Seiji Fujii

Interpersonal Trust and Quality-of-Life: A Cross-Sectional Study in Japan

Background There is growing interest in psychosocial factors with positive attitudes, such as interpersonal trust, as determinants for Quality-of-life (QOL) or subjective well-being. Despite their longevity, Japanese people report a relatively poor subjective well-being, as well as lower interpersonal trust. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the possible association between interpersonal trust and QOL among Japanese people. Methodology and Principal Findings Based on the cross-sectional data for Japanese adults (2008), we analyzed the relationship between interpersonal trust and each of four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF. Interpersonal trust was assessed using three scales for trust in people, in human fairness and in human nature. In a total of 1000 participants (mean age: 45 years; 49% women), greater trust was recognized among women (vs. men), those aged 60–69 (vs. 20–29), or the high-income group (vs. low-income). Each of three trust scales was positively correlated with all domains of QOL. Multiple linear-regression models were constructed for each of QOL and the principal component score of the trust scales, adjusted for age, gender, area size of residence, income, education, and occupation. For all QOL domains, interpersonal trust was significantly and positively associated with better QOL with p<0.001 for all four domains including physical, psychological, social, and environmental QOL. Other factors associated with QOL included gender, age class, area size of residence, and income. Education and occupation were not associated with QOL. Conclusions and Significance Greater interpersonal trust is strongly associated with a better QOL among Japanese adults. If a causal relationship is demonstrated in a controlled interventional study, social and political measures should be advocated to increase interpersonal trust for achieving better QOL.

The relationship between trust in mass media and the healthcare system and individual health: evidence from the AsiaBarometer Survey

BackgroundVertical and horizontal trust, as dimensions of social capital, may be important determinants of health. As mass media campaigns have been used extensively to promote healthy lifestyles and convey health-related information, high levels of individual trust in the media may facilitate the success of such campaigns and, hence, have a positive influence on health. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between trust levels in mass media, an aspect of vertical trust, and health.MethodsBased on cross-sectional data of the general population from the AsiaBarometer Survey (2003–2006), we analyzed the relationship between self-rated health and trust in mass media, using a multilevel logistic model, adjusted for age, gender, marital status, income, education, occupation, horizontal trust, and trust in the healthcare system.ResultsIn a total of 39082 participants (mean age 38; 49% male), 26808 (69%) were classified as in good health. By the levels of trust in mass media, there were 6399 (16%) who reported that they trust a lot, 16327 (42%) reporting trust to a degree, 9838 (25%) who do not really trust, 3307 (9%) who do not trust at all, and 191 (0.5%) who have not thought about it. In the multilevel model, trust in mass media was associated with good health (do not trust at all as the base group): the odds ratios (OR) of 1.16 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–1.27) for do not really trust; OR of 1.35 (95% CI = 1.23–1.49) for trust to a degree, and 1.57 (95% CI = 1.36–1.81) for trust a lot. Horizontal trust and trust in the healthcare system were also associated with health.ConclusionVertical trust in mass media is associated with better health in Asian people. Since mass media is likely an important arena for public health, media trust should be enhanced to make people healthier.

The AsiaBarometer: Its Aim, Its Scope and Its Development

The AsiaBarometer is the public opinion survey project for Asia with the focus on the daily lives of ordinary people. From its commencement in 2002 to date, the AsiaBarometer project has conducted four consecutive annual surveys encompassing 27 countries and two areas of Asia. It intends to raise the standards of empirical research in social sciences in Asia to the levels comparable to those in the United States and Western countries. The growing literature based on the AsiaBarometer survey data and research outcomes indicates that the AsiaBarometer has been achieving its original goals. It has been successful in building solid empirical multi-country data bases in Asia for deeper and sharper analyses of Asia’s developmental, democratizing and regionalizing potentials.

The Quality of Life in Asia

This series, the first of its kind, examines both the objective and subjective dimensions of life quality in Asia, especially East Asia. It unravels and compares the contours, dynamics and patterns of building nations by offering innovative works that discuss basic and applied research and emphasizing interand multi-disciplinary approaches to the various domains of life quality. The series appeals to a variety of fields in humanities, social sciences and other professional disciplines. Asia is the largest, most populous continent on Earth, and it is home to the world’s most dynamic region, East Asia. In the past three decades, East Asia has been the most successful region in the world in expanding its economies and integrating them into the global economy, offering lessons on how poor countries, even with limited natural resources, can achieve rapid economic development. Yet while scholars and policymakers have focused on why East Asia has prospered, little has been written on how its economic expansion has affected the quality of life of its citizens. This series publish several volumes a year, either single or multiple-authored monographs or collections of essays.

