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Is Subjective Ill-Being Related to Islamophobia in Germany? In Search for Moderators

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Abstract

Is subjective ill-being, defined as the inverse of subjective well-being, related to Islamophobia in Germany? We conducted a study guided by two goals to answer this question. The first goal was to test the hypothesis that subjective ill-being is associated with Islamophobia. The second goal, contingent on the results of testing for the association between subjective ill-being and Islamophobia, was to test a set of variables presumed to moderate this relationship—positive and negative contact with Muslims, right-wing political views, political participation, the importance of political life, and cultural diversity orientation. Data from the GESIS Panel, a probability-based panel representative of the German-speaking population aged between 18 and 70 years permanently residing in Germany, were used to test the study hypotheses. The data provided support for the hypothesis that subjective ill-being is indeed associated with Islamophobia in Germany (r = .12, p < .01). The data provided support for only one of the moderator hypothesis, namely cultural diversity orientation. Specifically, the data showed that the relationship between subjective ill-being and Islamophobia is stronger for those who have low (rather than high) cultural diversity orientation.

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Notes

  1. Ed Diener, the father of the subjective well-being movement, defines subjective well-being as a broad category of phenomena that includes a preponderance of positive over negative emotions, satisfaction with life domains (satisfaction in work life, social life, family life, etc.), and global judgments of life satisfaction (Diener and Tov 2012).

  2. Subjective ill-being in our study is treated as the inverse of subjective well-being. That is, subjective ill-being is the other polar end of subjective well-being. Although there is debate in the subjective well-being literature about the distinction between subjective well-being and ill-being as being two distinct factors (e.g., Headey et al. 1984), we agree with those scholars who argue that the distinction between mental well-being and ill-being is counterproductive (e.g., Wood and Joseph 2010). In essence, subjective well-being should not be treated as a construct independent from subjective ill-being. A continuum approach should be used in conceptualizing both subjective well-being and ill-being, with positive functioning as one polar end of the continuum and negative functioning at the other end.

  3. Sections dbaw, dbbd, dcbi, dczy, dbbd, and dcbi according to the codebook of the GESIS Panel, which can be retrieved via www.gesis-panel.org.

  4. German citizenship does not reflect religious faith. The GESIS Panel does not include survey items related to religious faith because, under German law, such data require special data protection.

  5. With regard to categorical variables, t test and ANOVA tests were conducted to identify the relationships between categorical and continuous variables.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pamplin College of Business, Department of Marketing (USA), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, USA

    M. Joseph Sirgy

  2. Department of Psychology, Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea

    Min Young Kim & Mohsen Joshanloo

  3. University of Trier, ZPID-Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information, Trier, Germany

    Michael Bosnjak

Authors
  1. M. Joseph Sirgy
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  2. Min Young Kim
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  3. Mohsen Joshanloo
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  4. Michael Bosnjak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Joseph Sirgy.

Appendix

Appendix

Results of regression and moderation analyses (outcome: islamophobia)

Hypothesis

Predictors

Coefficient

SE

t

p

95% CI

Low

High

H2

Constant

.350

.317

1.102

.271

− .273

.973

 

Subj. ill-being

.079

.025

3.188

.001

.030

.128

 

Positive contact

− .307

.028

− 10.878

.000

− .363

− .252

 

Subj. Ill-being × positive contact

.032

.025

1.303

.193

− .016

.081

 

Age

− .002

.002

− 1.158

.247

− .007

.002

 

Marital status

.011

.030

.350

.726

− .049

.070

 

Gender

− .240

.052

− 4.578

.000

− .342

− .137

 

Education

− .062

.013

− 4.737

.000

− .088

− .036

 

Citizenship status

.103

.085

1.216

.224

− .063

.269

 

Living standard

.161

.041

3.880

.000

.080

.242

 

Social welfare

.026

.119

.224

.823

− .206

.259

 

R2 = .232, F = 24.647, df = 10, 814, p = .0000

H3

Constant

− .111

.329

− .336

.737

− .757

.536

 

Subj. ill-being

.056

.026

2.188

.029

.006

.107

 

negative contact

.277

.043

6.378

.000

.192

.362

 

Subj. Ill-being × negative contact

.051

.032

1.586

.113

− .012

.114

 

Age

.003

.002

1.282

.200

− .002

.007

 

Marital status

.006

.031

.201

.841

− .055

.068

 

gender

− .171

.055

− 3.137

.002

− .278

− .064

 

Education

− .070

.014

− 5.142

.000

− .096

− .043

 

Citizenship status

.011

.088

.129

.897

− .161

.184

 

Living standard

.172

.043

4.017

.000

.088

.256

 

Social welfare

.127

.124

1.031

.303

− .115

.370

 

R2 = .170, F = 16.598, df = 10, 813, p = .0000

H4

Constant

.438

.189

2.318

.021

.068

.809

 

Subj. ill-being

.079

.015

5.335

.000

.050

.108

 

Right-wing view

.598

.022

27.446

.000

.555

.641

 

Subj. Ill-being × right-wing view

− .020

.018

− 1.134

.257

− .056

.015

 

Age

− .005

.001

− 3.839

.000

− .007

− .002

 

Marital status

.020

.018

1.156

.248

− .014

.055

 

Gender

− .132

.030

− 4.327

.000

− .191

− .072

 

Education

− .028

.008

− 3.548

.000

− .043

− .012

 

Citizenship status

.130

.052

2.507

.012

.028

.231

 

Living standard

.050

.024

2.029

.043

.002

.098

 

Social welfare

− .058

.069

− .852

.394

− .193

.076

 

R2 = .248, F = 99.019, df = 10, 2996, p = .0000

H5

Constant

.312

.205

1.519

.129

− .091

.714

 

Subj. ill-being

.071

.016

4.356

.000

.039

.103

 

Politically activeness

− .294

.047

− 6.290

.000

− .385

− .202

 

Subj. Ill-being × politically activeness

.053

.033

1.628

.104

− .011

.117

 

Age

− .001

.001

− .851

.395

− .004

.002

 

Marital status

.025

.019

1.280

.201

− .013

.063

 

Gender

− .139

.033

− 4.171

.000

− .204

− .074

 

Education

− .069

.008

− 8.208

.000

− .085

− .052

 

Citizenship status

.131

.053

2.452

.014

.026

.236

 

Living standard

.101

.026

3.812

.000

.049

.152

 

Social welfare

− .024

.074

− .326

.745

− .170

.121

 

R2 = .069, F = 23.109, df = 10, 3131, p = .0000

H6

Constant

.271

.207

1.305

.192

− .136

.677

 

Subj. ill-being

.070

.016

4.260

.000

.038

.102

 

Importance on political life

− .122

.024

− 5.001

.000

− .170

− .074

 

Subj. Ill-being × importance on political life

− .034

.020

− 1.756

.079

− .073

.004

 

Age

.000

.001

.237

.813

− .002

.003

 

Marital status

.022

.019

1.153

.249

− .016

.061

 

Gender

− .164

.034

− 4.856

.000

− .231

− .098

 

Education

− .069

.008

− 8.126

.000

− .085

− .052

 

Citizenship status

.139

.054

2.576

.010

.033

.244

 

Living standard

.094

.027

3.534

.000

.042

.147

 

Social welfare

− .019

.075

− .256

.798

− .166

.128

 

R2 = .068, F = 22.488, df = 10, 3014, p = .0000

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Sirgy, M.J., Kim, M.Y., Joshanloo, M. et al. Is Subjective Ill-Being Related to Islamophobia in Germany? In Search for Moderators. J Happiness Stud 20, 2655–2675 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0063-3

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