Showing papers on "Happiness published in 1998"
TL;DR: A new model is advanced to describe the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment, and love, that serve to broaden an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire, which in turn has the effect of building that individual's physical, intellectual, and social resources.
Abstract: This article opens by noting that positive emotions do not fit existing models of emotions. Consequently, a new model is advanced to describe the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment, and love. This new model posits that these positive emotions serve to broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire, which in turn has the effect of building that individual's physical, intellectual, and social resources. Empirical evidence to support this broadenand-build model of positive emotions is reviewed, and implications for emotion regulation and health promotion are discussed. Even though research on emotions has this new perspective are featured. My hope is flourished in recent years, investigations that that this article will unlock scientific curiosity expressly target positive emotions remain few and far between. Any review of the psychological literature on emotions will show that psychologists have typically favored negative emotions in theory building and hypothesis testing. In so doing, psychologists have inadvertently marginalized the emotions, such as joy, about positive emotions, not only to test the ideas presented here, but also to build other new models that might illuminate the nature and value of positive emotions. Psychology sorely needs more studies on positive emotions, not simply to level the uneven knowledge bases between negative and positive emotions, but interest, contentment, and love, that share a more critically, to guide applications and pleasant subjective feel. To date, then, psychology's knowledge base regarding positive emotions is so thin that satisfying answers to the question "What good are positive emotions?" have yet to be articulated. This is unfortunate. Experiences of positive emotion are central to human nature and contribute richly to the quality of people's lives (Diener & Larsen,
5,198 citations
TL;DR: Findings lend support to recent life span theories of emotion and indicate that personality, contextual, and sociodemographic variables, as well as their interactions, are all needed to fully understand the age-affect relationship.
Abstract: The effect of age on happiness, as defined by positive and negative affect, was examined in a survey of 2,727 persons of a broad age range (25-74) conducted by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. The age-affect association was examined, controlling for a host of sociodemograp hic, personality, and contextual influences. Among women, age was related to positive affect nonlineariy but was unrelated to negative affect. Among men, age interacted with 2 key variables in predicting affect: extraversion and marital status. These findings lend support to recent life span theories of emotion and indicate that personality, contextual, and sociodemographic variables, as well as their interactions, are all needed to fully understand the age-affect relationship.
1,457 citations
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: The book, Letters from Jenny, by Gordon All port (1965) presented a series of letters written over an extended period by a woman named Jenny to her son, Ross as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The book, Letters from Jenny, by Gordon All port (1965) presented a series of letters written over an extended period by a woman named Jenny to her son, Ross. Jenny was a poor, hard-working woman who sacrificed almost everything she had for Ross. She supported him in an affluent lifestyle at an Ivy League college, while she barely had enough to eat. All that mattered to her was his well-being. Yet, she failed miserably in bringing fulfillment and happiness to him as well as to herself. When Ross began to form relationships with other women, Jenny disowned him, very likely contributing to his early death. She then derived more happiness from his memory than she had from his presence.
673 citations
TL;DR: Personal Projects Analysis (PPA) was adapted to examine relations between participants' appraisals of their goal characteristics and orthogonal happiness and meaning factors that emerged from factor analyses of diverse well-being measures.
Abstract: Personal Projects Analysis (B. R. Little, 1983) was adapted to examine relations between participants' appraisals of their goal characteristics and orthogonal happiness and meaning factors that emerged from factor analyses of diverse well-being measures. In two studies with 146 and 179 university students, goal efficacy was associated with happiness and goal integrity was associated with meaning. A new technique for classifying participants according to emergent identity themes is introduced. In both studies, identity-compensatory predictors of happiness were apparent. Agentic participants were happiest if their goals were supported by others, communal participants were happiest if their goals were fun, and hedonistic participants were happiest if their goals were being accomplished. The distinction between happiness and meaning is emphasized, and the tension between efficacy and integrity is discussed. Developmental implications are discussed with reference to results from archival data from a sample of senior managers.
