Personality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from South Korea

Although the statistically significant relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being (i.e., self-reported happiness and life satisfaction) is well-known in the field of positive psychology, some scholars still cast doubt on the external validity of this finding and the strength of personality dimensions vis-à-vis other individual-level determinants of subjective well-being such as income, employment status, marital status, self-reported health, and so on. Using a nationally representative, face-to-face survey fielded in South Korea in 2009, we find that personality traits (measured by the Five-factor Model)—particularly, Emotional Stability and Extraversion—are positively associated with happiness and life satisfaction, after controlling for other covariates. The effects of personality traits are often on par with, and sometimes even greater than, those of other well-known determinants.     

Social Capital,Government and Democracy Satisfaction,and Happiness in Turkey: A Comparison of Surveys in 1999 and 2008

Based on data from a 1999 and a 2008 European Values Survey, the main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between a variety of social capital indicators, satisfaction with government and democracy, and subjective well-being. Happiness and life satisfaction were used as outcome measures of subjective well-being. The indicators of social capital used in this study are general trust, trust in institutions, political engagement, concern for others, societal norms, and membership in volunteer organizations. The analyses reveal a significant increase in happiness, life satisfaction, and many social capital variables between 1999 and 2008. Generalized trust, trust in institutions, government satisfaction, and democracy satisfaction are positive correlates of well-being, although some relationships are significant only in 2008. Several demographic variables are also linked with subjective well-being such as income, employment status, age, gender, and education. We discuss the findings in relation to the significant societal, economic, and political changes experienced in Turkey between 1999 and 2008. Policy implications are also emphasized such as improved trust among individuals, trustworthiness of government institutions, and functioning of democracy.     

How Education Enhances Happiness: Comparison of Mediating Factors in Four East Asian Countries

Educational philosophers contend that education enhances autonomy and thus happiness, but empirical studies rarely explore the positive influence of education on happiness. Based on the previous finding that being better connected to the outside world makes people happy, this study examines the possibility that how well an individual connects to the world accounts for the positive association between education and happiness. Analyzing survey data from four East Asian countries, we find a common pattern among Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Although both monetary and non-monetary factors play a role in explaining the relationship between education and higher reports of happiness, monetary factor is relatively unimportant whereas non-monetary factors, such as interpersonal network and degree of cosmopolitanism, account for a significant part of the association between education and happiness. China is exceptional due to its relative importance of personal income in accounting for happiness. In short, individuals who receive more education have more extensive social networks as well as greater involvement with the wider world; these life conditions are positively related with happiness. By enhancing one’s ability and propensity to connect with the wider social world, education may improve an individual’s subjective well-being.     

Poverty and Subjective Well-being in Mexico

There are two tendencies in the literatureregarding the relationship between income andsubjective well-being. The first tendencymaintains that there is a strong relationshipbetween these two variables, and that thepoorer the population, the more pronounced thisrelationship. The second tendency downplaysthis relationship, arguing that a largepercentage of happiness cannot be explained byeconomic variables. The objective of this studywas to compare the subjective well-being ofthree socioeconomic groups – extremely poor,moderately poor and not poor – and to discoverthe combination of subjective well-beingfactors that makes it possible to predict thesocioeconomic group to which subjects belong.Subjective well-being was measured by using aninstrument developed by Palomar Lever (2000) andconsisting of eleven related factors thatinquire into the subjects' satisfaction ineleven areas of life. The results indicatestatistically significant differences in nearlyall the subjective well-being factors inrelation to the socioeconomic group to whichsubjects belong, with the poorest subjectsreporting the least satisfaction. In additionsome differences were found in relation to sexand age. Also, low correlations were observedbetween income and subjective well-being in theextremely poor and moderately poor groups, withmore of these correlations in the first group,followed by the last. Finally, it was foundthat membership in the socioeconomic groups canbe predicted by a combination of subjectivewell-being factors such as satisfaction withone's recreational activities, socialsurroundings, personal development and couplerelationship.     

Quality of Life and Leisure Activities: How do Leisure Activities Contribute to Subjective Well-Being?

The quality of life is determined with objective factors and also with subjective perception of factors which influence human life. Leisure activities play a very important role in subjective well-being because they provide opportunities to meet life values and needs. Through participation in leisure activities people build social relationships, feel positive emotions, acquire additional skills and knowledge, and therefore improve their quality of life. In this report we will explore how leisure activities improve subjective well-being. We will try to distinguish among different types of leisure activities and find those which contribute more to the subjective well-being. Particularly, we will explore which leisure activities contribute to the subjective well-being of women and men of different age. Our study is based on data from a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4,000), who estimated their subjective well-being and participation in various leisure activities. First, we will describe the subjective well-being of various groups of people who differ by gender and age. Afterward, we will identify important leisure activities which determine subjective well-being across age and gender groups. Overall, our results show that engagement in leisure activities contributes to subjective well being, while the pattern of important leisure activities somewhat varies across different age and gender groups.     

