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Subjective Well-Being and Socially Risky Behaviours of Youth

Chapter · January 2001

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 Subjective Well-Being and
Socially Risky Behaviours of Youth1

Ferran Casas, Germà Coenders and Sergi Pascual

Abstract: This article examines the relationship between risky

behaviour of youth (drug use, risky driving, vandal behaviour,
violent confrontation, alcohol abuse and unprotected sex) and
subjective well being (satisfaction with educational achievement,
quality of education, social class, social contacts and social roles).
Confirmatory factor analysis models are fitted on polychoric
correlation matrices to relate the satisfaction dimensions with the
binary risk variables, while using corrections for indexes of the
model fit and tests of significance. A comparison of 5 European
urban areas (Barcelona, Genoa, Madrid, Porto and Amsterdam) is
made. The correlations between satisfaction with different aspects of
life and risky behaviour appear to be mostly weak and non
significant in all these 5 urban areas, even if they are disattenuated
by the effect of dichotomous measurement and random errors, and
thus higher than those obtained with more standard statistical
methods. The correlations also appear to be inconsistent across
cities, which may be attributable to low statistical power or to
inflation of risk due to multiple testing and which raises a warning
against hastened interpretation about differences among cities.

1
Casas, F & Saurina, C. (Eds.) Proceedings of the third conference of the International Society for Quality of Life
Studies. Universitat de Girona, Girona (2001): 367-384.
 Bienestar Subjetivo y Comportamientos Sociales Arriesgados
entre los Jóvenes †

Resumen: Este artículo examina la relación entre comportamientos

sociales arriesgados entre los jóvenes (consumo de drogas,
conducción temeraria, vandalismo, enfrentamientos violentos, abuso
del alcohol y sexo sin protección) y bienestar subjetivo (satisfacción
con los logros en la educación, con la calidad de la misma, con la
clase social, con los contactos sociales y con los papeles sociales).
Los modelos de análisis factorial confirmatorio se aplican sobre
matrices de correlaciones policóricas para relacionar el grado de
satisfacción con las variables de riesgo binarias, a la vez que se
utilizan correcciones para los índices de bondad de ajuste del
modelo y para las pruebas de significación. Se efectúa una
comparación entre 5 áreas urbanas europeas (Barcelona, Génova,
Madrid, Oporto y Amsterdam). Las correlaciones entre la
satisfacción con distintos aspectos de la vida y un comportamiento
arriesgado parecen ser especialmente débiles y no significativas en
todas estas 5 áreas urbanas, incluso cuando han sido desatenuadas
por el efecto de la medición dicotómica y errores aleatorios y, por
tanto, resultan más elevadas que las obtenidas mediante métodos
estadísticos más habituales. Las correlaciones también parecen ser
inconsistentes entre ciudades, lo cual podría atribuirse a una baja
potencia estadística o a una inflación del riesgo debida a múltiples
pruebas, que ponen en alerta frente a una interpretación precipitada
de las diferencias entre estas ciudades.

†
Esta investigación ha sido posible gracias al soporte financiero de la Comisión de las Comunidades Europeas

(Beca DGXXII) y a la participación de la fundación CIREM (Barcelona), el Instituto de Investigación sobre Calidad
de Vida de la Universidad de Girona, la Universidad de Madrid, CREDITT (Génova, Italia), van Dijk, van Soomeren
en Partners BV (Amsterdam, Países Bajos) y la Universidad de Porto (Portugal).
Introduction

This article is grounded on data collected for a broader research project whose
objectives were to analyse the patterns of some socially risky behaviour among 15
to 24 years old youngsters during leisure time, and to understand the perceived
risks and reasons for such behaviours (Casas et al., 1999; Casas et al., 2000). The
data were collected in five European large cities and their surroundings: Madrid,
Barcelona, Amsterdam, Genoa and Porto. The overall goals were to identify
psychosocial correlates of risky behaviour, compare the correlation patterns across
cities and complement other studies that have analysed relationships, associated
patterns and meanings of youth behaviour.

More precisely, the aim of this article is to make a comparison across cities of the
correlation between meaningful dimensions of subjective well-being and risky
behaviour.

