Procesos cognitivos vinculados al autoreporte de la calidad de Vida: El efecto de la comparación en población adulta

As a measure of the individual perception of well-being and satisfaction in various areas of life, the evaluation of the quality of life has become a relevant issue, as it is considered a relevant indicator of success for intervention plans and public policies. However, its subjective nature involves the complexity of discerning how these perceptions are formed. Festinger's concept of social comparison is a valuable starting point to understand that the perception of quality of life depends upon comparison between the individual situation and the subjective norms attached to the individual's culture and system of values. Nonetheless, to comprehend the intra and inter subjects' variations of such perceptions is an even more complex issue. One of the most complete theories about this phenomenon, that of Michalos, proposes comparison standards that integrate contextual and temporal aspects related to the evaluated individual. The present research applies Michalos' perspective to the study of the quality of life in order to analyze whether said proposal allows to predict people's evaluation of quality of life. The study has a quantitative, non-experimental, analytical and cross-sectional design, with a sample of 1229 adults. It was determined that the most commonly utilized comparison pattern is related to time, particularly the comparison between ideal state and present state. It was also established that the comparison with greater influence in the evaluation of current quality of life is related to the possible future. These findings and their implications for the study of quality of life are discussed.