Environment and Happiness: New Evidence for Spain

This paper explores the relationship between air pollution, climate and reported subjective well-being (or happiness) in Spanish regions. The results show that, after controlling for most of the socio-economic variables affecting happiness, there are still significant regional differences in subjective well-being. Evidence also suggests that climate and air pollution variables play a significant role in explaining these regional differences in happiness. The analysis also allows us to calculate the monetary value of air quality and climate, deriving the average marginal rate of substitution between income and air quality and climate for the Spanish regions.     

Economic Theory and Subjective Well-being: Mexico

Several studies have been conducted on the topic of well-being. Most of them, however, have been done in industrialized countries where income is distributed relatively more equitatively and the population tends to be more homogeneous. This paper studies the relationship between subjective and economic well-being in Mexico, a country where the economic differences among the population are more clearly marked.

According to the economic definition of well-being, higher levels of income are associated with higher levels of well-being through greater levels of material consumption. Taking into consideration this definition, it is worth asking just how important income is for an individual's happiness?Existing studies in psychology have found a positive correlation between economic well-being (socioeconomic status) and subjective well-being (happiness). However, this positive relationship is weak and a large percentage of human happiness remains unexplained.

Although the mentioned studies make a good approximation of the existing relationship between income and happiness, the characteristics or specification of the function that generates the relationship between these two variables is often assumed to be linear and positive. The main objective of this paper is to investigate further the relationship between subjective and economic well-being. In this study different specifications and approaches are used to approximate the relationship between these variables.

An empirical analysis is made from the results of a survey conducted in two Mexican cities. The investigation studies the impact of demographic, social, and economic variables on subjective well-being in Mexico. Several hypotheses are tested to identify the relationship between household income and individual well-being. It is found that income does not have a strong influence on neither well-being nor on the probability of happiness. However, people tend to overstress the impact that additional income would have on their subjective well-being. This fact could explain the importance that people place on increasing their income level, and it could possibly explain the relative sense of dissatisfaction once a higher income level is achieved.

The relationship between income and the sense of basic need satisfaction is also explored. A main assumption in economic theory suggests the existence of a direct relationship between these variables; however, empirical results show this relationship to be extremely weak. Results indicate that subjective well-being is positively related to the sense of basic need satisfaction but not to income.

     

Marriage and Subjective Well-Being: How and Why Context Matters

Over the last 20 years the academic community has experienced a burgeoning interest in the causes and correlates of subjective well-being. One of the most consistent findings has been that married respondents report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction than unmarried respondents. Despite its prevalence, scant empirical research has focused on the potential mechanisms driving this relationship. The current work draws on the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System along with 2000 US Census data to investigate the role of context and reference groups in shaping the relationship between marriage and well-being. The primary research question is whether marriage has a greater influence on life satisfaction when it is more common and thus more normative? The findings offer new insight into the marriage/well-being relationship and have broad implication for how we think about the study of the causes and correlates of subjective well-being.     

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.     

Life Expectancy as an Objective Factor of a Subjective Well-Being

The paper has two parts. In the first part we offer a definition of well-being which makes life expectancy an explicit variable. We recognize the importance of happiness as a significant aspect of any definition of well-being, but we side-step the issue of what determines its level or how to measure it, and concentrate instead on the consequences of our new variable, life expectancy. We argue that life is valued for its quality, and, if positive, its extension is an improvement of well-being. From this we show how, given certain assumptions, disparate problems that have moral and/or social significance can be approached from the perspective of improving well-being. We close the first part by showing that our definition has enough flexibility to be used for that class of decisions which require tradeoffs between quality of life (happiness) and life expectancy. As a corollary we show that attitudes toward risk depend on expectations, and on some occasions, age itself. In the second part we argue, first, that real economic factors, not reducible to mere psychological ones, may still offer an adequate explanation for the fact that absolute income and happiness do not always correlate well. However, we take no position on the many controversies, such as whether it is relative or absolute increases in wealth that bears most directly on changes in happiness. We confirm through statistical analysis (simple regressions) the well established influence that absolute income has on life expectancy, and, hence, by inference and definition, we argue that this must also be the case with well-being. Secondly, we find through statistical analysis that healthcare has as much impact on life expectancy as does absolute income, leading us to theoretically examine the appropriate income cost for access to healthcare if life expectancy is to improve. And thirdly, by assuming a homogeneous function of life expectancy, we theoretically show how a market oriented healthcare system can exacerbate inequities in life expectancy, and so on well-being. Lastly, we consider some policy implications of those inequities.     