The literature often reports low correlations between attitudinal and risk behaviour
variables. In order to mitigate such problem, many authors are using mediating
psychological variables such as risk/sensation seeking attitudes or invulnerability
attitudes or beliefs or assumed risk (Alonso & del Barrio, 1994; Bell & Bell, 1993;
Calafat, et al., 1994; Dolcini & Adler, 1994; Goldstein, 1996; Gras y Riba, 1995;
Halpen-Feshner et al., 1996; Junger & Wiegresman, 1995; Martín González et al.,
1998; Miller et al., 1995; Planes, 1994; Plant & Plant, 1994; Schafer et al. 1994; Yu
& Williford, 1993). However, these low correlations can be due both to a
substantive lack of relationship or to ill-using statistical tools. Attitudinal variables
are often measured at an ordinal level and are bound to contain a moderate
amount of random error variance. Behavioural variables are often binary variables.

A correlation between a satisfaction item and a risky behaviour variable can suffer
two types of attenuation:
1. Attenuation due to measurement error (e.g. Carmines & Zeller, 1979; Lord &
Novick, 1968).
2. Attenuation due to the ordinal and binary character of the variables (Quiroga,
1992).

In this article, a number of classic and more recently developed methods are used
to consistently estimate and test attitude-behaviour relationships. These include
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models (Jöreskog, 1969), polychoric correlations
(Olsson, 1979), robust test statistics (Satorra & Bentler, 1994), and tests of close fit
(Browne & Cudeck, 1993). In isolation, some of these methods have already been
employed in quality of life research, but there is a potential for a much wider use.
The use of CFA models is nowadays of common practice in the field. Scaled test
statistics were applied on CFA models by Helmes and Goffin (1998). Polychoric
correlations have been used for instance by Saris, van Wijk & Scherpenzeel (1998)
and by Scherpenzeel & Saris (1996), but they did not employ the necessary
corrections to test statistics when polychoric correlations are used.

Method

Sample, data collection and operationalization of variables.

The sample was stratified according to the geographical (inner city vs. outskirts)
and socioeconomic characteristics of the selected neighbourhoods. In each city,
data were collected in three deprived or slum neighbourhoods, two lower-middle
class neighbourhoods, two medium and one affluent neighbourhoods.

A personal questionnaire was administered at places were youngsters could be

usually met (schools, high schools, different kinds of leisure centres, sport areas),
depending of the previously analysed characteristics of each geographic context
and neighbourhood. The questionnaire was partially based on previous tested
questionnaire in Spanish language by Martín Gonzalez et al. (1998), and included
some psychometric scales, which we are not going to analyse in this article. It was
administered in each specific language (including a Catalan version for the
Barcelona sample).

Total sample size was 2,361, of which 52.1% were girls, 47.9% boys, 38.6% were
aged between 15 and 17, 44.0% between 18 and 21 and 17.4% between 22 and
24.

Two batteries of items of the questionnaire related to subjective well-being were

selected for the analyses presented in this article: one containing items on
satisfaction with education (8 items) and one containing items on satisfaction with
various domains of life (13 items). The battery of items on satisfaction with work (9
items) was not considered for the analysis because of the low response rate due to
the fact that many people in the age groups considered have never worked for pay.

The risky behaviour patterns were operationalised as follows.

1. Drug use: any reported recent consumption of cocaine, design drugs or
hallucinogens.
2. Risky driving: answering “often” or “very often” to at least one of the following
behaviours: driving faster than allowed, not respecting red lights, not respecting
stop or give way signs, driving after consuming alcohol, driving in forbidden
direction, not wearing the safety belt, skid driving, competition driving, driving
without license.
3. Vandal behaviour: reported participation in destroying or painting public property
in urban areas.
4. Violent confrontations: reported participation during the last year in at least one
of the following activities: fighting against other groups in the neighbourhood,
against supporters of rival sports teams, or against rival tribes, exerting violence
against people of other races or cultures, against marginal groups, against
people with different political ideologies or against homosexuals.
5. Alcohol abuse: reported weekly consumption above 210 cc. of pure alcohol.
6. Unprotected sex: reported intercourse outside the regular couple without using
condom.
The satisfaction variables are measured with 5-point Likert-type response scales.
The risk variables were coded as binary variables, according to the aforementioned
criteria.

Table I shows the sample sizes in each town and the percentages of respondents
falling into each of the risky behaviour definitions. The low counts in some cells of
the table make it impossible to estimate some of the proposed statistical models
and are thus dropped from the tables in the results section.

