Homogenizing Responses to Different Survey Questions on the Same Topic: Proposal of a Scale Homogenization Method Using a Reference Distribution

Survey data are often used for comparison purposes, such as comparisons across nations or comparisons over time. To be effective, this would require equivalent questions and equivalent responses options to the questions. Yet there is a lot of variation in the response scales used, which, for example, differ in the number of response options used and the labeling of these options. This is the case in happiness research, and as a result most of the research data in this field is incomparable. Several methods have been proposed to transform ratings on verbal response scales to a common numerical scale, typically ranging from 0 to 10. In this paper we give an overview of the progress made in those Scale Homogenization methods over time. We describe two early methods: Linear Stretch and the Semantic Judgement of Fixed Word Value Method. Next we discuss the Semantic Judgement of Word Value in Context Method in more detail. Based on these discussions we propose a new Reference Distribution Method. We apply the Semantic Judgement of Word Value in Context and the Reference Distribution Methods to data on happiness in The Netherlands for the years 1989–2009. We show that the Reference Distribution Method produces comparable time series on different questions and that it allows discontinuities in data to be corrected.     

Conversion of Verbal Response Scales: Robustness Across Demographic Categories

Happiness and life satisfaction have traditionally been measured using verbal response scales, however, these verbal scales have not kept up with the present trend to use numerical response scales. A switch from a verbal scale to a numerical scale, however, causes a severe problem for trend analyses, due to the incomparability of the old and new measurements. The Reference Distribution Method is a method that has been developed recently to deal with this comparison problem. In this method use is made of a reference distribution based on responses to a numerical scale which is used to decide at which point verbally labelled response options transit from one state to another, for example from ‘happy’ to ‘very happy’. Next, for each wave of the time series in which the verbal scale is used, a population mean is estimated for the beta distribution that fits best to these transition points and the responses in this wave. These estimates are on a level that is comparable to that of the mean of the reference distribution and are appropriate for use in an extended time series based on the responses measured using a verbal and a numerical scale. In this paper we address the question of whether the transition points derived for the general population can be used for demographic categories to produce reliable, extended time series to monitor differences in trends among these categories. We conclude that this is possible and that it is not necessary to derive transition points for each demographic category separately.     

Contentment and Affect in the Estimation of Happiness

How do we assess how happy we are? One theory is that we compare life-as-it-is with standards of how-life-should-be. In this view, happiness emerges from a cognitive evaluation that draws on socially constructed standard of the good life. Another theory holds that we rather infer happiness on the basis of how well we feel most of the time. In that view, happiness is an unreasoned affective experience that roots in the gratification of universal human needs. One question that emerges from this discussion is whether these are really independent ways of evaluating life. If so, a next question is what their relative weight is in the evaluation. These questions are addressed at the nation level using data of the Gallup World Poll over the years 2006–2010. This survey in 127 nations involves not only a question on overall life satisfaction, but also a more cognitively focused question on how close one’s life is to the best possible and a series of questions on yesterday’s mood. Analysis of average scores in nations shows that mood and contentment are much intertwined, but also add to overall life satisfaction independently, the former more than the latter.     

Gender Differences in Happiness and Life Satisfaction Among Adolescents in Hong Kong: Relationships and Self-Concept

This study uses survey data from adolescents (N = 1,428) in Hong Kong to test the association of gender with happiness and life satisfaction through relationship style and self-concept. While self-esteem and purpose in life are associated with higher happiness and life satisfaction, having more close friends is related to higher happiness, but not necessarily life satisfaction. On the other hand, boys with higher academic achievement are happier, but not more satisfied; the opposite holds true for girls. Our results provide a much-needed investigation of the differential effect of gender on the subjective well-being of adolescents. Contributing to the theoretical debate about the concepts of subjective well-being, we argue that happiness and life satisfaction are empirically and conceptually distinct. Life satisfaction might be characterized by more profound enjoyment and achievement in life than happiness.     

