Psychology of Quality of Life

JOE SIRGY is a management psychologist (Ph.D., U/Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the area of marketing, business ethics, and quality of life (QOL). He is the author/editor of many books related to consumer marketing and quality of life. He co-founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) in 1995, served as its Executive Director/Treasurer from 1995 to 2011, and as Development Director (2011-12). In 1998, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from ISQOLS. In 2003, ISQOLS honored him as the Distinguished QOL Researcher for research excellence and a record of lifetime achievement in QOL research. He also served as President of the Academy of Marketing Science from which he received the Distinguished Fellow Award in the early 1990’s and the Harold Berkman Service Award in 2007 (lifetime achievement award for serving the marketing professoriate). In the early 2000’s, he helped co-found the Macromarketing Society and the Community Indicators Consortium and has served as a board member of these two professional associations. He co-founded the journal, Applied Research in Quality of Life, the official journal of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, in 2005; and he has served as editor (1995-present). He also served editor of the QOL section in the Journal of Macromarketing (1995-present). He received the Virginia Tech’s Pamplin Teaching Excellence Award/Holtzman Outstanding Educator Award and University Certificate of Teaching Excellence in 2008. In 2010, ISQOLS honored him for excellence and lifetime service to the society. In 2010 he won the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Happiness Studies for his theory of the balanced life; in 2011 also he won the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Travel Research for his goal theory of leisure travel satisfaction.In 2012 he was awarded the EuroMed Management Research Award for outstanding achievements and groundbreaking contributions to well-being and quality-of-life research. He is the current editor of ISQOLS/Springer book series on handbooks in QOL research and the community QOL indicators best practices.Endorsement Professor Alex C. Michalos:This is a beautiful book, modest in its claims to being about the psychology of quality of life and spectacular in its comprehensive achievement. No other book exists that covers as many important and salient topics relevant to qol. None exists that provides an organizational structure that accommodates as well the great variety of issues in current research. For beginners in qol research, this is the place to begin. For those already familiar with the field, this book will show you what you have been missing.

• Preface.- Part I: Introduction.- Chapter 1: Philosophical Foundations, Definitions, and Measure.- Chapter 2: Further Distinctions among Major Subjective QOL Concepts.- Chapter 3: Consequences of Hedonic Well-being, Life Satisfaction, and Eudaimonia.- Part II: Objective Reality and Its Effects on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 4: Effects of Socio-Economic, Political, Cultural, and Other Macro Factors on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 5: Effects of Income and Wealth on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 6: Effects of Other Demographic Factors on QOL.- Chapter 7: Effects of Personal Activities on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 8: Effects of Genetics, Health, Biology, the Environment, and Drugs on Subjective QOL.- Part III: Subjective Reality and Its Effects on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 9: Effects of Personality on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 10: Effects of Affect and Cognition on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 11: Effects of Values on Subjective QOL.-Chapter 12: Effects of Needs and Need Satisfaction on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 13: Effects of Goals on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 14: Effects of Self-Concept on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 15: Effects of Social Comparisons on Subjective QOL.- Part IV: Life Domains and Their Effects on Subjective QOL.- Chapter 16: Domain Dynamics.- Chapter 17: Work Well-Being.- Chapter 18: Residential Well-Being.- Chapter 19: Material Well-Being.- Chapter 20: Social, Family, and Marital Well-Being.- Chapter 21: Health Well-Being.- Chapter 22: Leisure Well-Being.- Chapter 23: Other Life Domains Varying in Salience.- Part V: Population Groups and QOL.- Chapter 24: Children, Youth, and College Students and Subjective QOL.- Chapter 25: The Elderly and Subjective QOL.- Chapter 26: Women and Subjective QOL.- Chapter 27: Countries and Subjective QOL.- Chapter 28: Other Population Segments and Subjective QOL.- Part VI: Epilogue.- Chapter 29: Integrative Theories of Subjective QOL.- Chapter 30: Final Thoughts about Subjective QOL.- Appendix: Measurement Issues.- References.- Index.- About the Author.

From the reviews of the second edition: "Written by one of the field's most preeminent theoreticians, the volume is an essential reference work for all researchers and scholars of quality of life. Personally, I enjoyed reading this book because it shows clearly and directly the necessity of integrating both micro- and macro-level views into the study of quality of life." (Graciela Tonon, Applied Research in Quality of Life, April, 2013)