Table I: Sample sizes and percentages of respondents with risky behaviour

Barcelona Genoa Madrid Porto Amsterdam
sample size 344 266 507 1011 233
% of respondents with
drug use 11.0 11.7 9.5 5.0 6.9
risky driving 15.7 56.0 16.3 15.4 42.5
vandal behaviour 18.0 33.8 12.0 12.8 25.8
violent confrontations 28.2 40.6 25.6 18.4 29.2
alcohol abuse 9.0 9.4 10.7 7.3 36.4
unprotected sex 2.0 11.3 5.3 6.2 3.0

Statistical modelling

CFA models constitute and efficient way of correcting for attenuation due to
measurement error as they belong to the class of structural equation models with
latent variables (Bollen, 1989; Schumacker & Lomax, 1996). In CFA models,
random measurement error variances are specified and accounted for in a set of
equations relating the observed variables (in this case satisfaction items) to a set of
hypothetical latent variables (in this case dimensions of satisfaction, which can be
understood as domains of life). The correlations among the dimensions can be
estimated in a consistent way and are not attenuated by measurement error. In
order to make this possible, at least two items are needed for each dimension.
When only one item per dimension is available (as the case is for risk behaviour
variables), measurement error variances must be assumed to be zero, unless prior
information is available (Saris & Münnich, 1995; Scherpenzeel, 1995). If
measurement errors are in fact present in such a variable, they will attenuate
correlations between it and other variables.

CFA models can also correct for attenuation due to ordinal measurement if at least
two items are available for each dimension (Coenders et al., 1997). Since this
condition does not hold for all considered variables, polychoric correlations must be
used instead of Pearson correlations for estimating the CFA model (Jöreskog,
1990). Polychoric correlations have been developed to relate variables that are
conceptually continuous but are measured in an ordinal way. The propensity to
behave in a risky way and life satisfaction may be conceptualised as continuous
variables, while the binary classifications risky-safe or the responses to the 5-point
items are ordinal. Polychoric correlations assume that the range of the continuous
variables is divided into as many regions as scale points the ordinal measurements
have, and that the ordinal measurements y are related to the continuous underlying
variables y* through the non-linear step function:

y=k iff τk-1<y*≤τk , for k=1,2,...,m (1)

where τk are the thresholds or cutting points of the above-mentioned regions, such
that τ0=-∞, τk-1<τk , τm=∞.

Assuming that yi and yj are the ordinal measurements of the continuous underlying
variables y*i and y*j according to Equation 1, the polychoric correlation coefficient
r(y*i,y*j) is the correlation coefficient between y*i and y*j estimated from the scores of
yi and yj under the assumption that the yi* variables follow a bivariate normal
distribution.

CFA models are usually estimated from a covariance or a Pearson correlation matrix
by selecting a parameter vector p that leads to a fitted covariance matrix Σ(p)
among the variables that is as close as possible to the sample covariance matrix S.
The estimation is usually done by maximum likelihood under the hypothesis that
the data are continuous and follow a multivariate normal distribution. The
procedure has shown to be consistent when polychoric correlations are used and
the y* variable pairs follow a bivariate normal distribution (Babakus et al., 1991). It
has also been shown to be more efficient for moderate sample sizes (Muthén &
Kaplan, 1989) than more sophisticated methods as those developed by Browne
(1984).

The critical stage of CFA models is the diagnostic of goodness of fit. With that
purpose, a χ2 test is available for the null hypothesis that no parameters (loadings
and error covariances) are omitted from the model. The test statistic is computed
by comparing the sample covariance or correlation matrix S to the fitted matrix
Σ(p) and is distributed as a χ2 variate with d degrees of freedom under the null
hypothesis that the model is correct, where d is computed as the number of non
duplicated elements in S minus the number of parameters in the model. The test
was originally developed as a likelihood-ratio test under the hypotheses that a
covariance matrix is analysed, the data are continuous and follow a multivariate
normal distribution. These hypotheses do not hold in our data but an appropriate
mean-scaled χ2 statistic, that is robust to non normality, has been developed (see
Satorra & Bentler, 1994), that may be computed if an appropriate sampling
covariance matrix of the covariances is provided. This statistic may also be used with
polychoric correlations (Muthén & Satorra, 1995), and a sampling covariance matrix
can be computed based on asymptotic theory under the hypothesis that only the
underlying continuous y* variables are normal. The computation of the sampling
covariance matrix of the correlations and of the scaled χ2 is available in the latest
versions of PRELIS and LISREL (Jöreskog et al. 1999).

