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Love or Bread? What Determines Subjective Wellbeing Among Left-Behind Women in Rural China?

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Abstract

Using data from a survey conducted in Chaohu City among rural women, this study analyzes their subjective wellbeing, their marital relationships and livelihood strategy, and also analyzes how marital relationship and livelihood strategy affect the subjective wellbeing of left-behind women in comparison with non-left-behind women and temporary-left-behind women. It is found that both the marital relationship which represents “love” and the livelihood strategy which represents “bread” affect the subjective wellbeing among the three groups of rural women. However, the importance and specific contents of “love” and “bread” to the women varies among the three groups. For the left-behind women, “love” and the “bread” are equally important and play independent roles in subjective wellbeing. For the temporary-left-behind and the non-left-behind women, both “love” and “bread” are important, with “bread” as the apparent foundation of the “love”.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China National Social Science Foundation Under Grant Number: 12BRK022 and the 985-3 Project of Xi’an Jiaotong University and Shaanxi Laboratory for Population and Development Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Rural Development of Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, 177# Hanguang Nan Road, Xi’an, 710065, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Luo

  2. Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, #28, Xianning Xi Road, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyan Yang & Shuzhuo Li

  3. Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, Stanford University, Gilbert 116, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Marcus W. Feldman

Authors
  1. Cheng Luo
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  2. Xueyan Yang
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  3. Shuzhuo Li
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  4. Marcus W. Feldman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xueyan Yang.

Appendix

Appendix

Subjective Wellbeing

A1 How have you been feeling in general during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Excellent (2) Good (3) Neither good nor bad (4) Not good (5) Not good at all

A2 Have you had experienced bad mood during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A3 Have you controlled your moods and behaviors well during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A4 Have you lost any interest in everything and living during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A5 Have you had trouble relaxation and felt stressful during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A6 Have you felt happy, satisfactory and pleasant during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A7 have you had problems in memory during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A8 Have you felt anxiety and unrest during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A9 Have you felt clear-eyed and energetic after waking during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A10 Have you had a suspicion of having get a disease during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A11 Have you enjoyed your everyday life during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A12 Have you felt frustrated and depression during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A13 Have you had a stable mood during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A14 Have you felt exhausted during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A15 Have you worried your health status during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A16 Have you felt yourself relaxing or stressful during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Extremely relaxing (2) Relaxing (3) Neither relaxing nor stressful (4) Stressful (5) Extremely stressful

A17 Have you felt yourself exhausted or energetic during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Extremely exhausted (2)Exhausted (3) Neither exhausted nor energetic (4) Energetic (5) Extremely energetic

A18 Have you felt depressed or happy during the month preceding the survey?

(1) Extremely depressed (2) Depressed (3) Neither depressed nor happy (4) Happy (5) Extremely happy

A19 Have you asked for help from anybody during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A20 Have you had an intention to die during last year?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A21 Have you committed suicide or hurt yourself during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

A22 Have you discussed your own problems with your family members or friends during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Occasionally (4) Often (5) Always

Marital Relationship

B1 Are you satisfied with your marital relationship during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Totally dissatisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (3) Neither unsatisfactory nor satisfactory (4) Satisfactory (5) Totally satisfactory

B2 When did you have sex last time?

(1) Couple of days ago (2) One week ago (3)One month ago (4) Half a year ago (5) One year ago (6) Couple of years ago

B3 Are you satisfied with your sexual life during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Totally dissatisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (3) Neither dissatisfactory nor satisfactory (4) Satisfactory (5) Totally satisfactory

B4 Have you experienced a sexual orgasm while having sex during the year preceding the survey?

(1) Never (2) Seldom (3) Sometimes (4) Often (5) Every time

Livelihood Strategies

C1 How many months and days have you spent on following activities during one year preceding the survey?

(1) Agricultural activities: months days

(2) Family operation: months days

(3) Migrating for work: months days

C2 How many hours have you commonly spent on following activities during a day?

(1) Taking care of families: hours

(2) Relaxation and recreation: hours

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Luo, C., Yang, X., Li, S. et al. Love or Bread? What Determines Subjective Wellbeing Among Left-Behind Women in Rural China?. Gend. Issues 34, 23–43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-016-9171-8

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