D4CA25791A0082C4D2?opendocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011a). Census: Quick stats. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0?opendocument&navpos=95
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011b). 3310.0 – Marriages and divorces, Australia, 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/F784883324FB4860CA257AC500113128?opendocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012a). 3101.0 – Australian demographic statistics, June 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyReleaseDate/FBAC8C9AFBC52291CA25765100098272?OpenDocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012b). 4125.0 – Gender indicators, Australia, Jan 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4125.0~Jan%202012~Main%20Features~Life%20expectancy~3110#Endnote
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012c). 4530.0 – Crime victimisation, Australia, 2010–11. Retrieved January 9, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4530.0
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012d). 3235.0 – Population by age and sex, regions of Australia, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2013, from http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3235.0
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2009). Measuring the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. (2012). Melbourne: Deakin University. Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/reports/auwbi.php
Bourdieu, P. (1986). Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. (2000). Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.
Cummins, R. A. (2010). Subjective wellbeing, homeostatically protected mood and depression: A synthesis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 1–17. doi:10.1007/s10902-009-9167-0.
Cummins, R. A., Eckersley, R., Lo, S., Okerstrom, E., Hunter, B., & Davern, M. (2003). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 5.0 – The wellbeing of Australians – 1. Personal finances 2. The impact of the Bali Bombing. Retrieved December 10, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R.A., Walter, J., & Woerner, J. (2007a). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 16.1. The wellbeing of Australians – Groups with the highest and lowest wellbeing in Australia. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R. A., Hughes, J., Tomyn, A., Gibson, A., Woerner, J., & Lai, L. (2007b). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Special Report 17.1. The wellbeing of Australians – Carer health and wellbeing. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R., Mellor, D., Stokes, M., & Lau, A. (2008). Quality of life down-under: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. In V. Moller, D. Huschka, & A. Michalos (Eds.), Barometers of quality of life around the globe: How are we doing? (Social indicators research series 33, pp. 135–159). Dordrecht: Springer.
Cummins, R. A., Woerner, J., Hartley-Clark, L., Perera, C., Gibson-Prosser, A., Collard, J., & Horfiniak, K. (2011a). The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 25.0 – The wellbeing of Australians – Relationships and the internet. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R. A., Schafer, M., Woerner, J., Hartley-Clark, L., Perera, C., Collard, J., & Horfiniak, K. (2011b). The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 26.0 – The wellbeing of Australians – Chronic health. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R. A., Woerner, J., Weinberg, M., Collard, J., Hartley-Clark, L., Perera, C., & Horfiniak, K. (2012). The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 27.0 – The wellbeing of Australians – Quantity and quality of sleep. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Cummins, R.A., Li, N., Wooden, M., & Stokes, M. (2014). A demonstration of set-points for subjective wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 183–206.
Davern, M., & Cummins, R. A. (2006). Is life dissatisfaction the opposite of life satisfaction? Australian Journal of Psychology, 58, 1–7.
Department of External Affairs. (1951). Security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America (ANZUS). Retrieved December 10, 2012, from http://australian-politics.com/foreign/anzus/anzus-treaty.html
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2005). A diverse people. Retrieved December 10, 2012, from http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/society.html
Department of Planning and Community Development. (2011). Indicators of community strength. Retrieved January 6, 2013, from http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/home/publications-and-research/indicators-of-community-strength
Dunn, K., & Nelson, J. (2008). Challenging racism: The anti-racism research project. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from www.uws.edu.au/social_sciences/soss/research/challenging_racism
Durlauf, S. (2002). Bowling alone: A review essay. Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 47, 259–273.
Forgas, J. (2007). The strange cognitive benefits of mild dysphoria: On the evolutionary advantages of not being too happy. In J. Forgas, M. Haselton, & W. von Hippel (Eds.), The evolution of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition. New York: Psychology Press.
Groot, W., van den Brink, H., & van Praag, B. (2007). The compensating income variation of social capital. Social Indicators Research, 82, 189–207.
Headey, B., & Wearing, A. (1989). Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 731–739.
Headey, B., Holmstrom, E., & Wearing, A. (1984). The impact of life events and changes in domain on well-being. Social Indicators Research, 15, 203–227.
Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. (2012). Melbourne: University of Melbourne. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/hilda/
International Monetary Fund. (2011). World Economic Outlook Database, April 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/index.htm.
International Wellbeing Group. (2006). Personal Wellbeing Index (4th ed.). Melbourne: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, School of Psychology, Deakin University. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/instruments/wellbeing-index/
Jones, L., & Thurstone, L. (1955). The psychophysics of semantics: An experimental investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 39, 31–36.
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Sydney: The Psychology Foundation of Australia Inc.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2012a). Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2012b). “Adjusting to the mining boom and Asian development”, in OECD Economic Surveys: Australia 2012, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eco_surveys-aus-2012-4-en
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Requena, F. (2003). Social capital, satisfaction and quality of life in the workplace. Social Indicators Research, 61, 331–360.
Rosen, M., Floor, L., & Zisfein, L. (1974). Investigating the phenomenon of acquiescence in the mentally handicapped: I – Theoretical model, test development, and normative data. British Journal of Mental Subnormality, 20, 58–68.
Schwarz, N. (1990). Feelings as information: Informational and motivational functions of affective states. In E. T. Higgins & R. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition (Vol. 2, pp. 527–561). New York: Guildford Press.
Sigelman, C., Schoenrock, C., Winer, J., Spanhel, C., Hromas, S., Martin, P., et al. (1981). Issues in interviewing mentally retarded persons: An empirical study. In R. Bruininks, C. Meyers, B. Sigford, & K. Lakin (Eds.), Deinstitutionalisation and community adjustment of mentally retarded people (pp. 114–129). Washington, D.C.: American Association on Mental Deficiency.
Sudman, S., & Bradburn, N. (1974). Response effects in surveys: A review and synthesis. Chicago: Aldine.
Weinberg, M. K., & Cummins, R. A. (2012). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 25.1 – The Wellbeing of Australians – Bushfires and Floods: Following up the effects of fires in Victoria and floods in Queensland. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/auwbi/survey-reports/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Weinberg, M.K., Cummins, R.A. (2015). The Distribution of Quality of Life in Australia. In: Glatzer, W., Camfield, L., Møller, V., Rojas, M. (eds) Global Handbook of Quality of Life. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9177-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9178-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)