When sample sizes are large, it can easily happen that models be rejected out of
minor misspecification errors. Understanding that no models are exactly correct
leads to the parsimony principle of accepting models whenever misspecifications
are minor (Box, 1976). This reduces the interest in testing the hypothesis that the
model is exactly correct (what the χ2 statistic does) and increases the interest in
quantifying the degree of misspecification. An obvious measure of misspecification
is the popular standardised root mean squared residual (RMSR), an overall
measurement of the size of the residuals S-Σ(p). The problem with this and other
more elaborated goodness of fit indices (most of which are discussed in Bentler,
1990) is that their sampling distribution is difficult to derive.

The error of approximation is defined by comparing the population covariance

matrix Σ to the fitted covariance matrix Σ(π) that would be obtained if the model
would be estimated from Σ instead of S. The χ2 statistic compares the sample
matrices S and Σ(p) and is thus a biased indicator of the error of approximation. It
can be shown that the bias is reduced by computing the so-called estimated non-
centrality parameter (NCP), by subtracting d from the χ2 statistic (if this difference
is negative, the estimated non-centrality parameter is computed as zero). The root
mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) is defined as (Steiger, 1990;
Browne & Cudeck, 1993):

NCP
RMSEA = (2)
n×d

where n is the sample size. The RMSEA can be interpreted as the mean error of
approximation per degree of freedom. Values of RMSEA around 0.05 are considered
acceptable (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). The sampling distribution for the RMSEA can
be derived, which makes it possible to compute confidence intervals. These
intervals allow researchers to test for close fit and not only for exact fit, as the χ2
statistic does. If both extremes of the confidence interval are below 0.05, then the
hypothesis of close fit is rejected in favour of the hypothesis of better than close fit.
If both extremes of the confidence interval are above 0.05, then the hypothesis of
close fit is rejected in favour of the hypothesis of bad fit.

Other tests of interest are the tests of significance of model parameters, such as
correlations relating behavioural and attitudinal variables. These tests were also
originally developed for covariance matrices computed from continuous data under
the multivariate normality assumption. Once more, appropriate corrections are
needed for the analysis of polychoric correlation matrices. These corrections are
also available in the latest versions of LISREL.

The tests are not only useful to assess the goodness of fit of the model, but also to
suggest ways to improve it, thus leading to a process of model modification. In our
case, the starting point for this model modification process was the examination of
the correlation matrix and principal component analysis results computed from the
pooled data of all 5 cities. A tentative model was then fitted to the data from
Barcelona and modifications were introduced which would improve the fit and make
sense according to the wording of the questionnaire items. The model, which was
finally specified, is depicted in Figure 1. The model was then separately fitted to the
data from the remaining 4 cities and showed a good fit to all of them. Table II
shows that the exact fit of the model is not rejected in Barcelona, Genoa and
Amsterdam (although the model had to be slightly modified for the latter city, as it
is shown in detail in Tables 3 and 4). For the remaining two cities, the RMSEA is
significantly lower than 0.05. The standardised RMSR lies within the usually
accepted range for all cities. All models were estimated by maximum likelihood
from a polychoric correlation matrix using the LISREL8.3 program (Jöreskog &
Sörbom, 1989, 1993a, 1993b; Jöreskog et al. 1999), using corrected tests
statistics.

Table II: Goodness of fit indices

Index Barcelona Genoa Madrid Porto Amsterdam
Satorra-Bentler corrected χ2 95.63 114.66 140.48 148.04 80.59
degrees of freedom 95 103 95 103 80
p-value for χ2 test 0.46 0.20 0.0017 0.0024 0.46
90% CI for RMSEA (0,0.023) (0,0.041) (0.019,0.042) (0.013,0.029) (0,0.041)
standardised RMSR 0.049 0.055 0.048 0.0381 0.058
listwise sample size 330 245 482 932 190
Results

Dimensions of subjective well-being

The left part of the model in Figure 1 shows five dimensions of life satisfaction in
circles. Each square represents a satisfaction item. The arrows pointing from the
dimensions to the items represent factor loadings. The remaining arrows pointing to
the items represent random measurement error terms. Table III shows the content
of the items grouped by the different dimensions:
1. We have labelled the first dimension as satisfaction with educational achievement
as it is related to items dealing with marks, personal effort, and the fact of
continuing or abandoning education.
2. We have labelled the second dimension as satisfaction with the quality of
education, as it is related to items dealing with learning itself and the teachers.
3. We have labelled the third dimension as satisfaction with social class and housing
as it is related to items dealing with both aspects of life, which are ultimately
linked to wealth and income.
4. We have labelled the fourth dimension as satisfaction with social contacts as it is
related to items dealing with friends and how others view you.
5. We have labelled the fifth dimension as satisfaction with social roles as it is
related to items directly dealing with different roles, both in the household and in
society.
 Fig. 1. Path diagram of the CFA model

