Psychology and sociology/13.

PhD in Sociology, assistant professor A. I. P'yanov

The North-Caucasian state technical university, Russia

SOCIAL STATE OF HEALTH AS THE CONCEPTUAL INDICATOR OF MEASUREMENT OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DYNAMICS OF THE FAMILY IN APPLIED SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

In the foreign literature of the base concept, drawing the attention of social psychologists is «happiness». Making a start from a question, the people living in this or that community are how much happy, psychologists pass to construct «subjective well-being» [1]. Measurement of it concept leans against personal estimations the person of its own life on a number cognitive (for example, satisfaction marriage) and emotive (for example, good mood) or simply demands components to agree or disagree with the statement that «in its ordinary life all proceeds safely» [2, p. 7].

The majority of sociologists and social psychologists pay the basic attention to three components of subjective well-being. It not only determinants of a positive condition – presence of pleasant emotions, such as pleasure, satisfaction and attachment, and determinants of a negative condition – presence or absence of unpleasant emotions, such as fear, a rage and despondency; and also personal judgments about satisfaction something [3, p. 276]. It is allocated also social a well-being component – an estimation of own life in a context of position in a society.

In the Russian-speaking literature it is accepted to use neutral concept «social state of health» [4].

With some assumptions, after E. Golovaho and N. Panina, such researchers as N. Zhukova [5] accept concepts of social state of health and subjective well-being as synonyms that allow not only to spend mutual addition of problems and to build research parallels, but also to borrow strategy of operationalization.

In the industry of studying of public opinion and mass polls social a well-being component it appears one of central concepts. For example, the operational scheme used by Fund «Public opinion» more of ten years, leans against direct inclusion of the base concepts in two biographical questions. In the first the place, or position, the person in a society through its fitness to today's life is defined. For example, tell, please, it was possible or it was not possible to you to find the place in today's life? As a result there is a distinction of adapting and not adapting respondents. The second question: as you think, you (your family) can or cannot raise in the nearest year-two the standard of living, live better, more richly, than today? – auxiliary. Here there is a time prospect, connection the concept of adaptation and expectations from the future. On the basis of crossing of questions the typology is created, in which estimations of today's well-being are supplemented with parameter of social optimism or pessimism.

This scheme of social state of health also became object of our research. We interrogate 30 respondents, to everyone two questions on social state of health were set, and therefore we have 60 observation units. Each unit is a cumulative answer to a biographical question. This answer, except adequate remarks, contains also specifying questions, signals of misunderstanding or inappropriate statements for the given context.

During poll the exchange of remarks was fixed on a film, and then the audio record was deciphered. As a basis for coding the free associative method constructed on assignment to some piece of the text of free concepts, formulated by the researcher is chosen during reading and audio record listening. Concepts were not defined in advance, and coded ad hoc (new value – conformity check to already existing codes – introduction of a new code is revealed). Actually procedure is drawing up of the list of constructive components which are shown during real communications «a question – the answer» with use described above question's scheme.

Let's make a reservation that tested questions differ under characteristics of communicative adequacy a little. The question on, whether was possible to the respondent to find a place in life, it has appeared the leader – in half of answers to it of any displacement is not fixed. And here the situation with a question on well-being – a presumable standard of living in the future – is slightly worse: a share of answers without displacement – 43 %. It is the third on level of the arisen difficulties.

Questions differ and on character of the found out difficulties and displacement. The question on, whether was possible to the respondent to find a place in life, contains two types of displacement: as a rule, it is refusal of the answer or change of the point of view on a course of preparation of the answer.

In a question on possibility to reach большего well-being the considerable share of refusals of the answer (40 % from number of all displacement), but also – an active exchange of remarks and any statements not provided by a question (30 %) also is fixed.

Thus, both questions concern a category rather safe – in that, as to displacing effects of the answer. Nevertheless problem signs all the same are present. Doubts in the answer, great volume of the discourse which has been not connected with performance of the question's task, change of the opinion during answer preparation – all it naturally leads to the basic problem: to refusal of the answer.

Today the overwhelming majority of respondents tell already about some «the general state of health», adhering more likely to is formal-time frameworks and without distinguishing life before global changes. «Time of changes» has passed, and now «the place in today's life» means a place in life as that so, other categories with which helps in subjective perception the initial concept speaks and defined, leave a shade of former semantic dominants.