645 citations
TL;DR: This article found that being married was 3.4 times more closely tied to the variance in happiness than was cohabitation, and marriage increases happiness equally among men and women among cohabitants.
Abstract: The literature on marital status and happiness has neglected comparative analysis, cohabitation, and gender-specific analysis. It is not clear if the married-happiness relationship is consistent across nations, if it is stronger than a cohabitation-happiness link, and if it applies to both genders. We address these issues using data from 17 national surveys. A multiple regression analysis determined that the relationship between marital status and happiness holds in 16 of the 17 nations and the strength of the association does not vary significantly in 14 of the 17 nations. Being married was 3.4 times more closely tied to the variance in happiness than was cohabitation, and marriage increases happiness equally among men and women. Marriage may affect happiness through two intervening processes: the promotion of financial satisfiction and the improvement of health. These intervening processes did not replicate for cohabitants. Key Words: financial satisfaction, marital happiness, marital status, marriage. Considerable support has been found for the thesis that marriage is associated with higher levels of personal well-being. This includes work on personal well-being (Bradburn, 1969; Coombs, 1991; Glenn, 1975; Gove, Hughes, & BriggsStyle, 1990; Horwitz, White, & Howell-White, 1996; Kessler & Essex, 1982; Mastekassa, 1992, 1993; Williams, 1988), health (Hahn, 1993; Joung et al., 1997; Ross, Mirowsky, & Goldsteen, 1990; Verbrugge, 1979), mortality (Goldman & Hu, 1993; Gove, 1973; Hu & Goldman, 1990; Rogers, 1995; Trovato & Lauris, 1989), and suicide (Stack, 1990; Stack & Wasserman, 1995). The advantage of the married over those who are not married appears to hold true for a specific indicator of well-being-global happiness. Studies, primarily based on data from the United States, have provided evidence that married persons report higher levels of personal happiness than persons of any unmarried status (Burt, 1987; Glenn & Weaver, 1979; Gove, Hughes, & BriggsStyle, 1983; Williams, 1988; see reviews in Weerasinghe & Tepperman, 1994, and Ross, 1995). In some multivariate models, marital status has been the most important predictor of happiness (Burt, 1987; Davis, 1984; Glenn & Weaver, 1979; Gove et al., 1983; Williams, 1988). Several issues have been neglected in the previous research. First. most of the evidence is based on data from the U.S. Research based disproportionately on one nation is in need of replication (e.g., Kohn, 1987). Further work is needed to see if the findings will replicate in nations with different institutional and cultural frameworks. For example, the U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world (United Nations, 1988). In nations with low rates of divorce, there may be less support for divorce, thus trapping unhappy people in marriage and lowering the mean level of happiness among the married. Second, comparative work is needed in order to weight the importance of marital status against national character in the shaping of happiness (Inglehart, 1990). It may be, for example, that national character is more important than marital status in explaining cross-national differences in levels of happiness. Research based on a single nation, which is typically the case in happiness research, cannot, by definition, test this proposition (Glenn & Weaver 1988; Gove et al., 1983; Joung et al., 1997). Third, previous research has neglected the status of cohabitant. According to the social integration theory of happiness (e.g., Umberson, 1987), it may be that marriage does not increase happiness any more than cohabitation. Fourth, much of the past research is marked by model misspecification (Glenn & Weaver, 1979; Gove et al., 1983). For example, few studies include religion and health in their models, although these factors, when included, often show powerful effects on happiness. Given that married people tend to be more religious and healthier than people who are not married, it is not clear if some of the past research is reporting a spurious relationship between marriage and happiness. …
585 citations
TL;DR: A general perception is suggested that meaning in life and happiness are essential to the folk concept of the good life, whereas money is relatively unimportant.