The right part of Figure 1 shows the risk behaviour variables, which have only one
indicator, so that no measurement error term is present. Double-edged arrows
between all possible pairs of dimensions represent correlations. The correlations
between satisfaction dimensions and risk behaviours are of special interest to us.
Table III: Standardised factor loadings
Variable Satisfaction Barcelona Genoa Madrid Porto Amsterdam
name with:
ACHI_EDU: educational achievement
DGSATST1 contin. or not educ. 0.57 0.56 0.44 0.52 ----(b)
DGSATST2 marks obtained 0.64 0.86 0.67 0.72 0.59
DGSATST5 personal effort 0.63 0.61 0.78 0.67 0.84
QUAL_EDU: quality of education
DGSATST6 learning 0.84 0.63 0.87 0.88 0.88
DGSATST7 quality of teachers 0.66 0.62 0.78 0.69 0.65
DGSATST8 learning a job 0.59 0.75 0.65 0.61 0.79
STATUS: social class and housing quality
DGSTPC1 housing 0.85 0.82 0.89 0.88 0.76
DGSTPC2 room 0.84 0.79 0.81 0.87 0.62
DGSTPC6 social class 0.65 0.61 0.53 0.63 0.84
SOCIAL: social contacts
DGSTPC8 friends 0.59 0.66 0.64 0.54 0.60
DGSTPC11 other’s view of you 0.89 0.81 0.96 1.01(a) 0.82
ROLE: social roles played
DGSTPC12 role in family 0.87 0.83 0.79 0.86 0.84
DGSTPC13 role in society 0.72 0.83 0.65 0.73 0.86
(a)
Heywood case: the error variance was negative but non significant. It was not
constrained to 0 in order to preserve scale invariance of the model, which is
needed because a correlation matrix is used (Cudeck, 1989).
(b)
The loading was non-significant and the variable was removed from the model.

Table III shows the standardised factor loadings, which can be associated to the
measuring quality of the items with respect to their underlying dimensions. This
measurement quality can be considered good for Barcelona, whose data were used
to select the model, and is still acceptable for the remaining cities, if we exclude the
item DGSATST1 from the Amsterdam model.

Relationships between subjective well-being and risky behaviour

Table IV shows the correlations between satisfaction dimensions and risk

behaviours. In some cities there were not enough cases exhibiting a particular risky
behaviour, so that some risk variables could not be included in the model. A
positive correlation indicates that a higher satisfaction level is related to a lower
propensity to risky behaviour.
Table IV: Correlations between factors and risk behaviours (marked with * if significant at
the 5% level; positive correlations indicate that higher satisfaction is related to a lower
propensity to risky behaviour)
Variable type of Barcelona Genoa Madrid Porto Amsterdam
name behaviour
ACHI_EDU: educational achievement
RSDD drug use -0.04 0.07 -0.28* 0.08 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.04 -0.10 0.05 0.05 -0.10
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.05 -0.03 -0.23* 0.11 -0.06
RSVC violent confrontations 0.15 0.17 0.20* 0.20* -0.10
* *
RSAC alcohol abuse 0.04 0.32 0.19 0.22* 0.14
RSSX unprotected sex ----(a) -0.18 ----(a) 0.11 ----(a)
QUAL_EDU: quality of education
RSDD drug use -0.23* -0.30* -0.06 -0.11 ----(a)
*
RSDR risky driving -0.19 -0.14 0.01 -0.00 -0.14
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.01 -0.19* -0.02 0.07 0.09
RSVC violent confrontations -0.04 0.13 0.02 0.04 0.06
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.03 -0.08 0.10 0.21* -0.12
(a) * (a)
RSSX unprotected sex ---- -0.28 ---- 0.03 ----(a)
STATUS: social class and housing quality
RSDD drug use -0.15 0.13 -0.14 -0.08 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.08 0.04 -0.00 -0.00 -0.11
RSVA vandal behaviour -0.03 0.02 0.00 -0.05 -0.11
RSVC violent confrontations -0.05 -0.02 0.11 -0.06 0.05
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.11 -0.06 0.10 0.07 -0.20
RSSX unprotected sex ----(a) -0.22 ----(a) -0.00 ----(a)
SOCIAL: social contacts
RSDD drug use -0.01 0.17 -0.14 -0.08 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving 0.05 0.14 -0.12 -0.08 -0.07(b)
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.05 0.06 -0.07 -0.04 -0.07(b)
*
RSVC violent confrontations -0.10 0.22 -0.02 0.05 -0.21*(b)
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.10 -0.01 -0.04 0.03 -0.22*(b)
(a) * (a)
RSSX unprotected sex ---- -0.29 ---- -0.15 ----(a)
ROLE: social roles played
RSDD drug use -0.07 0.13 -0.25* -0.03 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.08 0.04 -0.17 -0.09 -0.07(b)
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.03 -0.06 -0.16 -0.03 -0.07(b)
*
RSVC violent confrontations -0.01 0.11 0.27 -0.02 -0.21*(b)
RSAC alcohol abuse 0.13 -0.19 0.04 -0.02 -0.22*(b)
(a) (a)
RSSX unprotected sex ---- -0.20 ---- 0.01 ----(a)
(a)
Risk variable dropped because of too few cases with risky behaviour.
(b)
The correlation between the factors SOCIAL and ROLE was 1. Accordingly, the
correlations of both factors to the risk variables were constrained to be equal.