Despite almost identical frequency of mentions of age and about a family, in a semantic field of the answer these components behave differently. If the mention of age is coordinated practically to all other components and is in this respect identical to mentions of work and financial position people speak about a family exclusively together with work, financial position and age. The family theme divides answers to two кластера. In the first the person ассоциирует itself with the nearest group («WE» – the answer) also acts more likely as its representative. In the second – the individual point of view («I'm» – the answer), as a rule, supported with a mention of personal desires, the social status, formation and a state role in private life expresses. «WE» – answers underline the importance for the respondent of a family, personal orientation to its interests.

Comparing the results received by us with researches of other authors, we will short stop on five major features of operational definition of social state of health. By us will be considered (whenever possible – critically):

1) the time structure of definition still dominating in sociological and marketing polls, spent to Russia;

2) the general questions in a modality «if to speak as a whole...», based on «direct model» Bridgeman – Lundberg [6];

3) financial position as the ideal model of subjective well-being realized in the majority of the Russian researches.

4) the list of components, or конструктов, subjects of the further specification and to comparison to a set of indicators;

5) directly process of operationalization – a formulation of biographical questions as elements of an is constructive-indicative matrix.

Last two points are devoted procedures which are necessary for carrying out for carrying out операционализации.

The overwhelming majority of the Russian sociological research centers (the Levada-centre, the All-Russia Centre of Studying of Public opinion, Fund «Public opinion» and others) apply operational definitions which can be classified on three domains:

1) an estimation of financial position of a family at the moment of research;

2) an estimation of a standard of living of a family in one-two year;

3) adaptedness level to changes occurring in the country [7, p. 73].

By the present moment the questions made in the early nineties on social state of health have ceased to reflect dynamics of intermediate term changes in perception the respondent of the place in a society. Most likely, time of changes has passed, and the transformed society becomes more and more stable. Measurement of representations of people about the future status in enough short prospects has certain validity only in a context of public transformations, significant from the point of view of the individual [8, p. 11].

In our research respondents give life estimations in general, instead of current events or any intermediate term changes. Long time researchers could not find toolkit for distinction in polls of the situational mood depending on current events, and stable experiences reflecting subjective well-being [9, p. 28–29].

With some assumptions and E. Diener and E. Suh reservations have shown that value judgment of well-being depends on situational, psychological factors [10, p. 205], in estimations of events of ordinary life at people the big inertness is observed. «Today» is transformed in consciousness of the respondent to «today's life», and the personal biography – from a position of present representations about good and bad, about successes and failures is exposed to an estimation. Probably, leveling of momentary experiences or moods in answers is promoted also by a context of the standardized interview. As a rule, in conversation with the stranger we are not inclined to devote it in the current problems and experiences.

With reference to tested questions a time marker «the today» included in the first of questions, does not correct a communicative situation, and only misleads the researcher at a stage of interpretation of a question. Besides, at formulations there is also a number of logic no agreements. If adaptation is estimated under extremely abstract scheme, allowing the respondent to interpret somehow concept of «place» «optimism» or «pessimism» are reduced to material well-being. Further, the adaptation estimation concerns personally the respondent, and assumptions of the future can be already transferred on a family. If it is planned to remove cognitive difficulties at those respondents who identify itself with a family, it followed do and in the first question.

Despite wide application in the Russian and foreign researches of the general questions on social well-being [11, p. 30], it is impossible to recognize this practice satisfactory. Behind an estimation «as a whole» the place in life or degree of satisfaction it the most different bases and domains of an ordinary reality disappear. In scientifically funded researches, as a rule, there are no the single questions devoted to an integrated estimation of subjective well-being; the general questions are always accompanied by several private, allowing at least assuming, what will be possible errors of measurement. For example, in N. Glenn and C. Weaver's devoted to influence of an educational level on subjective well-being the research, along with the general question on satisfaction life analyzed questions on happiness, about subjective health, about satisfaction by the nearest environment, home life, friends, health, free time presence [12, p. 27].

