Abstract:

Life satisfaction has been described as an overall cognitive assessment of one’s quality of life that is based on how people believe their life should be in relation to how it is.

The purpose of this pilot study is to compare the level of overall life satisfaction among Czech and American University students, as well as to compare and analyse the components of health and the subjective assessment of a person. The monitored variables present significant factors influencing the overall academic performance of students. The sample of this study consisted of 838 (20,8±1,61) University students from Faculty of Education, 523 Czech, and 315 American students. The standardized Life Satisfaction Questionnaire and health assessment were used. Statistical result processing was conducted using the Statgraphics programme v. 12.0. According to the statistical analysis,we found out that between the Czech and American University students there is a significant difference in overall life satisfaction (p ≤ .001; d = 0.35). The analysis of particular components revealed significant differences (p ≤ .001) in 7 components out of 9, such as health, work, finance, partnership, own person, sexuality, and friends. American students are more satisfied than Czech students in the stated areas of life satisfaction. The Czech students are less self-confident (p ≤ .001, d = 0.59), more critical about their abilities (p ≤ .001, d = 0.46), character (p ≤ .001, d = 0.63) and overall health condition (p ≤ .001, d = 0.51). The American students are more satisfied with their health, especially with the frequency of diseases and pain (p ≤ .001, d = 0.63; d = 0.68). The findings can help to understand the role of cultural factors influencing areas of life satisfaction.

Keywords:

Quality of life, health, pre-service teachers, cultural diversity.