Subjective well-being as a function of age and gender: A multivariate look for differentiated trends

Studies on subjective well-being (SWB) suggest that its cognitive aspect, or life satisfaction, is positively correlated with age, whereas its affective aspect, often separated into positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), is negatively correlated with age. Gender differences in SWB are usually small. The present study attempted to explore these trends in an Israeli sample of 447 community-dwelling people aged 21 to 87, with special reference to relatively unattended issues as the effect of control variables on the affective aspect and the feasible age by gender interaction in SWB. The results showed that Cantril's Self-Anchoring Scale (SAS), Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale (ABS), and Neugarten et al.'s Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) were all significantly and negatively correlated with age. No significant gender differences emerged, but a significant age by gender interaction was found in SAS and LSIA. Controlling for personal variables (education, health, place of birth, and marital status) could wipe out the age effects on SAS and LSIA, but not on ABS. By the same procedure, the age by gender interaction could be wiped out in SAS, and substantially reduced in LSIA. The age effect on ABS was mainly due to PA, rather than NA. The results indicate the differential impact of personal variables on the aspects of SWB. Refering to the Israeli context, it seems that both cohort- and aging-related variables account for the decline of life satisfaction in the older subjects. Age-associated decline of affect is apparently connected to some other adaptive mechanisms, which regulate both positive and negative affect in old age.     

Personality and Subjective Well-Being: What Hides Behind Global Analyses?

The relation between personality and subjective well-being (SWB) remains involved in a considerable ambiguity and the numerous studies conducted have neglected an approach at a more detailed level of analysis. This study explores the idea that neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness facets predict differentially each SWB component. A battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess personality and SWB in 398 teachers of primary and high schools. Findings of a cross-sectional study showed that neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness facets contributed to significantly explain the variance in positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction. Moreover, these facets predicted differentially each of the three SWB components. At same time, this study corroborates two important premises: the specificity of facets as discrete traits and the independence of the three SWB components.     

Gender Convergence in the American Heritage Time use Study (AHTUS)

The present study explored the short-term temporal characteristics of subjective well-being (SWB) and its potential correlates. Specifically, we examined the intra-individual variability and the trajectories of SWB and its components life satisfaction, positive, and negative affect. Over a two-week period, 27 participants (78% university students, 85% females, mean age of 29 years) provided SWB data every other day. Before and after this period, participants completed several questionnaires assessing personality and environmental variables, as well as several open-ended questions. The results provide evidence that participants experienced a significant amount of intra-individual variability in their SWB and its components. Furthermore, inter-individual differences in the intra-individual variability were related to several of the personality and environmental variables, as well as to participant’s age. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that deliberation (one facet of the Big Five dimension conscientiousness), social support, and age accounted for 58% of the total variance of intra-individual variability in SWB. In contrast, the slopes of the individual trajectories of SWB were on average statistically non-significantly different from zero. These results emphasize that information is gained by looking at both the patterns and the intra-individual variability over time: The individual trajectories of the participants on average appeared to be stable, but intra-individual variability of SWB was meaningfully related to several of the variables.     

The Conceptual and Relational Structure of Subjective Well-Being, Neuroticism, and Extraversion: Once Again, Neuroticism Is the Important Predictor of Happiness

The purpose of this study wastwofold: (1) to analyze and explore theconceptual structure of subjective well-being(SWB), neuroticism (N) and extraversion (E);and (2) to compare the effect sizes of N and Eas predictors of SWB. The sample comprised 461participants representative of the adultpopulation in northern Norway. Analyses wereconducted by means of Structural EquationModeling (SEM), and the results on (1)supported the notion of an overall subjectivewell-being construct sustained by the threenested dimensions of life satisfaction,positive affect, and negative affect. A simplefactor structure for N and E was notsupported, and considerable modification wasneeded to provide even a mediocregoodness-of-fit for the trait model. On (2),N explained eight times as much of the SWBvariance as did E. Moreover, throughcomparison of several models it was revealedthat if E is the sole predictor of SWB, theinfluence of E on SWB is overestimated by afactor of seven. Since N and E are stronglyand negatively correlated (r = –0.50), themodel comparison demonstrates the importanceof including both E and N as independentvariables in regression models of SWB.     