The first conclusion which can be drawn from Table IV is that risky behaviour is at
most weakly linked to satisfaction with any of the aspects of life we have analysed.
Since attenuation due to ordinal measurement and random measurement error has
been accounted for, we can conclude that these low correlations are not a mere
consequence of the statistical technique used. Significant correlations are rare and
the highest absolute significant correlation is 0.32.

If we examine Table IV in detail, we find that:

1. Satisfaction with several domains of life appears to be related to a higher
proportion of cocaine or design drugs use in three of the cities. These domains
are quality of education in Barcelona and Genoa, and educational achievement
and social roles in Madrid.
2. Satisfaction with quality of education appears to be related to a higher proportion
of risky driving in Barcelona.
3. Satisfaction with two domains of life appears to be related to a higher propensity
to vandalism in two of the cities. These domains are quality of education in
Genoa and educational achievement in Madrid.
4. Satisfaction with several domains of life appears to be related to a lower
propensity to violent confrontations in three of the cities. These domains are
educational achievement in Madrid and Porto, social roles in Madrid, and social
contacts in Genoa. On the contrary, satisfaction with social contacts and roles
appears to be related to a higher propensity to violent confrontations in
Amsterdam.
5. Satisfaction with education appears to be related to lower proportions of alcohol
abusers in three of the cities. The relationship is observed for satisfaction with
educational achievement in Madrid, Genoa and Porto and for satisfaction with the
quality of education in Porto. On the contrary, satisfaction with social contacts
and roles appears to be related to a higher propensity to alcohol abuse in
Amsterdam.
6. Satisfaction with the quality of education and social contacts appears to be
related to a higher propensity to risky sexual practices in Genoa.

Few general patterns can be identified in these significant correlations, and a few of
them are not easy to understand and do not seem to be in accordance with
previous research results. On the contrary, Table IV seems to suggest that
correlations vary across cities.
Comparison with the traditional method

Table V: Pearson Correlations between summated scales and risk behaviours (marked with
* if significant at the 5% level; positive correlations indicate that higher satisfaction is
related to a lower propensity to risky behaviour)
Variable type of Barcelona Genoa Madrid Porto Amsterdam
name behaviour
ACHI_EDU: educational achievement
RSDD drug use -0.03 0.06 -0.09* 0.03 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.01 -0.03 0.03 0.02 -0.05
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.02 -0.03 -0.12* 0.06* -0.07
RSVC violent confrontations 0.09 0.13* 0.13* 0.11* -0.07
* *
RSAC alcohol abuse 0.02 0.17 0.09 0.08* 0.04
RSSX unprotected sex ----(a) -0.10 ----(a) 0.05 ----(a)
QUAL_EDU: quality of education
RSDD drug use -0.14* -0.12 -0.03 -0.03 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.06 -0.09 0.00 0.01 -0.04
RSVA vandal behaviour -0.04 -0.12* -0.02 0.03 0.04
RSVC violent confrontations 0.00 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.05
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.02 -0.01 0.05 0.09* -0.01
(a) * (a)
RSSX unprotected sex ---- -0.14 ---- 0.02 ----(a)
STATUS: social class and housing quality
RSDD drug use -0.10 0.04 -0.06 -0.04 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving -0.08 0.00 0.01 -0.01 -0.13*
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 -0.06
RSVC violent confrontations 0.01 0.01 0.06 -0.03 -0.01
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.04 -0.04 0.07 0.05 -0.14*
(a) (a)
RSSX unprotected sex ---- -0.12 ---- -0.01 ----(a)
SOCIAL: social contacts
RSDD drug use -0.04 0.10 -0.05 -0.05 ----(a)
RSDR risky driving 0.01 0.07 -0.08 -0.02 -0.08
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.01 0.04 -0.02 -0.01 -0.04
RSVC violent confrontations -0.06 0.09 -0.07 -0.01 -0.10
RSAC alcohol abuse -0.05 0.00 -0.02 0.00 -0.13
RSSX unprotected sex ----(a) -0.12* ----(a) -0.07* ----(a)
ROLE: social roles played
RSDD drug use -0.03 0.08 -0.13* -0.01 ----(a)
*
RSDR risky driving -0.05 0.04 -0.10 -0.06 -0.01
RSVA vandal behaviour 0.00 -0.04 -0.08 -0.01 -0.09
RSVC violent confrontations 0.02 0.04 0.15* -0.03 -0.11
RSAC alcohol abuse 0.08 -0.10 0.00 -0.01 -0.09
RSSX unprotected sex ----(a) -0.09 ----(a) -0.01 ----(a)
(a)
Risk variable dropped because of too few cases with risky behaviour.