Abstract: Two studies examined folk concepts of the good life. Samples of college students (N = 104) and community adults (N = 264) were shown a career survey ostensibly completed by a person rating his or her occupation. After reading the survey, participants judged the desirability and moral goodness of the respondent's life, as a function of the amount of happiness, meaning in life, and wealth experienced. Results revealed significant effects of happiness and meaning on ratings of desirability and moral goodness. In the college sample, individuals high on all 3 independent variables were judged as likely to go to heaven. In the adult sample, wealth was also related to higher desirability. Results suggest a general perception that meaning in life and happiness are essential to the folk concept of the good life, whereas money is relatively unimportant.
430 citations
TL;DR: Unemployed individuals are found to suffer significantly higher odds of experiencing a marked rise in anxiety, depression and loss of confidence and a reduction in self-esteem and the level of general happiness even compared with individuals in low-paid employment.
412 citations
TL;DR: It is found that IQ affects health, but not wealth or happiness, and family background level increases wealth, but neither health nor happiness.
279 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the question of whether psychological distress and subjective well-being are the opposite poles of the same axis of mental health or independent constructs that should be measured on two independent axes.
Abstract: This paper addresses the question of whether psychological distress and subjective well-being are the opposite poles of the same axis of mental health or independent constructs that should be measured on two independent axes. The measures used in this study originate from a preliminary ethnosemantic study and the content analysis of narratives of psychological distress and well-being episodes experienced by a random sample of francophone Quebecers (Canada). Two scales were produced: a Psychological Distress Manifestation Scale (PDMS) based on 23 items and four factors (Anxiety/Depression, Irritability, Self-Depreciation, and Social Disengagement), and a Psychological Well-Being Manifestation Scale with 25 items and six factors (Self-Esteem, Social Involvement, Mental Balance, Control of Self and Events, Sociability, and Happiness). Structural equation modeling analyses confirm that these 10 factors can be viewed as components of two correlated dimensions (psychological distress and well-being) (r = −0.65) of a two-dimensional latent construct which reflects a higher-order concept of mental health. We conclude that assessment of mental health in general populations should use concomitant measures of psychological distress and well-being.
247 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative study of the positive moods generated by four common leisure activities: sport/exercise, music, church and watching TV soaps was made, and it was found that each activity was a significant source of positive mood.
237 citations
TL;DR: In this article, happiness was correlated with national economic and cultural living conditions, and both characteristics correlated strongly and positively with happiness, but when exploring the independent influence on happiness of either predictors, only economic prosperity persistently correlated with happiness.
Abstract: In forty countries, happiness was correlated with national economic and cultural living conditions. Both characteristics correlated strongly and positively with happiness. Need theory predicts this observed pattern quite well. However, when exploring the independent influence on happiness of either predictors, only economic prosperity persistently correlated with happiness. The relation between culture and happiness proved to be spurious. When subgroups of countries were studied, within the group of rich countries a positive first order correlation was found between happiness and culture, whereas in the group of free countries a positive correlation between happiness and economic prosperity was found, when controlling for culture. Especially the study of countries in transition is helpful in discovering causal relations between economic prosperity, culture and happiness.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a nationally representative panel of parents interviewed in 1988 and 1992 to report a model of parenting satisfaction, with particular attention to marital happiness, family structure, and parents' gender.