Values,Performance and Subjective Well-Being in the Sustainability Movement: An Elaboration of Multiple Discrepancies Theory

Building on multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) as developed by Michalos (1985, 1991), the present study seeks to extend the application of MDT by operationalizing multiple discrepancies or “gaps” between values and performance for a representative group from the sustainability movement (back-to-the-landers), and then comparing the ability of the operationalized discrepancies, in competition with a series of demographic and process variables, to explain variance in a set of subjective well-being (SWB) measures. In the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and zero-order correlation equations, the value-performance discrepancies demonstrate consistent statistically significant relationships with the SWB measures. In the multiple regression models, however, the gap variables are not as prominent as other process variables, although they do add variance to SWB, validating the general utility of MDT. It appears, though, that there are other dimensions, many of them specific to the back-to-the-land way of life, that can compensate for the discrepancies between values and performance.     

Comparing Multiple Discrepancies Theory to Affective Models of Subjective Wellbeing

The Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) literature is replete with competing theories detailing the mechanisms underlying the construction and maintenance of SWB. The current study aimed to compare and contrast two of these approaches: multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) and an affective-cognitive theory of SWB. MDT posits SWB to be the result of perceived discrepancies between multiple standards of comparison. By contrast, affective-cognitive theory asserts that SWB is primarily influenced by trait affect, and indirectly influenced by personality and cognition through trait affect. Participants comprised 387 individuals who responded to the 5th longitudinal survey of the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Results of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) indicated the poorest fit to the data for the MDT model. The affective-cognitive model also did not provide a good fit to the data. A purely affective model provided the best fit to the data, was the most parsimonious, and explained 66% of variance in SWB.     

Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities

Subjective well-being (SWB) comprises people's longer-term levels of pleasant affect, lack of unpleasant affect, and life satisfaction. It displays moderately high levels of cross-situational consistency and temporal stability. Self-report measures of SWB show adequate validity, reliability, factor invariance, and sensitivity to change. Despite the success of the measures to date, more sophisticated approaches to defining and measuring SWB are now possible. Affect includes facial, physiological, motivational, behavioral, and cognitive components. Self-reports assess primarily the cognitive component of affect, and thus are unlikely to yield a complete picture of respondents' emotional lives. For example, denial may influence self-reports of SWB more than other components. Additionally, emotions are responses which vary on a number of dimensions such as intensity, suggesting that mean levels of affect as captured by existing measures do not give a complete account of SWB. Advances in cognitive psychology indicate that differences in memory retrieval, mood as information, and scaling processes can influence self-reports of SWB. Finally, theories of communication alert us to the types of information that are likely to be given in self-reports of SWB. These advances from psychology suggest that a multimethod approach to assessing SWB will create a more comprehensive depiction of the phenomenon. Not only will a multifaceted test battery yield more credible data, but inconsistencies between various measurement methods and between the various components of well-being will both help us better understand SWB indictors and group differences in well-being. Knowledge of cognition, personality, and emotion will also aid in the development of sophisticated theoretical definitions of subjective well-being. For example, life satisfaction is theorized to be a judgment that respondents construct based on currently salient information. Finally, it is concluded that measuring negative reactions such as depression or anxiety give an incomplete picture of people's well-being, and that it is imperative to measure life satisfaction and positive emotions as well.     

Subjective Well-Being Structure: Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a Teachers’ Portuguese Sample

Authors consider that subjective well-being is a theoretical construct that includes three components: life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. Despite the numerous studies already conducted, divergences remain concerning how to conceptualize these components within a global structure of subjective well-being. This study aims to examine the dimensionality of the subjective well-being construct. A set of self-report questionnaires was used to assess life satisfaction, positive and negative affect in 397 teachers of primary and high schools. A model of a tripartite structure was tested using a confirmatory factor analysis. The results corroborate the premise that subjective well-being is a multidimensional construct that incorporates three components: life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. Our findings reinforce the viewpoint that these three components are moderately correlated and relatively independent and also strengthen the need for a complete SWB assessment that includes adequate measures of all three components.     

