Short happiness and affect research protocol (sharp)

Issues in the measurement of subjective well-being (SWB) include the relative balance between scale brevity and measurement accuracy. Because accuracy is expected to vary negatively with the length of a scale, the brevity/accuracy trade-off has pragmatic implications for survey research. This article begins by examining minimal psychometric criteria to evaluate short measures of SWB. These criteria include content validity (i.e., four basic categories are cited), criterion validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Several measures frequently used in large-scale surveys are shown to fail against one or more of these criteria. Consequently, a new brief measure was developed and shown to satisfy all the criteria. It is termed the Short Happiness and Affect Research Protocol (SHARP). This measure contains 12-items derived from the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH), with the content balanced over positive and negative, and short-term (affective) and long-term (dispositional) components. The internal consistency, temporal stability, and criterion validity coefficients for the SHARP are comparable to those of the MUNSH, which is among the most accurate measures of self-reported SWB.     

The utility of happiness

The issue. Nineteenth century utilitarian philosophers considered happiness as the highest good (utility in their words) and claimed political priority for attempts to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number. In reaction, many of their contemporaries cried out that happiness is not good at all, because it turns people into contented cows and undermines social bonds. Modern psychologists, however, tend to suggest positive effects: sharper awareness, more activity, better social functioning and better health. Data. No empirical investigations have yet focussed on consequences of happiness. Nevertheless, indications can be found in various studies covering other matters. This paper gathers the available data. These data do not allow definite conclusions, but do suggest several small yet noteworthy effects. Enjoyment of life seems to broaden perception, to encourage active involvement and thereby to foster political participation. It facilitates social contacts: in particular contacts with spouse and children. Further, happiness buffers stress, thereby preserving health and lengthening life somewhat. There is no evidence of harmful effects. It is concluded that society is more likely to flourish with happy citizens than with unhappy ones.     

Structural relationships among happiness scales: A second order factorial study

Our intent in this study was to investigate structural relationships among happiness scales, and to determine whether the happiness construct could be represented adequately by a single score index. Second order principal factors analyses were computed on six data sets representing eight samples of subjects where the variables were comprised of global or sub-global indices of happiness. Single factor solutions were obtained from every analysis. The findings were interpreted as, (1) supporting a hierarchical, rather than an orthogonal multicomponent, model of relationships among happiness scales and, (2) indicating that the construct can be represented adequately by a single score index in social indicators research.     

The cross-national pattern of happiness: Test of predictions implied in three theories of happiness

Predictions about level and dispersion of happiness in nations are derived from three theories of happiness: comparison-theory, folklore-theory and livability-theory. The predictions are tested on two cross national data-sets: a comparative survey among university students in 38 nations in 1985 and a collection of comparable general population surveys in 28 nations around 1980. Most predictions of comparison-theory and folklore-theory are defied by the data. The predictions of livability-theory are all confirmed.     

The Psychap inventory: A multi-scale test to measure happiness and its concomitants

The measurement of personal happiness in past research is examined. Although a plethora of valid instruments are available to assess the felt, affective components of happiness, none go beyond this to encompass the many personality, behavioral, and situational attributes long associated with it — except for the Psychap Inventory (PHI). A decade of ongoing research on the PHI is reviewed. The Inventory provides subscale measures of the achieved happiness, personality, attitude and value, and life-style domains of happiness as they have come to be defined in the literature. The PHI comes in two sets of equivalent forms and seems remarkably reliable and valid, reasonably free of response bias, and quite consistent across a long history of time and sampling. PHI interpretations not only hold great interest for examinees, researchers, and clinicians — they also prescribe a specific program for happiness self-improvement.     

