[Abstract]? Literature review shows that? The research on quality of life in China has gone through three main stages. At present, the research focuses more and more on the subjective quality of life, such as happiness and life satisfaction. This paper sorts out the meaning and relationship of concepts such as quality of life, discusses two different perspectives in quality of life research, different emphases in different social development stages, the contradiction between comprehensiveness and comparability of quality of life measurement indicators, the reference and accumulation between different studies, and the comprehensive research on the relationship and contact mechanism between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life. ?

[Keywords]? Quality of life; ? Life satisfaction; ? happiness

With the continuous development of society towards modernization, since the middle of last century, the research on quality of life in the world has entered a new stage of rapid development. And China's social reform and opening-up since the late 1970s? At the same time, it has also brought about great social structural transformation and social changes. It has aroused and promoted the attention and exploration of sociology, economics, demography, statistics, psychology, education, management, medicine and other disciplines. It has formed an important research field, which is not only related to the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way in China, but also related to the daily living standards and happiness of urban and rural residents. Based on a systematic review of the basic situation of quality of life research in China in recent 30 years, this paper discusses the author's thinking and understanding of several key issues in quality of life research.

First, the review of the research on quality of life in China in recent 30 years.

Domestic research on quality of life began in the early 1980s. Basically, it developed gradually with the social reform and opening up in China. After entering the new century, domestic research in this field has developed very rapidly. According to the author's statistics on the core periodicals in the full-text database of China periodicals in China HowNet,? From 1980 to 10 in 2007, there were about 500 research papers on quality of life published in domestic academic journals in less than 30 years. The following are the statistical results of research papers published over the years? (see table 1)? .

The results in table 1 show us two basic characteristics of quality of life research in China in recent thirty years:

1.？ Three relatively obvious stages of development. From the results in the last two columns of table 1, it can be seen that domestic quality of life research (including life satisfaction research and happiness research)? Generally speaking, it has gone through three different development stages: the first stage is from 1980 to 1990. The number of studies at this stage is very small. In 1 1 year, * * published 17 papers. There are 1 15 articles on average every year. It can be said that this 1 1 year is the initial stage of domestic quality of life research. The second stage is 199 1 to 2000. At this stage, The amount of learning has developed to a certain extent. In 10, * * * published 1 18 papers. On average, 12 articles are published every year. The average number of published papers is eight times that of the first stage. It can be said that this 10 year is the formation stage of domestic quality of life research. The third stage is 200 1 to 2007. At this stage, The number of research papers has risen sharply, and the number of papers published every year has risen from the lowest of more than 20 to the highest of 78. Less than seven minutes? In a few years. * * * Published 364 research papers. On average, 52 papers are published every year. The average number of papers published in the second stage is 4 13? Times? It is 34 17 times of the first stage. This stage not only published a large number of papers, This research involves more and more aspects. It can be said that it is a rapid development stage of domestic quality of life research.

2.？ Subjective quality of life, such as happiness and life satisfaction, has gradually become the focus of research. Is the quality of life research before 2002 an objective quality of life (social indicator)? The content of? Or discuss the subjective quality of life (life satisfaction)? The content of? Basically adopted the concept of "quality of life". Only after 2002? Only then did the quality of life and life satisfaction appear? And (subjective)? Three aspects of happiness coexist. And the three are equally important (actually? Many studies on "quality of life" also discuss the content of "life satisfaction"? . Especially directly (subjectively)? Research on happiness? In recent two or three years, it has surpassed the study of "quality of life". What does this situation mean? In the third stage, especially in recent years, researchers began to pay attention to (objectively)? Concern and research on the quality of life. Turned to the concern and research on happiness and life satisfaction with obvious subjective characteristics.