Satisfaction with Job and Income Among Older Individuals Across European Countries

Using data on individuals of age 50 and older from 11 European countries, we analyze two economic aspects of subjective well-being of older Europeans: satisfaction with household income, and job satisfaction. Both have been shown to contribute substantially to overall well-being (satisfaction with life or happiness). We use anchoring vignettes to correct for potential differences in response scales across countries. The results highlight a large variation in self-reported income satisfaction, which is partly explained by differences in response scales. When differences in response scales are eliminated, the cross-country differences are quite well in line with differences in an objective measure of purchasing power of household income. There are common features in the response scale differences in job satisfaction and income satisfaction. French respondents tend to be critical in both assessments, while Danish and Dutch respondents are always on the optimistic end of the spectrum. Moreover, correcting for response scale differences decreases the cross-country association between satisfaction with income and job satisfaction among workers.     

Reported Happiness,Fast and Slow

The paper uses paradata on response time, cognitive effort and questionnaire order from a large Dutch internet panel survey to study the association between reporting process and reported happiness. We find that slower responses and higher self-stated cognitive effort are associated with lower reported happiness, potentially, because they proxy for momentary mood. Moreover, in multivariate happiness equations, these factors moderate the estimated effect of income on happiness, while no interaction effects are found for other socio-economic determinants of happiness. Our findings have implications for the interpretation of relative marginal effects in economic happiness equations.     

A life satisfaction scale for use with national adult samples from the USA,Canada and Mexico

This paper describes the steps we took to develop a measure of life satisfaction which appears useful for analyses of adult sample survey data from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our procedure is factor analysis, and our data are drawn from the 1981–82 and 1991–92 World Values Surveys conducted in the three countries. The result is a six-variable composite measure which meets the following conditions: the constituent items have face validity, the factor structure is similar across countries and also across sub-groups within countries, the factor structure is also similar in 1981–82 and 1991–92, and the factor score based on these structures is highly correlated with variables that are customarily good predictors of life satisfaction and happiness. On the basis of these results, we will be confident in using the life satisfaction measure for future multivariate analyses of the data base aimed at explaining variation in satisfaction. For the same reasons, we would recommend the life satisfaction measure for others' research with the rich World Values Surveys data base.     

Productive Activities And Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults: The Influence Of Number Of Activities And Time Commitment

This study examines relationships among three measures of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, happiness and depressive symptoms), and two global measures of productive activity (number of activities and time commitment). We argue that participation in multiple productive activities should increase subjective well-being because these behaviors increase social integration and provide meaningful social roles. Using the first two waves of the Americans’ Changing Lives survey, we estimate a series of OLS and ordered logistic regression models to examine this issue among a sample of respondents 60 years old and older. Our multivariate regression results show that as time committed to productive activities increases, life satisfaction increases. Both increasing numbers of productive activities and increasing time commitment predict higher levels of happiness. Also, we find only modest support for a relationship between productive activities and the number of and changes in depressive symptoms. Our results provide support for the idea that engaging in productive activities is beneficial to older persons’ well-being, implying confirmation of the role enhancement hypothesis and demonstrating the importance of social integration.This research was partially supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (R03 AG018910). We thank Jan Mutchler for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Happiness in Italy: Translation,Factorial Structure and Norming of the Subjective Happiness Scale in a Large Community Sample

The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is one of the most commonly used measures of happiness. Many translations and validation studies have been carried out in different countries and languages. The aim of the current paper was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the SHS and to provide normative data. The SHS was administered with life satisfaction items, anxiety and depression scales to a community sample of 993 participants, aged 18–85 years, living in different parts of Italy. Age and gender distributions were stratified according to the population pyramid. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the unidimensionality of the SHS, with acceptable fit indexes (NNFI = .96; CFI = .99; RMSEA = .08; 95 % C.I. [.04–.12]). Multi-group analyses supported total invariance of the SHS measurement model for males and females, and partial invariance for younger (i.e., 18–44 years old) and older (i.e., 45–85 years old) participants. Significant correlations with satisfaction items, anxiety and depression provided evidence for concurrent validity. These findings showed that the Italian SHS translation is a reliable and valid tool, which adds to existing translations and validation studies in different countries and languages.     