In Table V the correlations between satisfaction domains and risk behaviours have
been computed according to traditional procedures. A composite score has been
computed for each satisfaction domain by summing the responses to the items
related to it. This summed score has then been subject to analyses of variance
where risk behaviours act as treatment variables one at a time in order to
determine the significance of the relationships. Pearson correlations between the
risk variables and the summated scores have been computed. These correlations
are equal in absolute value to the eta coefficients in the analysis of variance models
(square root of the percentages of explained variance).

A comparison with Table IV shows that nearly all correlations are lower when
computed with the traditional approach, and many of them are less than half the
value obtained with CFA models and polychoric correlations. In fact, only 10 out of
the 130 correlations are as high or higher under the traditional approach. Additional
13 correlations are of the opposite sign depending on how they are computed.
These 23 conflicting correlations are all below 0.15 in absolute value. The
differences in the statistical significance of the correlations are also substantial, but
they can be found in both directions: 6 correlations are significant with the
traditional approach and fail to be so under the CFA models and 7 correlations are
significant for the CFA models and fail to be so for the traditional approach. As a
whole, we find the differences to be large enough to support the need to use
statistical models and measures of association which appropriately match the
measurement level and measurement quality of the variables involved.

Discussion

The most outstanding result is that, in general, the reported correlations between
subjective well-being and risky behaviours are weak, even if stronger than those
estimated by traditional methodologies, unstable and hard to interpret.

We attempted to improve the model in a number of ways. The addition of some

social background explanatory variables did not result into a much higher explained
variance for the risky behaviour variables. Merging the risky behaviour items in a
general risk taking factor was unfeasible as the relationships among behaviours
were mostly weak and in some cases even of negative sign.

Overall satisfaction with the two educational aspects analysed (educational

achievement and quality of education) offers more significant correlations with risky
behaviours than all other analysed aspects of life altogether: 13 significant
correlations. Such correlations, however, have different sign depending of the city
and on the risky behaviour.

In Barcelona, Madrid and Genoa, youngsters who are more satisfied with
educational aspects are more frequently present among those using drugs (cocaine,
design drugs and hallucinogens). In Barcelona they are more frequently present
among those driving in a risky manner, in Genoa and Madrid among those
vandalizing property and in Genoa among those having unprotected sex. In
contrast, in Genoa, Porto and Madrid they are less frequently present among those
abusing alcohol. In Porto and Madrid they are also less frequently present among
those having violent confrontations. In Amsterdam no relation appears between
satisfaction with educational aspects and any risky behaviour.

Satisfaction with social status (social class and housing quality) does not offer one
single significant correlation with any risky behaviour in any city.

Satisfaction with social contacts and with social roles played showed overall 8
significant correlations. Those more satisfied with such social aspects are more
frequently among those having violent confrontations or abusing alcohol in
Amsterdam. They appear more frequently among those using drugs in Madrid, and
among those having unprotected sex in Genoa. In contrast, They appear less
frequently among those having violent confrontations in Madrid and Genoa.

As has been shown, correlations between subjective well-being and risky

behaviours tend to be unstable across cities. A similar phenomena was reported for
data of the same survey when we analysing the relationship between several
psychometric scales and risky behaviours (self-esteem, perceived family cohesion
and family conflict, perceived social support, mastery, Casas et al., 1999; Casas et
al., 2000).