In addition to the changes in the number of papers, in recent 30 years, the research on the quality of life in China has mainly focused on the research theme and content. It has also experienced a mature process of gradual development and continuous improvement. The study of China's quality of life began with the study of social indicators in the early 1980s. Earlier studies can be traced back to 1983 "Draft Social Statistical Indicators" drafted by the National Bureau of Statistics and 1986 "Social Development Indicators and Evaluation Methods" drafted by Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. From 1988 to 1992, China Academy of Social Sciences was on the topic of "social development and social indicators". A systematic study on explicitly bringing "quality of life" into the index system of well-off society in China. [1] Even after 2000, in the research of scholars in statistics, economics and government departments, the research tendency of quality of life in the sense of social indicators is still very obvious. On the other hand? In the mid-'80s? Two quality-of-life studies conducted by American sociologist Professor Nan Lin in cooperation with domestic scholars. The tradition of attaching importance to people's subjective evaluation of living conditions and people's satisfaction with life in the study of quality of life in the West, especially in the United States, was introduced into China, forming two research directions of quality of life with different perspectives and connotations [2]. By the mid-1990s, Professor Lu Shuhua and others in Peking University and the author were studying the quality of life. Combining the above two perspectives, this paper focuses on the relationship between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life. In particular, the influence of frame of reference on subjective quality of life is discussed. It has further promoted the development of this research field. [3] Since the beginning of this century, the research along the above three directions has been further developed. At the same time? "Happiness" was first put forward and popularized by foreign psychologists in the middle of last century. Subjective? Hmm? -? Does it exist? SWB for short? )? Research has also begun to attract the attention of China scholars. This study has also been integrated into the field of quality of life research and soon became a major focus of recent research.

Look at the big picture Domestic research on objective quality of life mainly focuses on the construction and application of index system. What is the more common situation? According to their own understanding, different researchers construct a set of index systems which are not exactly the same in dimensions, indexes, synthesis methods and weights. At the same time? Researchers use their own index system to compare and rank the quality of life of different groups and regions. The main problems of this study are: on the one hand, the index systems constructed by these studies are different from each other. Therefore, it is difficult to compare their research results properly; ? On the other hand, because the research in this field mostly adopts relatively macroscopic and non-individual indicators, it can only be used to describe and compare sample situations, and rarely uses empirical data to explore and analyze various factors affecting this objective quality of life. In the study of subjective quality of life, there are two branches, with "life satisfaction" as the research object and "happiness" as the research object, because the contents of these two branches are closely related to people's subjective feelings, and the methods used in the study are also close. Some researchers have a deep understanding of their connotations, connections and similarities and differences. Their relationship with subjective quality of life is not clear enough. Therefore, there are some inaccurate, unclear and inconsistent phenomena in the specific research, which has affected the in-depth development of this research to some extent.

Second, the study of several important issues in the quality of life.

1.？ Different understandings of the concept of quality of life and the construction of its sub-concepts

For academic research, distinguishing concepts is the minimum prerequisite. It can ensure that different researchers use the same concepts to discuss the same things. In the study of quality of life, no matter what researchers pay attention to, they have constructed the index system and measurement method of quality of life. Or pay attention to various factors that affect the quality of life of residents? This discussion is meaningful only when it is clear that everyone refers to the same thing and the same phenomenon.

There are three different understandings of the most basic concept of "quality of life" in China. Therefore, there are three different methods to measure and evaluate the quality of life. The first understanding is to define the quality of life as a comprehensive reflection of people's objective living conditions in society. As some researchers have pointed out: "The so-called quality of life refers to the comprehensive situation of the living conditions of the population at a certain stage of economic development. In other words? Quality of life is a comprehensive reflection of living conditions. " [4] This view mainly understands the quality of life from the objective conditions that affect people's material life and spiritual life, and regards it as a reflection of people's living conditions, living conditions and living standards. Social indicators that also reflect the degree of social development; In this sense, when measuring and evaluating the quality of life, researchers mainly use objective indicators that reflect people's living conditions, such as clothing, food, housing and transportation. The second understanding is to define the quality of life as people's subjective evaluation of the overall level of life and various objective living conditions, as well as people's overall satisfaction with life and satisfaction with all aspects of life. As American sociologist Professor Nan Lin and others pointed out in the first sentence of their paper, the definition of quality of life is "evaluation and summary of life and its various aspects" [5]. This view is to understand the quality of life from people's subjective feelings. Therefore, researchers mainly use subjective indicators reflecting people's satisfaction with life to measure and evaluate the quality of life. The third kind of understanding is to combine the above two kinds of understanding and think that the quality of life is composed of objective conditions that reflect people's living conditions and people's subjective feelings about living conditions. The quality of life includes both objective conditions. It also includes subjective evaluation. So,? When measuring and evaluating the quality of life, there should be both objective indicators reflecting the living conditions and subjective indicators reflecting people's satisfaction. "Objective indicators operate from the' cause' of quality of life and are the' input' of quality of life; ? Subjective indicators are operated according to the "results" of quality of life. It is the output of quality of life. " 〔6〕

The author thinks? This objective reality's different understanding of the concept of quality of life reflects the gradual deepening and development of people's understanding of the phenomenon of quality of life in this specific field. At the same time, it also reflects that different researchers pay attention to different aspects of this phenomenon. Our task is not to judge right from wrong. But at the same time, understand this reality? Try to sort out the sub-concepts and their basic contents with clear connotation and definition, so as to take care of different understandings of the quality of life phenomenon. It is also helpful for different researchers to clarify the connotation and focus of their own research phenomena.

