Constraints, Domain Conditions, and Well‐Being: Evidence from Poland during the Transformation

The relationships among the recent changes in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the household, domain conditions (objective well‐being), and the household members' assessment of their situation (subjective well‐being) are assessed with data from 600 households in the province of Lublin, Poland. Four domains are included in the measures of recent change, domain conditions, and well‐being: housing, household equipment, food consumption, and transportation. As expected, domain conditions are a function of household constraints; well‐being is a function of domain conditions and recent change. Rural residents have significantly poorer domain conditions than urban residents, but report significantly higher levels of well‐being.