Bringing Affect Back in: Measuring and Comparing Subjective Well-Being Across Countries

In recent years, researchers and policymakers have paid increasing attention to cross-country comparisons of subjective well-being. Whereas classical theories of quality of life emphasize the central role of affective well-being (i.e., whether a person feels good or bad), previous comparative studies have focused almost exclusively on life satisfaction (i.e., cognitive evaluations of life). This study brings affect into the comparative study of subjective well-being, constructing a new measurement instrument that captures both the affective and cognitive dimensions of subjective well-being. Using European Social Survey data and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, we estimate latent country means for the two dimensions and compare country rankings across the two measures. The results reveal important differences in country rankings depending on whether one focuses on affective well-being or life satisfaction. We identify crucial differences among top-ranking countries and, perhaps even more importantly, considerable differences in rankings among more moderately ranking countries. In a second step, we compare and evaluate the single-item measures commonly used in previous research with the results based on our new measures. We conclude by discussing our results in relation to previous studies, and in terms of their possible implications for future research and for policymakers bent on improving national levels of subjective well-being.     

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.     

Is Personality Fixed? Personality Changes as Much as “Variable” Economic Factors and More Strongly Predicts Changes to Life Satisfaction

Personality is the strongest and most consistent cross-sectional predictor of high subjective well-being. Less predictive economic factors, such as higher income or improved job status, are often the focus of applied subjective well-being research due to a perception that they can change whereas personality cannot. As such there has been limited investigation into personality change and how such changes might bring about higher well-being. In a longitudinal analysis of 8625 individuals we examine Big Five personality measures at two time points to determine whether an individual’s personality changes and also the extent to which such changes in personality can predict changes in life satisfaction. We find that personality changes at least as much as economic factors and relates much more strongly to changes in life satisfaction. Our results therefore suggest that personality can change and that such change is important and meaningful. Our findings may help inform policy debate over how best to help individuals and nations improve their well-being.     

Women’s Well-Being in Iran: Territorial Analysis Using a Multidimensional Approach

This paper employs a multidimensional index for assessing women’s well-being in Iranian provinces using demographic and health survey macro data. Besides economic status as a traditional dimension for objective well-being, other factors such as health, education, risk, and technology as well as self-reported life satisfaction and happiness (psychological well-being) have been included as non-material well-being dimensions. We found that the values of women’s well-being are distributed unequally across the provinces. Southern provinces demonstrate the worst performances and central provinces have the best. Generally, Iranian women are in poor condition in terms of economic variables (e.g. income and participation in the job market), psychological well-being (life satisfaction), HIV literacy, use of the internet, and access to mass media. On the other hand, in recent years, they have made significant progress in education (such as the rate of literacy, high school degree), and health (safe pregnancy care and nutritional supplements).     

Elusive Effects of Unemployment on Happiness

This paper explores the connection between unemployment and subjective well-being in Finland using cross-sections for the years 1990, 1996 and 2000 from World Values Surveys. Interestingly, an unprecedented increase in the national unemployment rate (from 3 to 17%) did not produce a drop in the mean level of subjective well-being. Personally experiencing unemployment reduces life satisfaction, but does not have a significant effect on happiness in ordered logit estimation. However, generalized ordered logit estimation reveals that being unemployed has a negative effect on happiness at lower happiness scores, but no significant effect at high happiness levels.     

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.     

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.     

Roles,race and subjective well-being: A longitudinal analysis of elderly men

The basic contention of this paper is that research on subjective well-being would benefit from an integration of theory and research from other studies of subjective states, such as mental and physical health. Toward that end, we present results of an analysis of the impact of race and social roles on subjective well-being in a nationally representative sample of elderly men. The findings demonstrate that particular role configurations have an effect on happiness and that these effects are different for blacks and whites. Theoretical implications of these findings for subjective well-being research and role accumulation theory are discussed.     

Does Cultural Capital Matter?: Cultural Divide and Quality of Life

Since the remarkable work of Pierre Bourdieu, the concept of cultural capital has gained wide popularity along with theoretical and conceptual debates. This trend represents the social-structural change from materialism to postmaterialism. However, there are few empirical studies which find the cause and effect of cultural capital. Based on empirical survey data, this paper will analyze “how cultural capital and cultural divide influence the subjective well-being at the individual level.” Our analysis includes the following: First, we explore to what extent the cultural divide between haves and have-nots of cultural capital has impacted their subjective well-being, which consists of happiness and life satisfaction at the individual level. Second, we analyze what factors cause those cultural divides. Sociodemographic, social-relational, and economic variables are included in the regression models to test their relative explanatory power. Third, we discuss the implication for cultural policy.     

Determinants of Subjective Well-Being and Poverty in Rural Pakistan: A Micro-Level Study

Drawing on unique survey data for rural Pakistan, we investigate the impact of socio-demographic factors on happiness index with particular emphasis on subjective well-being measurement to evaluate poverty and its different components. The data elicits information on overall well-being in terms of household’s happiness with the current socio-economic status. We estimate a happiness model to explore to what extent a well-being perspective adds to our understanding of poverty. We find that the well-being approach closely depicts the idea of well-being poverty in terms of the level education, health and income which matter significantly. Moreover unlike developed nations where children have a negative impact on overall well-being, this study suggests a positive impact on well-being and poverty. As studies employing good data from developing countries are rare, this paper can potentially make a good contribution to the existing happiness literature, with special reference to Pakistan.