A Measure of the Cultural Distance Between Countries

The current study was an investigation of age and gender differences in the relation between students’ school-related social support (i.e., teacher support and classmate support) and subjective well-being (SWB) in school (i.e., school satisfaction and affect in school), as well as the developmental differences in SWB in school. Data were collected from a sample of 2,158 students in Grades 4 through 11 in China on two separate occasions, 6-weeks apart. The findings indicated older age students reported lower levels of SWB in school than younger students. Furthermore, girls reported higher levels of school satisfaction than boys. In addition, both teacher support and classmate support significantly related to school satisfaction at Time 2 (controlling for Time 1) for all students. Classmate support significantly related to affect in school at Time 2 for all students, whereas teacher support only significantly related to affect in school at Time 2 for elementary school students. Specifically, teacher support accounted for the larger amount of variance in school satisfaction at Time 2 for elementary and high school students. Gender moderated the relation between teacher support and school satisfaction at Time 2 for elementary school students, as well as the relation between classmate support and school satisfaction at Time 2 for middle school students. Implications based on developmental considerations were discussed.     

The Metrics of Societal Happiness

Growing interest in the measurement of subjective well-being (SWB) has also been accompanied by scientific debate on the optimal method for measuring SWB. The momentary perspective, which is represented by the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and day reconstruction method (DRM), emphasizes the momentary experiences and aims to measure SWB in an objective manner via the aggregation of happiness levels over time and activities. The global reporting perspective emphasizes the subjective evaluation of life experiences and aims to capture the overall evaluation using retrospection or global evaluations. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these different perspectives and methods by examining conceptual, methodological, and practical issues. We propose adopting a multi-method assessment approach to SWB that uses both perspectives and the corresponding methods in a theory-driven and complementary manner. For the purposes of measuring and tracking SWB of societies, we also call for more research on the reliability and validity of EMA and DRM.     

Three Ways to Be Happy: Pleasure,Engagement, and Meaning—Findings from Australian and US Samples

This study examined the contributions of orientations to happiness (pleasure, engagement and meaning) to subjective well-being. A sample of 12,622 adults from the United States completed on-line surveys measuring orientations to happiness, positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. A sample of 332 adults from Australia also completed these surveys as well as a measure of the big five factor personality traits. Hierarchical regressions generally supported the hypothesis that the three orientations to happiness predict subjective well-being (satisfaction with life, positive affect and negative affect) beyond sociodemographic variables and personality. Meaning and engagement explained the greatest variance in all three components of subjective well-being. Overall, these findings support the importance of a eudaimonic approach in addition to the hedonic approach to achieving happiness. Moreover, findings were relatively consistent in both the Australian and US samples. Some of these data were presented at the 8th Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, Australia.     

Subjective Well-Being versus Self-Actualization: Using the Flow-Simplex to Promote a Conceptual Clarification of Subjective Quality of Life

The purpose of the presentstudy was to articulate an importantdifference between subjective well-being (SWB)and self-actualization. Although self-actualization reflects a substantial aspect ofhuman existence, the article argues that theconcept is not accounted for by ordinaryassessment of SWB. In this paper, openness toexperience (OE) is taken as an indicator ofself-actualization, and overall satisfactionwith life, frequency of positive affect andfrequency of negative affect were utilized asindicators of SWB. Two methods were offered toinvestigate the assumed independenceof SWB and OE, both of which comprisedquestionnaire data from 264 studentsattending the Norwegian folk high school system(mean age 19 years, 63% females).First, a structural equation model revealedonly a small and nonsignificant associationbetween SWB and OE. Second, by means of aflow-simplex it was shown that SWBand OE relate to different dimensions ofexperience. SWB was associated withpleasantness, while OE correlated withinterestingness and challenge. It was concludedthat traditional measurements of SWB areinsensitive to important aspects of humanlives, and that the concept misses importantaspects of psychological well-being.     

