We are proud to share more exciting news from our JRP alumni! 

As part of our 2015-16 cohort, Tobias Wingen, Victor Estal Muñoz, Silvana Mareva and Angelos Kassianos collaborated on a project investigating the use of smartphone apps for assessing quality of life. In the following years, our alumni teamed up with Prof. Birte Englich (University of Cologne) to work on a follow-up study that takes a closer look at the relation between quality of life and social class. This study has now been published in Applied Research in Quality of Life!

In their study, our alumni investigated two possible explanations of the impact of social class on quality of life. First, it seemed possible that upper-class individuals have a higher quality of life because they control a lot of valuable resources (power). Second, upper-class individuals might have a higher quality of life because they enjoy more respected and esteem (status).

Using parallel mediation models, the authors successfully teased apart these two possible explanations. They found that the relationship between social class and quality of life was mediated by status, but not by power. This suggests that upper-class individuals indeed have a higher quality of life, but mainly because they experience more respect from others. In contrast, sheer control over resources seems to be less important for quality of life. After all, it seems that power can’t buy happiness and that it matters much more to feel respected and esteemed!

These results do not only make an impact on academic research in the quality of life domain but can aid policy-makers in designing interventions addressing class-based quality of life inequality.

We are more than thrilled to watch the initial projects by our alumni unfold into ongoing collaborations, and congratulate all authors on their success!