In our research it has been allocated eight components of the cumulative answer: work, financial position, age, family, personal desires, the social status, formation, the state. Participating in interview, the respondent does not consider all possible significant components, and adheres any to one, at the best – several. If he always chose the most significant for itself a theme or circumstance, it would be possible not to worry about quality of measurement. However within the limits of the standardized procedure at us is not present either theoretical substantiations, or empirical ways to check up, whether there is it so. As a result, on the one hand, the estimation of the respondent can change depending on the component satirized at the moment of interview. On the other hand, comparison of estimations between different groups of respondents becomes problematic as there can be the regular displacement connected with communicative, когнитивными or expressional conditions of interview [13, p. 68–70]. For example, style of the interviewers working in the different polling companies can influence distinction in estimations between different regions.

The main problem of interpretation of answers to general questions on social well-being consists in impossibility to observe how these answers are formed. We are compelled to take on trust conformity of verbal answers at all people participating in poll, to their inwardness [14, p. 45]. In other words – to recognize absence of contextual effects, the ironical answers, different semantic interpretations of identical variants of the answer. Thus the researcher cannot explain the reason of formation of answers to difficult, complex questions, cannot interpret the primary structure of distinctions arising at the respondent during the answer. He is compelled to attribute to distributions own, sometimes absurd interpretations, leaning only against the assumptions far from a real communicative situation of interview.

Being based on materials of the research conducted by us, it is possible to assert that there is no dominating component to which, at known assumptions, we could reduce answers of respondents to the general question on satisfaction life. Use the concept in a semantic design of the second question («to live better, more richly») it is possible to estimate «financial position» as a methodical error of the polling tool. The majorities of the western researchers are guided by results of polls and distinguish social state of health and financial position value judgment.

In the Russian polls and scientific researches the opposite position, according to which main backbone indicator of social state of health – as estimation interrogated the financial position dominates. Arguments in advantage of such reduction appear theoretically weak. For example, Russian investigator A. Gotlib so proves the position: «The choice of value judgment by people of the financial position as a sign forming type was carried out by us for basic reasons. In our opinion, the perception of the financial position, its estimation incorporating and degree of satisfaction of own claims, and representations about social norm, acts as certain result, not which point fixing a measure of success of the individual on a way of its adaptation to the changing social environment» [15, p. 53]. In this case as a substantiation of absolutely certain methodical decision convincing speech and the argument ad hominem, instead of the reference to experiments or workings out of other researchers ‘acts. It is thought that the situation when a theoretical substantiation spent of operationalization neglect is not unique.

The components of social state of health allocated with us by means of free coding will be coordinated with results of other methodical researches. So, E. Campbell, studying representations of Americans about good life, has received the following set of the spheres divided into ranks in decreasing order: economic stability, good relations in a family, strong and durable character, the loyal friends, outwardly attractive environment [16, p. 6]. Other researchers, for example, F. Andrews and S. Withey, spending of operationalization subjective well-being, considered five components: the house, work, a family, free time and the state [17, p. 234]. The set of independent research programs is devoted private components of social state of health. Are separately studied:

- material well-being, its value judgment, influence of unequal distribution of incomes of the population on estimations of subjective well-being;

- satisfaction relations in a family;

- feeling of an accessory to some community, sensation of own demand;

- forming the personal purposes, ambition of individual plans, confidence of own forces;

- professionalism and satisfaction a post, a present workplace;

- religiousness, the relation to other faiths;

- a state of health, the subjective relation to a pain.

As the components which have met in our research, are anyhow discussed and in other empirical works, it tells «social state of health» (the told concerns a validity of the given theoretical design) about adequacy of the concept. Causes a question only a component «the personal purposes». Despite its absolute conformity to concept well-beings, are the big doubts in possibility of adequate measurement of personal, individual motives in the standardized poll.

Spending a thematic marking of the remarks which have appeared during conversations on questions, we have received only the list of constructions, making elements initial the concept well-being. However, if to follow P. Lazarsfeld's model, it only the initial stage of operationalization. It has allocated three stages of the specification. On the first the initial image or concept is divided into components, or dimensions which represent more exact and detailed descriptions and form set of the concepts describing theoretical конструкт [18, p. 241]. At the second stage to each component theoretical конструкта some set of empirical indicators is put in conformity. P. Lazarsfeld underlines that indicators correspond with концептами not rigidly, and is likelihood: «Each indicator has only approximate relation to that we actually want to know» [18, p. 241–242]. Depending on the theoretical scheme of research indicators can repeat or be replaced at different concepts. On the third step indicators will be transformed to biographical questions which are supposed to be set to the respondent.