The Contribution of Job and Partner Satisfaction to the Homeostatic Defense of Subjective Wellbeing

Two studies investigate subjective wellbeing (SWB) homeostasis. The first investigates the contribution of job satisfaction (JS) and partner satisfaction (PS) to the homeostatic defense of SWB. The extant model of homeostasis does not include either variable. The second study investigates the relationship between Homeostatically Protected Mood (HPMood) and other factors involved in the homeostatic model. It has been proposed that HPMood is the basic, biologically determined, positive mood that saturates SWB and other related variables, and forms the basis of the SWB set-point. Thus, if HPMood is an individual difference and it perfuses other homeostatic variables, then HPMood should be responsible for much of the shared variance between such variables. Two comparative samples are involved. One is a group of 171 Hong Kong Chinese recruited through convenience sampling. The other is a group of 343 Australians recruited via a general population survey. Results indicate that both JS and PS predict significant variance in Global Life Satisfaction beyond the existing factors in the homeostatic model. It is also found that, after controlling for the effect of HPMood, the strength of correlations between SWB and other homeostatic variables is significantly diminished. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Response artifacts in the measurement of subjective well-being

The degree to which response artifacts introduce error into self-report measures has long been a matter of concern in the psychological literature. For example, it has been suggested that self-report measures of subjective well-being (SWB) contain large amounts of variance due to the response style of social desirability (Carstensen and Cone, 1983). In the present study, four potential response artifacts (social desirability, current mood, moral beliefs about happiness, and happiness image management) and their effects on self reports of SWB were studied. Using nonself-report measures of happiness, in addition to self-report measures of SWB, various modes for the prediction of SWB were constructed. A measure of social desirability was found to be a significant predictor of nonself-report as well as self-reported measures of happiness, indicating that social desirability is a substantive personality characteristic which enhances well-being, rather than being a response artifact and source of error variance. Current mood was found to sometimes contribute as a predictor of self-report measures of SWB, suggesting the need for control of or assessment of its effects. Moral beliefs in happiness and image management did not significantly correlate with measures of happiness. Implications of the results for the measurement of well-being and for future research are discussed.     

Socio-demographic Correlates of Subjective Well-being in Urban India

This study aimed to explore subjective well-being (SWB) in an urban Indian sample. Adults (n = 1099) belonging to two wards in the city of Bangalore in South India, responded to a study-specific questionnaire. This paper is based on data generated as part of an ongoing larger study looking at correlates of SWB. Almost equal number of men and women responded to the study and their age ranged from 20 to 81 years (mean age 37 years). Majority of them were married, Hindus, from middle socio-economic status, had studied above pre-university level and more than half were earning. The mean scores on positive affect (40.9), negative affect (27.6) and life satisfaction (24) suggested above average levels of SWB. Higher age, being married, having higher education, higher income and working in a full time job seemed to improve life satisfaction and decrease negative affect. Religion was also significantly associated with negative affect. Step-wise regression analysis suggested that only education and income were important predictors of positive affect, while negative affect was better predicted by age, income, work status and religion. Life satisfaction was predicted by income, age and education. The important correlates of SWB for men and women were somewhat different. Overall, sociodemographic variables have minimal effect on SWB in urban India and research needs to explore other predictors of SWB.     

The Characteristics of Children’s Subjective Well-Being

Despite the increased interest in recent decades in the study of children’s subjective well-being (SWB), much too little is known about the factors that contribute to their SWB, especially with regards to socio-demographic characteristics. In addition, only handful of studies has made a comparison between countries and was based on large samples. The present study is a first of its kind. Utilizing the International Study of Children’s Well-Being first wave data set with questionnaires from over 34,500 children from 14 different countries to explore the characteristics of children’s SWB and the relations between an array of socio-demographic variables and children’s SWB. SWB was measured using three scales—overall life satisfaction, overall satisfaction in specific domains and overall SWB that was measured using agreement items. The socio-demographic variables were composed of demographic characteristics (e.g. gender and age), self-reported socio-economic items and the children’s country of residence. Findings show that children’s SWB in all countries is relatively high, although some variation can be found between the three SWB scales. Differences were found between the three measurements of SWB in regard to the explained variance, nevertheless the socio-demographic characteristics explain relatively low amount of the variance in SWB (10.9–20.2 %). The demographic variables have the lowest contribution, followed by the socio-economic items, while countries have the highest contribution. Thus one of our main conclusions is that the answer for understanding children’s SWB does not lay in the socio-demographic characteristics. The implications of these findings for further research of children’s SWB are discussed.     

Individual quality of life: can it be accounted for by psychological or subjective well-being?

