The road to happiness : from mood during leisure trips and activities to satisfaction with life

Over the past years an increasing number of studies have investigated the link between travel and subjective well-being (SWB), often focussing on the effects of trip characteristics on satisfaction with particular trips. Two elements not frequently addressed in this research domain are (i) how trip satisfaction affects the mood during – and the evaluation of − the activity at the destination of the trip and (ii) how travel can affect long-term well-being. As engagement in out-of-home activities can improve eudaimonic well-being − referring to meaning of life, self-development and social relationships − it is possible that travel (satisfaction) does not only affect the overall evaluation of people’s lives (i.e., life satisfaction), but also eudaimonic well-being, through activity participation and satisfaction. In this study we will analyse the effect of satisfaction with leisure trips on the satisfaction with the leisure activity at the destination of the trip and look at how satisfaction with these short-term activity episodes affect both eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction. Results of this study applying a structural equation modelling approach on 1,212 respondents from the city of Ghent (Belgium) indicate that spill-over effects exist from trip satisfaction on leisure activity satisfaction and that both these short-term satisfactions affect eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction, whether directly or indirectly

How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Society (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Society, by C. John Sommerville (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1999) ISBN 0830822038, 155 pp

Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs, by Rodney Clapp (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2000). 224 pages. ISBN: 1-58743-003-7

Does a satisfying trip result in more future trips with that mode?

Previous studies have indicated that travel satisfaction – the experienced emotions during, and cognitive evaluation of, a trip – can be affected by travel mode choice and other trip characteristics. However, as satisfactory trips might improve a person’s attitudes toward the used mode, persons may be more likely to use that same mode for future trips of the same kind. Hence, a cyclical process between travel mode choice and travel satisfaction might occur. In this paper we analyse this process – using cross-sectional data – for people who engage in walking and cycling for leisure trips in the Belgian city of Ghent. The focus on walking and cycling reflects recent studies indicating that active travel is often associated with the highest levels of travel satisfaction. Results support the idea of a cyclical process; the evaluation of walking and cycling trips positively affects the respondents’ attitude towards the respective mode, which in turn has a positive effect on choosing that mode. Furthermore, results indicate a strong effect of life satisfaction on travel satisfaction, suggesting a strong impact of long-term happiness on short-term satisfaction

The influence of travel, residential location choice and leisure activities on well-being

Well-being has recently found acceptance in mobility studies. Travel can influence well-being in numerous ways, going from feelings experienced during travel to participation in activities facilitated by travel. However, most of these studies have emphasized on experienced feelings and moods and levels of satisfaction. This is however only one approach to well-being. Other approaches, stressing (among others) on achieving important goals in life and strengthening social bonds have only received limited attention. Besides, longer term perspectives (e.g., residential location choice and daily activity patterns) have not been included in the analyses. In sum, there is still a lot of space for future research

Amending Equal Time: Explaining Institutional Change in American Communication Policy

This study explains the history of a 1959 amendment to the 1934 Communications Act through the lens of historical institutionalism. The amendment created broad exemptions for newscasts, documentaries, interviews, and news events, triggering the equal time provision for candidates for public office. While this study offers a variety of new empirical details, the chief goal is explanation based on an examination of historical mechanisms—path dependence, critical junctures, agglomeration, asymmetries of power, reinforcement of expectations, and temporal sequencing—that shaped the policy options leading up to the amendment

Journalism beyond democracy

Journalism researchers have tended to study journalistic roles from within a Western framework oriented toward the media’s contribution to democracy and citizenship. In so doing, journalism scholarship often failed to account for the realities in non-democratic and non-Western contexts, as well as for forms of journalism beyond political news. Based on the framework of discursive institutionalism, we conceptualize journalistic roles as discursive constructions of journalism’s identity and place in society. These roles have sedimented in journalism’s institutional norms and practices and are subject to discursive (re)creation, (re)interpretation, appropriation, and contestation. We argue that journalists exercise important roles in two domains: political life and everyday life. For the domain of political life, we identify 18 roles addressing six essential needs of political life: informational-instructive, analytical-deliberative, critical-monitorial, advocative-radical, developmental-educative, and collaborative-facilitative. In the domain of everyday life, journalists carry out roles that map onto three areas: consumption, identity, and emotion.</jats:p