Substantive explanations for this instability can be provided and can be found in
related literature. Some authors have suggested that the inter-influence among
media, peers and other situational factors results in different youngster's cultures
that may coexist or not in the same neighbourhood and that may vary very much
from one city to another. In any case, such youngster's cultures may have a big
influence in some risky behaviour (Costa, Pérez & Tropea, 1996). Authors that have
used mediating psychological variables also report a high variability among
individuals in risk taking or in assumed risk, which are difficult to explain (Gras &
Riba, 1995), even across gender, the fact of having been in a party being a more
powerful variable than any other to explain some behaviour (Harré, Field &
Kirkwood, 1996). These considerations suggest that situational variables may have
a much bigger influence in risky behaviour than personal and psychosocial
variables, including the range of well-being variables we have analysed. Another
possibility is that the characteristics of the relationships among variables are not
linear, and, therefore, must be explored with other methods.

However, the explanation for this instability is at least partly statistical in nature.
Firstly, low true correlations lead to a low power of the tests and thus to high
chance fluctuations in significance levels and to a substantial proportion of type II
errors (undetected existing relationships). Given the fact that standard errors were
around 0.1, a population correlation equal to 0.2 has a probability of 0.5 of being
statistically significant in a given city but only a probability of 0.003 of being
significant in all cities simultaneously.

Secondly, multiple tests (130 correlations are being tested) lead to an inflation of
global type I risk. In fact, around 7 correlations are expected to appear significant
at the 5% level just out of chance. If we follow Bonferroni’s inequality in order to
keep the global risk down to 0.05, then a critical value of 3.55 for the t statistic has
to be used and no correlation appears significant in any city.

In contrast with the correlations between the well-being dimensions and risky
behaviour, the factor structure of the well-being dimensions seems rather stable
and interpretable. Even if the factor analysis models reported in Table III were
fitted after a considerable amount of exploration and reespecification on the
Barcelona sample, the fact that the same items measure well the specified
dimensions in all 5 cases, argues for a good specification and a reasonable
generalizability of the model, although we cannot speak of cross-validation as the
five populations are different.

A warning must be raised that the fact that the significance of the correlations
varies across cities does not generally allow us to conclude that correlations are
different across cities. In Table IV, only tests of the hypothesis of zero correlation
have been performed separately in each city and this conclusion can only be drawn
if the correlation is positive and significant in a city and negative and significant in
another, as the case is for Genoa and Amsterdam regarding the correlation
between risk of violent confrontation and satisfaction with social contacts and for
Madrid and Amsterdam regarding the correlation between risk of violent
confrontation and satisfaction with the social roles. Unfortunately the statistical
tests of equality of correlations across cities can be performed only if factorial
invariance, also called measurement unit equivalence (i. e. equality of
unstandardized factor loadings across samples, van de Vijver & Leung, 1997) holds,
which ensures that the dimensions of well-being have the same content across
samples. We cannot assume factor invariance here given the fact that some of the
factor loadings in Table III differ strongly from sample to sample. Unfortunately, a
formal test of factor invariance can only be performed on polychoric correlations if
the thresholds are constrained to be equal across samples, which is not reasonable
as the questionnaire was administered in different languages with possibly different
strength of meaning of the labels of the categories of the Likert items. However,
using simpler methodologies such as those reported in Table V does not solve the
problem.

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Commission of the European Communities
(grant DGXXII) and is a part of a wider project with the participation of the CIREM
foundation (Barcelona, Spain), the Research Institute on Quality of Life of the
University of Girona (Spain), the University of Madrid (Spain), CREDITT (Genoa,
Italy), van Dijk, van Soomeren en Partners BV (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and
the University of Porto (Portugal) under the lead of the researchers Ferran Casas
(coordinator), Teresa Crespo, Antonio Martín, Jorge López, Giuliano Carlini, Joaquim
A. Ferreira, Peter H. Kwakkelstein, Pepijn van Amersfoort, Han Bruininink, Sabrina
Capra, Giovanni Daniele, Sergi Pascual and Anna Tarrés.

Author note

The authors are currently at the Quality of Life Research Institute, University of
Girona. Correspondence should be addressed to Germà Coenders, Faculty of
Economics. Campus of Montilivi. 17071 Girona, Spain. E-mail:
germa.coenders@udg.es. Fax ++34972418032.

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