Determinants of Overall Quality of Life

We attempt to find the factors that affect overall quality of life by fitting regressions for individual country/society data and fitting multilevel regressions for pooled data. Our findings include that, firstly, life domains in the public sphere are less important determinants for overall life quality measured by happiness, enjoyment, or achievement. Secondly, (relative) standard of living is important for levels of overall quality of life in Asia. Among specific life domains, health is important to the feelings of happiness and enjoyment but does not quite matter to the feeling of achievement. Family life is important to the feeling of happiness for married people, while leisure is important to the feelings of enjoyment and achievement for them. Owning home especially enhances the feeling of achievement for the Asian people. Among demographic characteristics, seniors are less likely to feel happy but more likely to have a sense of accomplishment instead. Similarly, income is likely to enhance the feeling of achievement instead of the feeling of happiness for Asian people. Finally, marriage and being married is very important for the quality of life in Asia.

Overall Quality of Life in Asia

We measure overall quality of life in Asia by self-assessed happiness, enjoyment, and achievement. 65% of the people of 29 Asian countries and societies reported they are happy, while 10% reported they are not happy. In 29 Asian countries and societies, Brunei emerges as the greatest nation of happiness, which is followed by Maldives and Malaysia. On the other hand, the people of Tajikistan are least likely to live a happy life, and the people in Kazakhstan and Cambodia are the second and third least likely to express happiness. Eighty-one percent of the people of 15 Asian countries and societies reported they are enjoying their life, while those who do not express feelings of enjoyment constitute 19%. Among 15 countries/societies, Vietnam emerges as the nation with the greatest level of enjoyment in life, followed by Malaysia. The people of Taiwan, on the other hand, are least likely to live an enjoyable life. 12% of the people of 15 Asian countries and societies reported a great deal of achievement, 56% reported some achievement, 27% reported very little achievement, and 4.3% reported no achievement. The people of Laos are the most likely to feel achievement, whereas the South Korean people are least likely to feel accomplishment.

Satisfaction Levels with Specific Life Domains

We examine satisfaction levels with 16 specific life domains and group 29 Asian countries and societies according to the patterns of satisfaction levels with the 16 life domains. In assessing quality of life, people consider all the things that matter to them and judge the overall quality of their lives as a whole, while at the same time people choose particular aspects or domains of their lives and judge each of those domains separately. According to the percentage difference index, the pooled data reveals that “marriage” is the domain with the highest level of satisfaction in Asia, while “the social welfare system” is least satisfied with. We also rank 29 countries and societies for each 16 specific life domain. We also distinguish 16 life domains into three life spheres—materialist factor or QOL-sustaining factor, post-materialist factor or QOL-enriching factor, and public sphere factor or QOL-enabling factor—for each individual country to look for a pattern of satisfaction levels. Then we propose a unique grouping of 29 countries and societies based on the priorities and combinations of the three factors.

The AsiaBarometer Survey Project

The AsiaBarometer Survey Project conducts the largest comparative surveys in 29 countries and societies in Asia, covering East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia from 2003 to 2008. The AsiaBarometer focuses on daily lives of ordinary people. The AsiaBarometer adopts the bottom-up approach: it gauges primarily how ordinary people live their life with all their worries, anger, desires, and dreams; it focuses secondarily on their relationship to family, neighborhood, workplace, social and political institutions, and marketplace. The questionnaire is interviewee-friendly and culturally sensitive as possible but makes cross-level and cross-national examinations possible. The AsiaBarometer intends to build a common academic infrastructure widely available to empirical researchers by accumulating and disseminating social survey data.

Political Shirking – Proposition 13 vs. Proposition 8

This paper considers the efficiency of the political market in the California State legislature. I analyzed the property tax limitation voter initiative, Proposition 13. I found that districts which supported Proposition 13 more strongly were more likely to oppose the incumbents regardless of whether the incumbents had the different preferences for property taxes from their districts. I also studied how legislators voted on the bills adopted after the passage of Proposition 13 to finance local governments. I found that legislators tended to follow the constituents’ will after they received the voters’ tax-cutting message expressed by the passage of Proposition 13.

The Timing of Public Spending in Japan and the US

This paper considers a monthly pattern in government spending. I have found that public spending increases at the end of the fiscal year for both the Japanese central government and the US federal government and that the effects are stronger in recent years than in the past. I then propose two hypotheses that would explain why public spending increases at the end of the fiscal year.