2.？ The concepts of subjective quality of life, life satisfaction and happiness and their relationship.

In English literature? The words corresponding to the concepts of "quality of life", "happiness" and "life satisfaction" are quality? Yes? Life? Subjective? Hmm? -? Does it exist? Life? Satisfaction. What's different from the domestic situation? Subjective quality of life is rarely used in foreign literature? (? Subjective? Quality? Yes? Life) and "objective quality of life" (objective? Quality? Yes? Life)? The concept of. In other words? The concepts of "subjective quality of life" and "objective quality of life" are widely used in the field of domestic quality of life research. Judging from the present situation, it seems that there is such a situation: The concept of "quality of life" abroad mainly corresponds to the concept of "subjective quality of life" in China. That is, people's evaluation of their living conditions and conditions. Its measurement index is mainly the measurement of "life satisfaction" at the level of "cognition". The concept of "quality of life" abroad, corresponding to the meaning of "objective quality of life" in China, has already evolved into a "social indicator"? (? Socializing? Indicator)? The content of? And more and more fade out of the field of quality of life research, and become an indicator in the field of human development research.

As for the study of "happiness", it is mainly from the psychological point of view to discuss happiness and measure a relatively special psychological field formed by happiness. It should be noted that although happiness is related to people's quality of life, it is not the same as quality of life. E.Diener, a famous American psychologist who studies happiness, pointed out? "As a professional term of psychology,? Subjective well-being refers to the evaluator's overall evaluation of his quality of life according to his own standards. " "Subjective well-being includes three different dimensions: positive emotions, negative emotions and life satisfaction. " ? " Life satisfaction is a key indicator to measure subjective well-being. As a cognitive factor, it is a more effective measure of certainty and another factor independent of positive and negative emotions. "[7] press e? Dina? The definition of happiness (? SWB)？ Life satisfaction is included in. So? Life satisfaction has become a measure of happiness. So? Some domestic researchers classify life satisfaction as "subjective well-being in the sense of quality of life". And think, "Generally, subjective well-being is defined as people's cognitive evaluation of their life satisfaction. The dimensions of subjective well-being selected by researchers mainly include overall life satisfaction and specific field satisfaction. " 〔8〕

To sum up,? Sociological study on quality of life and psychological study on happiness. Everyone regards "life satisfaction" as their own connotation and measurement index, and it is on "life satisfaction" that the two have formed an intersection and connection. Nevertheless, their distinctive academic background reflects the research perspective and methods. Especially the starting point and belonging point of the two discussions. There is still a very obvious difference. This is also an aspect that we should pay special attention to when understanding the relationship between these concepts.

From the research point of view, the measurement of life satisfaction is relatively direct and easy. The researcher mainly uses the evaluation questions in the form of Likert in the questionnaire to measure; The measurement of happiness is relatively indirect and difficult. Researchers often use psychological test scale to measure. In application? The measurement of life satisfaction is more used in the study of quality of life. The measurement of happiness may be more biased towards mental health and mental health research. In addition, because the study of life satisfaction is actually people's subjective cognition and evaluation of the gap between ideal and reality. So? We should fully understand the role and function of the frame of reference in this evaluation. Whether people's overall satisfaction with life or satisfaction with all specific aspects of life is related to the objective material living conditions themselves. It is also related to three subjective frames of reference. This may be a prominent feature of life satisfaction research. These three reference frames are: (1)? Take the ideal state in people's minds as the basic frame of reference for comparison; ? (2)? A horizontal frame of reference with people around you as the comparison object; ? (3)? A vertical frame of reference that compares past and previous situations. Any realistic situation must be evaluated as "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" in one or more reference frames.