A magical model of happiness

A model of happiness is described that is based on nonlinear mathematics. Happiness at timet+1 is given by:Hnext=M(1–H)H+I, whereH is happiness at timet, M is a person parameter, andI is an environmental impact term comprised of a prevailing component (Ip) and an episodic component (dI). Eight properties of the model are detailed and its utility illustrated for reconciling problematic issues in the literature that include the positive skew in the distribution of psychological well being (PWB) scores, the stability and change in PWB, and the relationships of emotionality with global PWB and its indicators. The operationalization of the model is described from the population level down to that of the single case.     

Commitment beyond self and adolescence: The issue of happiness

Is there a link between adolescents' experience of joy and fulfillment and their increased openness and commitment to the world and other human beings? A series of comparative studies was conducted investigating different adolescent samples according to cultural background (American Christians, Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs), socio-economic status (low, high, disadvantaged), religiosity (observant, secular), and exceptionality (hearing impaired) and at different stages of prosocial involvement (non-involved, registered, and involved volunteers). Over and above group differences, the findings from all samples demonstrated that adolescents who realize positive experiences in greater depth and intensity, are also differentiated by a stronger desire to contribute to society and/or to be devoted to some aim beyond self. Implications for educators in fostering the social responsibility and self-fulfillment of young people from different backgrounds were discussed.     

Concepts of Chinese folk happiness

Discourses on Chinese folk happiness are often based on anecdotal narratives or qualitative analysis. Two traditional concepts of happiness popular in Chinese culture are introduced. The paper constructs a concept of Chinese folk happiness on basis of the findings of a scientific survey on the Taiwanese people regarding their concepts of well-being at nation and personal levels. The survey has revealed that people’s concepts of well-being are consisted of a diversity of elements including political, economic, social, and cultural factors, as well as health, family, job, and social relationships. The paper compares these concepts with the traditional notions of Chinese folk happiness.     

The analysis and measurement of happiness as a sense of well-being

General happiness is philosophically construed as a sense of well-being which in turn has been defined either as a complete and lasting satisfaction with life-as-a-whole or as a preponderance of positive over negative feelings. A factor analysis of thirteen well-being scales shows that these two definitions coalesce into a single general well-being factor which is distinguishable only from an independent stress/worries factor. Further evidence shows that familiar scales of neuroticism, depression and trait anxiety measure the same well-being dimension if only in the negative half-range. So does a list of somatic complaints. Various two-factor models of well-being that treat positive and negative affect as independent processes, or that distinguish between affective and cognitive components, are challenged on the grounds that they depend on the properties of Bradburn's affect scales which are found to be highly dependent on methodological parameters. Attention is drawn here to the role of test method effects and curvilinearities as factors influencing inter-scale correlations and structural models. It is concluded that well-being is a robust, primary dimension of human experience and that happiness research is alive and well in psychology.     

The satisfaction and happiness of some senior citizens in rural Ontario

After reviewing recent gerontological literature on satisfaction and happiness from the point of view of explanations by analysis of constituents, explanations by synthesis of correlates and mixtures of these two types of explanations, I described some results of a social survey of rural Ontario seniors. A gap-theoretical account of satisfaction and happiness called ‘the Michigan model’ was supported for 12 domains and life as a whole. Differences in the constituent patterns for satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole were found for males, females, those who had lived off farming, those who had not, those aged 60–74, and 75 and above.     

A review of research on the happiness measures: A sixty second index of happiness and mental health

Eighteen years of research using the Happiness Measures (HM) is reviewed in relation to the general progress of well-being measurement efforts. The accumulated findings on this remarkably quick instrument, show good reliability, exceptional stability, and a record of convergent, construct, and discriminative validity unparalleled in the field. Because of this, the HM is offered as a potential touchstone of measurement consistency in a field which generally lacks it.     

Longitudinal variation in domain indicators of happiness

This paper examines changes in the mean levels of domain indicators of happiness, as well as happiness itself, using a longitudinal design. Results show that for a large sample of the elderly, mean levels of subjective domain indicators of happiness (excluding subjective health), as well as happiness itself, did not change over the 18-month period of the study. Physically related objective domain indicators, on the other hand, did change during the same time period.     