After P. Lazarsfeld in the methodical literature usually stop on four concepts representing procedure of operationalization: the concept, the construction (result of the specification the concept – a set of sizes), the indicator and a variable (or operational definition).

So, selection of indicators – separate, not less a challenge. It is very difficult to measure value judgment listed of constructions as estimation represents not trivial, and the main thing – the procedure hidden from the researcher [19, p. 116]. F. Andrews and S. Withey for measurement of subjective well-being is offered by following indicators: a recognition, an inclusiveness, self-sufficiency, safety, calmness, beauty, independence, fun and a standard of living [17, p. 234]. If to address to mentioned above five constructions of F. Andrews and S. Withey (the house, work, a family, free time and the government), together they will make the whole battery of biographical questions. For example, the construction «house» and the indicator «beauty» allows to formulate crossing about such question: «the house in which you live is how much beautiful and attractive to you?» [17, p. 13]. However the similar multidimensional approach to operationalization of subjective well-being meets in single instances. The greatest distribution among researchers was received by the satisfaction indicator [20, p. 31] which allows formulating various biographical questions.

K. Rask with colleagues offers the alternative scheme of drawing up of biographical questions. As basic indicators in it acts:

- in emotive a component – a) degree of pleasure/disappointment and b) a problem or bad state of affairs;

- in cognitive making – c) knowledge and d) real behaviour.

In the first indicator degree of satisfaction of ordinary requirements is measured, for example, self-respect maintenance, attention to positive events, optimistic installations on life and etc. the Second indicator, a bad condition, reveals concern current problems and a difficult situation, for example, with colleagues, parents, money. The third and fourth components reflect activity or passivity of a vital position: ability of the respondent to result concrete examples of the actions, knowledge it of current events in which it can take part, and etc. [21, p. 131]. However and at such approach is problematic to avoid excessive lengthening of the questionnaire. Balance maintenance between accuracy of received gauging and toolkit volume – the most complicated problem to solve which within the limits of the present research it is not obviously possible.

The research toolkit reflects not only about what asked and that researchers would like to learn. In the thesaurus and the nomenclature of questions aprioristic assumptions, and frequently – own installations of developers are reflected. Besides, in formulations time – with its actual events and the staticized senses of those or other concepts from a political lexicon is reflected also.

«Time of reforms» has ended, and with approach of a new epoch former indicators have lost the explicating force (in the same way as videorecorder presence has ceased to be the well-being indicator), and former concepts – the nominative clearness. The majority of operational schemes of social state of health were formed during other time and in other circumstances. They are based on measurement of level of adaptedness to changes, in subjective forecasts and substantially any more do not reflect концепт social state of health.

In the decision of this problem Fund «Public opinion» adhered to «direct» model, working with typology from two hypothetically consistent variables. However our research shows that today it is not enough of it, and, most likely, it is impossible to do without more difficult indicative scheme. The concept of social state of health it is too combined to reduce it to several elementary judgements. On the other hand, the problem will not dare also – to ask other strategy generalizing question, neglecting metaphoricalness of the core concept.

There are some more important reasons, is faster than pessimistic property as show complexity of a problem of measurement of social state of health.

1. Many operational definitions contain the too general concepts with dim semantic borders. Not clearly, whether it is possible to avoid danger of infinite recourse in definition of concepts about which warned P. Bridgeman.

2. The format of the standardized interview not only has no to frank confidential conversation, but also does not give any chances to check up adequacy of the received answers the concept «social state of health». Before us real danger to receive false or situational data.

3. The social state of health cannot be shown only to material welfare. In particular today, when the shock perception of the validity has left in last and thematic filling initial concept is real – upon people of words existing in reasoning and concepts – has become complicated. Deliberately economic displacement of question's tasks with evidence blocks other, not less important semantic areas of social state of health.

4. At measurement of subjective well-being it is important to consider, about whom there is a speech: about the respondent or about its nearest environment, a family. Certainly, at times happens difficultly consistently to spend such distinction. On the other hand, mixture of two modalities can lead to serious displacement among «I'm» - and «WE» are the focused respondents.

And the last. The offered system of indicators and constructions does not guarantee reception of qualitative biographical formulations. Each question even reused in other researches, is subject to careful testing for a subject of its adequate perception and interpretation.

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