There is ongoing discussion in the scientific literature about the need for a more theoretical foundation to underpin quality of life (QoL) measurement. This paper applied Keyes et al.’s [J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 82 (2002) 1007] model of well-being as a framework to assess whether respondents (n = 136 students) focus on elements of subjective well-being (SWB), such as satisfaction and happiness, or on elements of psychological well-being (PWB), such as meaning and personal growth, when making individual QoL (IQoL) judgments using the Schedue of the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL). The Keyes et al.’s model was confirmed and explained 41% of the variance in SEIQoL scores. Both SWB and PWB were correlated with the SEIQoL Index Score and SWB was found to be an important mediating variable in the relationship between PWB and SEIQoL. When analyzing different well-being combinations, respondents with high SWB/high PWB had significantly higher SEIQoL scores than did those with low SWB/low PWB. Respondents with high PWB/high SWB had higher SEIQoL scores than did those with high PWB/low SWB. Longitudinal studies in different patient groups are needed to explore the dynamic relationship between IQoL and well-being. Further investigation of the relationship between PWB and SWB with other instruments purporting to measure QoL would contribute to an enhanced understanding of the underlying nature of QoL.     

Mindfulness and Subjective Well-being in the Sustainability Movement: A Further Elaboration of Multiple Discrepancies Theory

In a previous interpretation of multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the authors operationalized mutiple discrepancies as gaps between respondents' values and their performance. Using a sample of back-to-the-landers from the larger sustainability movement, the first-stage of the data analysis (Jacob and Brinkerhoff, 1997) confirmed that multiple discrepancies between values and do have a significant impact on subjective well-being (SWB), but this initial analysis also demonstrated that there are intervening variables that can act as compensating factors to attenuate the influence of multiple discrepancies on SWB. In this, the second-stage of data analysis, the authors identify and further explore the interaction of phenomena that might serve as compensation variables in respondents' calculus of their SWB. The present study identifies two salient compensating factors: mindfulness (a calm, yet focused, engagement with the present, similar to a meditative experience), and a sense of an absence of time constraints. Operationalized as Mindfulness and Time for Self scales, these two interrelated variables explain, in multiple regression equations, the major share of variation in multiple measures of SWB. Nevertheless, the multiple discrepancies between values and performance are still significant, if secondary, factors in explaining variance in SWB for the sample of back-to-the- landers.     

Shyness and Subjective Well-being: The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Social Support

This study examined the role of emotional intelligence (EI) and social support on the relationship between shyness and subjective well-being (SWB) in Chinese college students. The participants were 496 students, with an age range of 18–24, who were attending two different Chinese colleges. Data were collected by using the paper and pencil assessments including Cheek and Buss shyness scale, Wong and Law emotional intelligence scale, multi-dimensional scale of perceived social support, positive affect and negative affect scale and satisfaction with life scale. Path analysis showed that EI and social support partially mediated the relationship between shyness and SWB. The final model also revealed a significant path from shyness through EI and social support to SWB. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis found that the paths did not differ across sexes, but significantly differed between urban and rural areas. The results are discussed in terms of the conceptional context.     

Differences Between Household Income from Surveys and Registers and How These Affect the Poverty Headcount: Evidence from the Austrian SILC

We take advantage of the fact that for the Austrian SILC 2008–2011, two data sources are available in parallel for the same households: register-based and survey-based income data. Thus, we aim to explain which households tend to under- or over-report their household income by estimating multinomial logit and OLS models with covariates referring to the interview situation, employment status and socio-demographic household characteristics. Furthermore, we analyze source-specific differences in the distribution of household income and how these differences affect aggregate poverty indicators based on household income. The analysis reveals an increase in the cross-sectional poverty rates for 2008–2011 and the longitudinal poverty rate if register data rather than survey data are used. These changes in the poverty rate are mainly driven by differences in employment income rather than sampling weights and other income components. Regression results show a pattern of mean-reverting errors when comparing household income between the two data sources. Furthermore, differences between data sources for both under-reporting and over-reporting slightly decrease with the number of panel waves in which a household participated. Among the other variables analyzed that are related to the interview situation (mode, proxy, interview month), only the number of proxy interviews was (weakly) positively correlated with the difference between data sources, although this outcome was not robust over different model specifications.