Comparing Self-Rated Health, Satisfaction and Quality of Life Scores Between Diabetics and Others Living in The Bella Coola Valley

Objective: To investigate the relative effect that diabetes has on self-rated health, satisfaction with various specific domains of life, and satisfaction with quality of life operationalized as happiness, satisfaction with life as a whole, and satisfaction with overall quality of life. Design: Mixed methods – mailed survey and chart review. Study Population: All people aged 17 years or older, residing in the Bella Coola Valley in September 2001 and having a chart at the Bella Coola Medical Clinic. Main outcome measures: Self-rated health, self-rated stress, rating of self-care received, global life satisfaction (Life as whole; Overall standard of living; Overall quality of life; and Overall happiness); and satisfaction with various domains of life. Results: A total of 968 useable surveys were returned for a response rate of 56 (968/1734). Age was negatively related to General Health, but positively related to Life Satisfaction. Not being of Aboriginal descent was positively related to all of the four global health indicators and to Subjective Well-Being. After accounting for age, race, and weight, we found that diabetics report significantly poorer self-rated health, and lower satisfaction with health scores compared to people without diabetes. Participants with diabetes who were the least compliant with their treatment regimens rated their current health significantly lower than those who were the most compliant. People with diabetes were, however, no more likely to be unhappy or dissatisfied with their lives as a whole or with the overall quality of their lives compared to people without diabetes. Among people with diabetes, however, those who used insulin did report significantly less satisfaction with the overall quality of their lives than those who didn’t use insulin. Conclusion: Diabetics understand they have poorer health than others, but they do not have poorer global life satisfaction scores. This may explain why it is difficult to get diabetics to adopt behaviours which may lower their quality of life – e.g., diet plans, lose weight, engage in exercise programs, or take medications.     

Income and Happiness in Time of Post-Communist Modernization

This paper discusses the relations between economic development, family income, and happiness in post-communist Poland from the point of view of Inglehart’s theory of modernization. The happiness is understood as satisfaction with income and life, and as psychological well-being. The analysis of survey data yields the conclusion that economic development reduces the strength of the relations between income and satisfaction as well as between income and psychological well-being. These findings may be explained by changes in the value system from collectivist/materialist to individualist/post-materialist, even when these values are not directly measured. The analyzed data are from a series of representative surveys conducted in Poland during a period of political and economic transformation (i.e., between 1989 and 2008). Official statistical data on Polish economic development during the same period are used as a background for survey results. The relations between income and happiness change in Poland in a way consistent with Inglehart’s modernization theory.     

Life Satisfaction and Happiness in Turkey

This research aims to investigate life satisfaction and happiness in Turkey. It extends the previous researches on subjective well-being (SWB) for Turkey by considering both happiness and life satisfaction. The previous researches for Turkey are local studies, and their findings cannot be generalized to the population of Turkish society. Given these facts, the factors that shape individual happiness and life satisfaction amongst Turkish people are determined using a representative survey of sociocultural and political change, World Values Survey (WVS). Some results obtained in this study are similar to typical findings such as a negative age effect, positive influences of income and health status, and a negative effect of unemployment. Contrary to the expectations, middle education has a negative direct effect on life satisfaction among females, and the upper education level is insignificant in the life satisfaction model. By comparing the correlates of happiness and life satisfaction across different years, this research aims to provide insights for policy makers and professionals to improve the perceived lives of Turkish people.

The affective and cognitive context of self-reported measures of subjective well-being

Researchers attempting to understand the experience of subjective well-being have relied heavily on self-report measurement. Recent research focused on this method has demonstrated that a number of factors, such as the current mood of the respondent and the cognitive and social context surrounding the response, can significantly influence response to items inquiring about global subjective well-being or satisfaction with life. In the present study, several measurement strategies (e.g., single-item measures, multiple-item scales, and memory search tasks) were compared with regard to their susceptibility to such influences. Although some evidence for effects due to item-placement or transient mood were found, all of the global measures of subjective well-being and life satisfaction has significant convergence with peer-reports, and the single-item measures showed good temporal reliability across a one-month interval. The data provide evidence for a significant degree of stability in subjective well-being and life satisfaction.     

Valuing Ecosystem Diversity in South East Queensland: A Life Satisfaction Approach

The valuation of complex environmental goods represents a considerable challenge for conventional non-market valuation techniques. The use of life satisfaction (or happiness) data has recently emerged as a new means of placing monetary values on non-market goods and services. This approach offers several advantages over more conventional techniques. This paper uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey along with Geographic Information Systems data to value ecosystem diversity in South East Queensland, Australia. It is found that, on average, a respondent has an implicit willingness-to-pay of approximately AUD$14 000 in household income per annum to obtain a one unit improvement in ecosystem diversity. This result confirms that the preservation, or improvement, of existing levels of ecosystem diversity is welfare enhancing. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to value ecosystem diversity using the life satisfaction approach.     