Satisfaction,happiness and well-being of Dutch students

Applying Multiple Discrepancies Theory (MDT), the well-being of Dutch students was measured.To test relevant portions of MDT a questionnaire, originally developed by Michalos, was administered to a group of students at Leiden University, the Netherlands.     

The distinction between affect and cognition

The distinction between affect and cognition was studied in a sample of early breast cancer patients. As assumed by Mckennell (1978) the change experienced led to a level of affect that was lower than the level of cognition and an increased discrepancy between these two components of quality of life within the first year after surgery. Cognition was stable over time, whereas affect improved (p<0.05). The relation between concommitants of disease and treatment and the types of affect-cognition combination were explored.     

The interrelationships of positive affect,negative affect,and life satisfaction in an adolescent sample

A total of 266 adolescent students responded to two self-report well-being measures, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew and Huebner, 1994). The findings supported multidimensional models of subjective well-being. Similar to findings with adults and younger children, three separable factors of well-being were identified: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Demographic variables correlated differentially with the three factors. Considered together with findings from other research, the results suggest the structural invariance of subjective well-being from middle childhood through adulthood.     

Suicide and happiness: Seven tests of the connection

Indirectly, this paper examines the empirical connections between suicide and happiness by looking at the connection of each with seven standard demographic characteristics. They are sex, age, race, parental status, marital status, religiosity and employed status. These seven are chosen because a lot of data are available. We then examine the relationship of these same seven variables to suicide. Our findings indicate that marital status, religiosity and employment status have a (predicted) similar effect on suicide and happiness. Parenthood has an unclear relationship with suicide and happiness. Finally, sex, age and race have dissimilar effects on suicide and happiness. On the basis of this admittedly preliminary analysis, it would be impossible to conclude that happiness and suicide are closely (if inversely) related. First, there is the chance that suicides or happiness levels have been systematically misreported. Second, there may be a problem with our lumping together happiness and satisfaction. Third, there may be a problem with the seven particular independent variables we examined. Had we examined a different seven (or seventy) we might have drawn a different conclusion. In particular, we might have done better with comparative (or cognitive) variables derived from multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), than with demographic ones. In the end, the connection between happiness and suicide is far from certain. More research is needed.     

Hope and happiness: A comparison of some discrepancies

This paper presents a comparison of Canadian and American university students on happiness and satisfaction as measured by the Satisfaction and Happiness Survey (Michalos, 1985). For the American sample, the findings for other measures of satisfaction and happiness, as well as for hope as measured by the Hope Index (Staats and Stassen, 1986), are also reported. American students had slightly higher means on both overall satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole than the Canadian students. The greatest perceived gap for American students was between what one has now and expects to have in the future while for Canadian students it was between what one has and what one needs. Both Canadian and American students reported greatest satisfaction with health and lowest satisfaction with financial security and paid employment. For the American sample, of the other satisfaction, happiness, and hope measures, a global happiness measure had the highest correlation with both overall satisfaction (r=0.62, p<0.0001) and=" happiness=" with=" life=" as=" a=" whole=">r=0.55, p<0.0001). reasons=" for=" the=" observed=" differences=" between=" the=" two=" samples=" are=" suggested=" and=" future=" research=" directions=" are=">     

Avowed happiness as an overall assessment of the quality of life

The concept of happiness has been mistakenly identified with feelings of pleasure in recent studies of quality of life. This paper clarifies the meaning of the concept ‘happiness’ and establishes grounds for its proper use in scholarly research. In addition, an empirical test of four major accounts of happiness derived from a careful review of philosophical and empirical literature is undertaken to propose a theory of happiness. The theory suggests that happiness is primarily a product of the positive assessments of life situations and favorable comparisons of these life situations with those of others and in the past. The various personal characteristics of an individual and the resources in his command, such as sex, age and income, influence happiness mostly through their effects upon the two psychological processess of assessment and comparison.