Use of Other-Reports to Validate Subjective Well-Being Measures

Level of agreement between self-reports and other-reports obtained from a large two-wave study of older adults was examined. Various measures of subjective well-being (affect, happiness, and life satisfaction) and behavioral manifestations (smoking and sleep quality) were assessed. Results indicate that the SWB measures were highly stable over a 9-month period, and that good agreement between the self- and other-reports was found for the SWB measures. In addition, SWB was related to behavioral manifestations and that these ratings were corroborated through the other-reports. This study furthers the support for the reliability of SWB over time and advances the criterion validity of SWB measures through use of collateral assessments.     

Innovativeness and Subjective Well-Being

What are the effects of innovativeness on well-being? This paper argues that research on subjective well-being has progressed to a point where measures of subjective well-being (or: happiness) can usefully be employed to assess the welfare effects of innovative change. Based on a discussion of the prospects and pitfalls associated with subjective well-being as welfare measure and benchmark of societal progress, an argument is put forward as to why these measures are particularly well-suited in the context of innovative change. Empirically well-founded and with an explicit dynamic foundation, theories of subjective well-being allow for a nuanced and comprehensive assessment of the effects that innovativeness has on a society. Two evaluation rules, the “life domain evaluation principle” and the “welfare dynamics principle” are suggested to guide such normative assessment.     

Weekends and Subjective Well-Being

This paper exploits the richness and large sample size of the Gallup/Healthways US daily poll to illustrate significant differences in the dynamics of two key measures of subjective well-being: emotions and life evaluations. We find that there is no day-of week effect for life evaluations, represented here by the Cantril Ladder, but significantly more happiness, enjoyment, and laughter, and significantly less anxiety, sadness, and anger on weekends (including public holidays) than on weekdays. We then find strong evidence of the importance of the social context, both at work and at home, in explaining the size and likely determinants of the weekend effects for emotions. Weekend effects are twice as large for full-time paid workers as for the rest of the population, and are much smaller for those whose work supervisor is considered a partner rather than a boss and who report trustable and open work environments. A large portion of the weekend effects is explained by differences in the amount of time spent with friends or family between weekends and weekdays (7.1 vs. 5.4 h). The extra daily social time of 1.7 h in weekends raises average happiness by about 2 %.     

Internet Use and Well-Being Before and During the Crisis in Europe

The debate about whether Internet use increases or decreases subjective well-being is growing. However, previous studies rarely explore either this association at the time of financial crisis or the mechanisms by which contextual factors affect well-being. Using the four waves of the European Social Survey 2004–2010, this study examines the association between Internet use and well-being before and during the financial crisis in Europe which started in 2007. To understand how contextual factors explain individual well-being, we use multilevel model. We find that before the crisis, Internet use is not associated with well-being, in contrast with during the period of crisis. Beyond documenting the associations between Internet use and well-being, we find that using the Internet to respond to a situation of unemployment may help individuals for improved well-being. We also find that the density of Internet users in regions across Europe has positive and significant association with well-being. The results suggest that Internet use by individuals and the provision of the Internet access may be beneficial for maintaining well-being especially during the crisis.     

Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Ghana

Using 2008 Afrobarometer survey data, we examine the relationship between religion and subjective well-being (SWB) in Ghana, as well as religious group differences in their experiences of SWB. Two measures of religion—religious affiliation and religious importance, and two measures of SWB—absolute SWB (own perceived living conditions) and relative SWB (own living conditions compared to those of other Ghanaians) are employed in this study. Results show that religious affiliation is significantly related to both measures of SWB although associations depicted for such relationships were not strong. Religious importance significantly related to relative SWB only (with a weak-to-moderate association). Significant religious affiliation and religious importance group differences are found on both SWB outcomes via non-parametric test procedures (Kruskal–Wallis H test, followed by post hoc tests). On balance, the None/Traditional religious group experienced less favorable SWB than Other Christian, Evangelical/Pentecostal, and Muslim groups, especially for absolute SWB, while the None/Traditional group experienced particularly less favorable relative SWB than the Protestant group. Religious importance groups also significantly differed in such a way that the group that considered religion very important had more favorable experiences of both types of SWB than the group that considered religion not at all/not very important. Other significant differences on both outcomes are found among ethnic, educational, and regional groups. In view of the findings, the study contributes to SWB research and suggests policy implications.     

Measuring Subjective Well-Being in Taiwan

This paper explores the measurement of subjective well-being (SWB) in Taiwan through survey data as a result of 13 self-reported SWB questions. We illustrate the findings using multivariate data analysis approaches. First, by taking the first two principal component scores extracted from all SWB measurements, the biplot presents a relatively “even” society for SWBs, in which the plot depicts all data-points radiating from the center. Second, we employ factor analysis to juxtapose these 13 SWB measurements into three factors: health-related, prosperity-related, and social-related. Third and finally, this paper applies the seemingly unrelated regression model to verify the determinants of SWB. The SWB measurements are mostly increasing in higher education and (disposable) income, while falling with unemployment. Volunteering, donating more money to charities, having more leisure time, spending more hours on sports, and being involved in more arts-related activities all enhance an individual’s well-being. Gender and age may matter, but they are indecisive in the direction for various SWBs.     