Religious domains and general well-being

With only a few notable exceptions, studies on quality of life or general well-being have failed to deal with religiosity in general, and the development of more refined measures of religious meaning and belonging in particular. Data measuring subjective perceptions of well-being for various domains of life, including neighborhood, employment, work at home, education, friends, household members, marital status, standard of living, health and religion were used to form a number of domain scales. Relationships between the multidimensional concepts of well-being and religiosity are explored and the importance of religiosity in defining well-being is tested. Religious satisfaction was found to be important for general life satisfaction and existential well-being. Among the eight indicators and scales of religiosity, various combinations of religious satisfaction, frequency of prayer, prayer experience, and relationship with God, were important predictors of general life satisfaction, existential well-being, and overall happiness. Under no circumstance did any measure of religosity contribute to negative affect.     

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=">     

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.     

Probing Folk Happiness in Taiwan

This paper examines Taiwan’s folk happiness, which means the subjective well-being of the common people. Subjective well-being of people refers to the judgments people make about their life satisfaction or happiness. Such judgments may include their satisfaction of life as a whole (global life satisfaction) or of specific aspects of life (domain satisfaction). Based on survey data from a large sample, the life satisfaction of people is investigated in two aspects—people’s personal life and their perceived conditions of living in Taiwan, respectively presented as personal well-being and national well-being or societal well-being. The meanings of the well-being findings are interpreted against the socio-political environment of Taiwan. The paper also examines the socio-demographic aspects, including gender, age, marital status, education, income, religion of the folk happiness of Taiwan. It is found that people in Taiwan are moderately happy.     

Life Satisfaction Among Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants in the Netherlands: The Role of Absolute and Relative Income

In this paper we investigate the role of several socio-economic and non-economic factors such as absolute and relative income, education and religion to explain the differences of happiness levels of Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants in the Netherlands by using ordered logit model. We focus on members of the Moroccan and Turkish communities, as these are the two largest non-EU immigrant communities in the Netherlands. Our findings reveal that Moroccans, although they have lower income levels and higher unemployment rates than Turkish immigrants, their happiness level is higher than the Turkish immigrants. In order to understand this dilemma a questionnaire survey was performed to 111 Turkish and 96 Moroccan immigrants in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht and Arnhem in 2010. The main purpose is to investigate how reference group’s self-reported life satisfaction is related to the level of absolute income; the level of relative income and other socio-economic factors. The main findings are that for Turkish sample relative income is significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction whereas, both absolute income (positively) and relative income (negatively) are significantly correlated with life satisfaction for Moroccan case.     

Parents Transmit Happiness Along with Associated Values and Behaviors to Their Children: A Lifelong Happiness Dividend?

There are strong two-way links between parent and child happiness (life satisfaction), even for ‘children’ who have grown up, moved to their own home and partnered themselves. German panel evidence shows that transmission of (un)happiness from parents to children is partly due to transmission of values and behaviors known to be associated with happiness (Headey et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(42):17922–17926, 2010, in Soc Indic Res doi:10.1007/s11205-012-0079-8,2012). These values and behaviors include giving priority to pro-social and family values, rather than material values, maintaining a preferred balance between work and leisure, active social and community participation, and regular exercise. Both parents have about equal influence on the values and behaviors which children adopt. However, the life satisfaction of adult ‘children’ continues to be directly influenced by the life satisfaction of their mothers, with the influence of fathers being only indirect, via transmission of values and behaviors. There appears to be a lifelong happiness dividend (or unhappiness dividend) due to parenting. Structural equation models with two-way causation indicate that the life satisfaction of offspring can significantly affect the satisfaction of their parents, as well as vice versa, long after the ‘children’ have left home. Data come from 25 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP 1984–2008). SOEP is the only panel survey worldwide in which data on life satisfaction have been obtained from parents and an adequate sub-sample of children no longer living in the parental home.