3.？ Two perspectives of quality of life research

Quality of life research can be said to have two different origins:? One is the study of social indicators that pay attention to people's objective living conditions. The other is the study of life satisfaction and happiness that pays attention to people's subjective feelings. To a certain extent, these two different origins determine and form two different views of quality of life research in the field of quality of life research: one is a view of quality of life research with society as the center and measuring the degree of social development as the goal; The other is a people-centered society. The research view of quality of life with the goal of measuring people's living standards, living conditions and life satisfaction.

From the current research, government departments, statistics, economics and other disciplines pay more attention to the study of quality of life at the social level. As some scholars have pointed out? "Because the purpose of studying the quality of life in the field of statistics is to determine the statistical indicators of social development and the standard of well-off life, at that time, the consumption of food, clothing, use and housing was the absolute dominant pursuit. Therefore, almost all statistical circles use social indicators that reflect objective material conditions, such as consumption, income, food, clothing, use, housing, transportation, social culture, social environment, social services, physical health, etc., to measure the quality of life of residents. " [9] Meanwhile? The research in this field also takes the quality of life as an index to measure social development and social change. The quality of life in this sense is often discussed with social development and social policy. Sociology, demography, psychology and other disciplines attach relative importance to the study of quality of life at the individual level and the group level. They pay more attention to people's specific living conditions in society, their subjective feelings and evaluation of specific living conditions, and various influencing factors closely related to people's subjective feelings. Only in this people-centered study of quality of life can there be subjective indicators that reflect people's subjective feelings and evaluations. The research on the quality of life from this perspective aims not only to improve the objective conditions for people's survival and development, but also to promote people's subjective feelings and evaluations to develop in a positive and satisfactory direction.

4.？ Different stages of social development and different emphases of quality of life research

5.？ The contradiction between measuring the comprehensiveness and completeness of indicators and the comparability of indicators and the availability of data.

In the study of quality of life, a basic task is to establish appropriate quality of life measurement indicators. However,? This task is also a major difficulty that researchers need to face and solve. This difficulty is mainly reflected in the comprehensiveness of concept measurement, the comparability between completeness and measurement indicators, and the availability of data involved in indicators. For example, in order to reflect people's material living conditions and levels (objectively)? In order to measure the quality of life, researchers at home and abroad have designed many different index systems. "In foreign literature, the well-known comprehensive index should be the first" material quality of life index "established by Morris? (? PQL？ Me)? . "The material quality of life index is concise and comprehensive. It has been accepted by many people. It is used to measure socio-economic development or changes in quality of life, and even push it to the global valuation model. " [10] But because this indicator only contains three indicators,? Namely literacy rate, infant mortality rate and average life expectancy. So it only reflects the most basic contents of health and education. At the same time, there is no weight to distinguish the importance of indicators. So domestic scholars generally think? It is too simple to measure the quality of life with such indicators. Usually, researchers will combine the domestic situation with their own analysis. Choose more aspects and more specific indicators. For example,? Some researchers have established a quality of life index including five aspects and eight indicators. Which involves education (literacy rate, enrollment rate)? Health (life expectancy, infant mortality, child mortality)? Nutrition (heating)? Equality (income distribution)? , the environment (the proportion of people who use water safely), etc. ; ? [1 1] Some researchers have established 34 indicators such as employment, income level, income distribution, poverty, consumption, health, education, environment and urbanization as evaluation criteria for quality of life; ? [12] Other researchers have established an index system including 36 indicators such as income, education, consumption, entertainment, health, housing, living facilities, ecological environment and social security, so as to reflect the overall situation of the quality of life of urban residents. 〔 13〕

In this seemingly pursuit of comprehensiveness and perfection of measurement indicators, researchers will inevitably encounter comparability problems between different indicator systems. And the contradiction between the expanding index system and the availability of information. Generally speaking, researchers pursue comprehensiveness and perfection. It often limits and damages the comparability of research results and the availability of research materials and data. As some researchers have said: "As a complete concept, the quality of life should also include housing, transportation, living services, social order and spiritual fashion. However, because the author tries to construct the quality of life index from a global perspective, however, the construction of the index from a global perspective is limited by the comparability of indicators and the availability of data. Therefore, it is difficult to choose suitable indicators to represent these aspects. Can only be paid temporarily. " [14] If only three indicators in Morris's "Material Quality of Life Index" are used,? So? It is very easy to compare the quality of life in different periods, whether it is the comparison of the quality of life in Chinese and foreign societies; The data required for these three indicators are available in the statistics of all countries. However,? With the continuous expansion of the researcher's index system, there are more and more specific measurement indicators. Comparability between different studies has also decreased. In many cases, the data required for some indicators are also unavailable.