Subjective Well-Being and Social Production Functions

Recent reviews of scientific work on subjective well-being (SWB) reveal disagreements in conceptualization, measurement, and explanation of the concept. We propose Social Production Function theory as a framework to resolve them. Social Production Function (SPF) theory integrates strengths of relevant psychological theories and economic consumer/household production theories, without their limitations (namely, tradeoffs between satisfaction of different needs are not in the first, and goals or needs are not in the second). SPF theory identifies two ultimate goals that all humans seek to optimize (physical well-being and social well-being) and five instrumental goals by which they are achieved (stimulation, comfort, status, behavioural confirmation, affection). The core notion of SPF theory is that people choose and substitute instrumental goals so as to optimize the production of their well-being, subject to constraints in available means of production. SPF theory guides research measurement and explanatory models, and it integrates features of contemporary subjective well-being theories.     

Domain Importance in Subjective Well-Being Measures

This article explores the underlying dimensions of consumer well-being from 2013 adults representing the major cities in two emerging countries, China and India; and three developed countries, Japan Korea, and Singapore. The analyses reveal that well-being dimension importance varies across respondents. For example, Market Mavens valued acquisition, image, and consumption dimensions while Social Shoppers value the personal interactions associated with consumer well-being. These groups exist in all five countries, suggesting that macro measures of consumer well-being may mask meaningful differences. Our results suggest that consumer well-being measures need to be modified to account for individual differences.     

Subjective Well-Being Among College Students

Social Indicators Research - This study examined the subjective well-being of Korean college students and its relation with personality constructs, such as self-esteem, collective self-esteem, and...     

Agent-Based Simulations of Subjective Well-Being

There has been extensive empirical research in recent years pointing to a weak correlation between economic growth and subjective well-being (happiness), at least for developed economies (i.e. the so-called ‘Easterlin paradox’). Recent findings from the behavioural sciences and happiness literature link this paradoxical relationship to negative externalities on utility imposed by social comparison (i.e. relative income with respect to others) and adaptation (habituation to own income in the past). We believe that the type of economic growth (pro-poor, pro-middle, pro-rich, neutral), in combination with sensitivity to social comparison and past income, is a key determinant of happiness trajectories and future utility levels. With the use of agent-based simulations we examine the long-term dynamics of subjective-well-being by focusing attention on the type of growth process rather than the mere size of income growth. We generally find that pro-middle (and balanced) growth corresponds to much higher levels of long-term happiness in comparison to pro-rich growth.     

Subjective Well-Being and Household Factors in South Africa

This paper uses a household surveyfrom South Africa to estimate a model ofsubjective well-being based upon poverty andhousehold characteristics including housing,sanitation, and transportation. Following Sen,we allow for factors in addition to income andwe begin to incorporate functionings andcapabilities as determinants of well-being. This study finds that important differencesexist among groups based upon their economicstatus. For the poorest quartilestransportation and housing play the mostimportant role in determining well-being, whilefor the richest quartiles, sanitation, water,energy, education and health are relativelymore important. These results have importantpublic policy implications because many of thefactors affecting well-being have large publicgood components. In addition, these resultscould be used to help governments focus aid inorder to improve well-being.     

Subjective Well-Being and Social Capital in Belgian Communities. The Impact of Community Characteristics on Subjective Well-Being Indicators in Belgium

In this article, we investigate the effect of individual and community level characteristics on subjective well-being in Belgium. Various indicators for subjective well-being are being used in a multilevel analysis of the 2009 SCIF survey (n = 2,080) and the 2006 Belgian ESS sample (n = 1,798). On the individual level, most hypotheses on the determinants of subjective well-being were confirmed. Living with a partner and age were shown to have strong effects, but also social capital indicators had a significant positive effect on subjective well-being. All these effects remained significant controlling for optimism. On the community level, especially unemployment rate had a negative impact on subjective well-being. The analysis further demonstrates that in homogeneous regions, community characteristics have a far weaker impact on subjective well-being indicators than in economically more heterogeneous regions.     

Deprivation,Social Exclusion and Subjective Well-Being

This paper aims at investigating empirically the relationship between self-declared satisfaction with life and an individual’s well-being as measured by the indices of deprivation and social exclusion proposed in the income distribution literature. Results on European countries show that life satisfaction decreases with an increase in deprivation and exclusion after controlling for individual’s income, relative income and other influential factors in a multivariate setting.     

Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?

Four replicable findings have emerged regardingthe relation between income and subjectivewell-being (SWB): 1. There are largecorrelations between the wealth of nations andthe mean reports of SWB in them, 2. There aremostly small correlations between income andSWB within nations, although these correlationsappear to be larger in poor nations, and therisk of unhappiness is much higher for poorpeople, 3. Economic growth in the last decadesin most economically developed societies hasbeen accompanied by little rise in SWB, andincreases in individual income lead to variableoutcomes, and 4. People who prize materialgoals more than other values tend to besubstantially less happy, unless they are rich.Thus, more money may enhance SWB when it meansavoiding poverty and living in a developednation, but income appears to increase SWBlittle over the long-term when more of it isgained by well-off individuals whose materialdesires rise with their incomes. Several majortheories are compatible with most existingfindings: A. The idea that income enhances SWBonly insofar as it helps people meet theirbasic needs, and B. The idea that the relationbetween income and SWB depends on the amount ofmaterial desires that people's income allowsthem to fulfill. We argue that the firstexplanation is a special case of the secondone. A third explanation is relativelyunresearched, the idea that societal norms forproduction and consumption are essential tounderstanding the SWB-income interface. Inaddition, it appears high SWB might increasepeople's chances for high income. We review theopen issues relating income to SWB, anddescribe the research methods needed to provideimproved data that will better illuminate thepsychological processes relating money to SWB.     

Subjective Well-Being in China: Associations with Absolute,Relative, and Perceived Economic Circumstances

Numerous studies examining the impact of income on subjective well-being (SWB) have found significant positive relationships exhibiting decreasing marginal returns. However, the impact of economic circumstances on SWB is better captured through a combination of income, wealth (per capita net worth), and perceived and relative economic conditions. Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project, I find that within rural and urban China, wealth significantly predicts SWB, exhibiting decreasing marginal returns independent of more common measures of economic circumstances such as income and occupational status. Within urban China, these associations decrease in magnitude and significance with the addition of objective relative measures of wealth and income. Finally, I find that subjective perceptions of relative standard of living are strongly associated with SWB independent of other measures. These results highlight the importance of using multiple objective and subjective measures of economic circumstances, demonstrating potential limitations of studies that have focused exclusively on income as a predictor of well-being. Results are interpreted within the context of China’s changing social and economic structure.     

Panel Quantile Regressions and the Subjective Well-Being in Urban China: Evidence from RUMiC Data

Using RUMiC data and a simple panel quantile regression method, this paper accounts for the time-invariant individual specific characteristics and investigates the heterogeneous effects of factors on the distribution of subjective well-being (SWB, measured by GHQ-12) in urban China. Comparing results from the pooled regression and fixed effect regression, we find that most results from pooled regressions are likely overestimated. Panel quantile regression results show that income affects the least happy 10 % group twice as much as the happiest 10 % people. Being unemployed brings down the happiness level by 0.97 points on average, but individuals with high SWB seem to be not significantly affected. The complete picture of the relationship between SWB and various factors would have been veiled without using quantile techniques. This paper therefore not only contributes to the happiness literature in China, but also adds evidence to stylized findings going beyond the average.     

Toward an Integration of Subjective Well-Being and Psychopathology

The validity and utility of a dual-factor system (DFS) of mentalhealth was explored. Factors were the traditional perspective onmental health, psychopathology (PTH), and the more recentperspective, subjective well-being (SWB). Research has shown thatPTH and SWB are not simply opposite poles of a single continuum,however, the constructs have yet to be integrated.The sample consisted of 407 children in Grades 3–6. Subjects wereclassified as high or low on each construct, offering fourresearch groups, two challenging the unidimensional perspective.Group membership was the classification variable in a series ofdiscriminant function analyses. Predictors assessed the domainsof temperament, personality, self-concept, locus of control, andinterpersonal relations.Results offered strong initial evidence for the validity andpotential utility of a DFS. Results are discussed, as areimplications for mental illness prevention/intervention.     

东部不同规模城市流动人口的主观幸福感及其影响因素

基于2012年东部十省市流动人口动态监测调查数据,文章采用序次 Logistic 回归模型,对比分析了东部不同规模城市流动人口的主观幸福感及其影响因素。研究发现：东部不同规模城市流动人口的主观幸福感有着较为明显的地区差异,流动人口主观幸福感与城市规模之间存在倒 U 型关系。影响不同规模城市流动人口主观幸福感的因素不尽相同,但总体而言,影响超大城市流动人口主观幸福感的因素远远多于Ⅰ型小城市,住房性质成为经济因素中影响不同规模城市流动人口主观幸福感最为突出且普遍的因素,而社会因素对于不同规模城市流动人口主观幸福感的影响作用要大于经济因素。最后,提供了相关政策启示。