6.？ Summary of research and reference and accumulation between different studies

A very common phenomenon in the field of quality of life research is that many researchers pay little attention to reviewing the previous research results, especially the existing theoretical viewpoints, before conducting their own research. So,? The starting point of research is not high. There is little theoretical dialogue with previous research. For example,? About happiness (? SWB？ )? Wilson, a western scholar, put forward two theoretical hypotheses about individual differences nearly half a century ago. Western follow-up research also shows that "external and objective variables have a negative impact on subjective well-being? The impact is quite small. Demographic items (gender, income, intelligence level, etc.). )? Can only explain the change of SWB less than 20%, and the external environment can only explain SWB? 15% change. Due to external factors, the impact is small. The researchers turned to internal factors, Wilson's second hypothesis, to explain the variability of subjective well-being: The internal construction of individuals determines how to perceive life events, thus affecting happiness experience "[15]. But there are also scholars in China discussing SWB? To solve problems, it is more common to describe the happiness of a specific object directly according to your own ideas. At the same time? Or use your own data to analyze the influence of external environment variables and population background variables on happiness. Do not consider the previous research conclusions, but conduct a deeper exploration on the basis of previous research results and try to answer theoretical questions related to previous research results.

Another manifestation of not paying attention to research review is that many studies on the same subject have different choices of specific measurement indicators. As a result, the research results cannot be compared with each other. For example, the subjective quality of life has also been studied. Some researchers use "life satisfaction" to measure, [16] some researchers use "happiness" to measure. [17] As for why an indicator is selected, researchers rarely discuss it. The same,? Researchers don't discuss the inconsistent or even opposite results of different studies, which makes the results of different studies have little effect on helping people to improve their understanding of the problem. For example,? "In recent years, how? China has a lot of discussions about happiness. Due to the differences in happiness measurement, sample selection and analysis methods, the conclusions are quite different. Zeng Huichao and Yuan Yue (2005)? ,? Luo Chuliang (? 2006? )? Using explicit variables to measure happiness, the survey question is "Overall? "Are you happy now?" Come to the conclusion that rural residents are happier than urban residents. Xing (2006)? Using latent variables to measure happiness, we investigated 10 aspects, involving satisfaction, self-acceptance, mental health, physical health, psychological balance, social self-confidence, growth and progress, target value, interpersonal relationship, family atmosphere and other experiences. It is concluded that the happiness of urban residents is stronger than that of rural residents. "[18] The question worth thinking about is,? If the happiness of urban and rural residents is an objective thing and an objective reality, then for two completely different research conclusions, there is naturally a question of whose research method is relatively scientific and whose conclusion is closer to this objective reality. But? Such a problem has not caused serious discussion among researchers who have conducted research but hold different conclusions. It has not attracted the attention of relevant researchers in this field, resulting in a situation of "you say yours and I say mine", which is irrelevant and does not discuss each other.

7.？ Strengthen the comprehensive research on the relationship between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life and its related mechanisms.

On the whole? A study on objective quality of life and subjective quality of life (including life satisfaction and happiness) in China in recent 30 years? Our research scope has obviously expanded. Especially, the study of subjective quality of life has taken a big step forward in the two relatively independent directions of life satisfaction and happiness. The results of the above table 1 show that? In just a few years since 2000, more than 200 research papers have been devoted to "happiness" and "life satisfaction". It accounts for about 40% of all research papers on quality of life in China in the past 30 years. This is a very fast development momentum. However, in contrast, the third direction of quality of life research is to combine objective quality of life with subjective quality of life research. There is no great progress.

We know? The continuous differentiation and integration of professional fields is an important way to promote the continuous development of scientific research. On the basis of the relatively prosperous and in-depth specialized research on subjective and objective quality of life, a comprehensive research on the combination of objective quality of life and subjective quality of life is carried out. This will be an important task and content in the next stage of domestic quality of life research. The development and achievements of this comprehensive research will help us better understand the influencing factors and mechanisms of quality of life, and will also greatly improve the overall level of domestic quality of life research.

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I hope it helps you.