Abstract: Using data from a nationally representative panel of parents interviewed in 1988 and 1992, we report a model of parenting satisfaction, with particular attention to marital happiness, family structure, and parents' gender. Cross-sectional analyses show that parenting satisfaction is significantly higher for married parents with high marital quality, for those who are parenting their own biological children, and for mothers. Panel analyses reveal that satisfaction with parenting is highly stable over this 4-year period but is positively related to increases in marital quality. Further consideration of this association using structural equation models indicates that reciprocal paths between marital happiness and parenting satisfaction are statistically significant and are of approximately equal strength and that these associations operate similarly for mothers and fathers. The results support the need for greater attention to parental satisfaction as a factor that can have independent effects on marital happiness and perhaps other dimensions of family life. Key Words: gender, marital happiness, parenting, remarriage. Research on role identities demonstrates that parenthood is at the top of most parents' identity salience hierarchies (Thoits, 1992), ranking ahead of marriage and job as a source of identity. Despite the importance of parenthood to the individuals who occupy this role, sociologists have paid relatively little attention to the satisfaction of incumbents. Job satisfaction and marital satisfaction have been addressed at length, and we have large literatures on these concepts and their measurement, determinants, and consequences. The lack of attention to parenting might be attributed to the fact that, unlike marital or job satisfaction, parenting satisfaction is less likely to predict role tenure. However, studies of divorce indicate that social parenthood is not immutable, and parenting satisfaction may have important consequences for the quality of parenting not only within marriages but also for parenting, visitation, and child support compliance after divorce (Furstenberg & Harris, 1992). Indeed, parental satisfaction appears to be related negatively to harshness of discipline (Simons, Beaman, Conger, & Chao, 1993) and positively to parents' health and well-being (Umberson & Williams, 1993). One issue that has been considered extensively is the relationship between marital happiness and parental satisfaction. Although multiple interpretations may be placed on the strong empirical correlation between these two family outcomes, for the most part, scholars have treated marital happiness as the driving force and given little weight to the possibility that parenting experiences can have independent effects on marital quality (e.g., Belsky, 1984; Easterbrooks & Emde, 1988; Erel & Burnham, 1995). Given the high salience of the parental role and the power of parenthood to shape life experiences, this assumption of oneway causality seems premature. Unfortunately, reliance on cross-sectional data has prevented previous researchers from addressing the issue effectively. One goal of the research presented here is to extend previous work by using a nationally representative panel of individuals to consider this relationship in more detail. We develop a model of parenting satisfaction and test it on a national panel of 1,200 parents interviewed in 1988 and 1992. Because little prior research has been done, we cast a broad net to search for variables that might predict parenting satisfaction. We identify relevant variables by considering role theory and reviewing previous studies of parenting. Our analysis proceeds in three steps. First, we establish the cross-sectional correlates of parental satisfaction. Second, we use linear panel analysis to identify the effects of life course changes on parental satisfaction. And third, we use structural equation modeling with AMOS (Arbuckle, 1995) to investigate the potential reciprocal relationship between marital happiness and parenting satisfaction. …
Abstract: Both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that characteristically happy and unhappy individuals seem to differ in the ways in which they respond to life events and daily situations. This paper reports two questionnaire studies and a laboratory study testing the hypothesis that happy people perceive, interpret, and think about the same events in more positive ways than do unhappy ones. The results of Study 1 showed that students nominated by their peers as “very happy” reported experiencing similar types of both positive and negative life events, as did peer-nominated “unhappy” students. However, self-rated happy students tended to think about both types of events more favorably and adaptively—e.g., by seeing humor in adversity and emphasizing recent improvement in their lives. This pattern of results was conceptually replicated in Study 2 using hypothetical events. In Study 3, self-rated happy students interacted with a female confederate in the laboratory, then watched a series of videotapes depicting a fellow (but unfamiliar) student in three different situations. Happy individuals liked the person they met, and recalled her in more favorable terms, more than did unhappy ones. The same pattern of results, albeit weaker, was found for liking of the videotaped target. Implications of our findings for the question of how happiness (or unhappiness) is maintained are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors investigated the general ability to decode happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in dance forms of expressive body movement and the specific ability to detect differences in the intensity of anger and happiness when the relative amount of movement cue specifying each emotion was systematically varied.
Abstract: Little research has focused on children's decoding of emotional meaning in expressive body movement: none has considered which movement cues children use to detect emotional meaning. The current study investigated the general ability to decode happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in dance forms of expressive body movement and the specific ability to detect differences in the intensity of anger and happiness when the relative amount of movement cue specifying each emotion was systematically varied. Four-year-olds (n = 25), 5-year-olds (n = 25), 8-year-olds (n = 29), and adults (n = 24) completed an emotion contrast task and 2 emotion intensity tasks. Decoding ability exceeding chance levels was demonstrated for sadness by 4-year-olds; for sadness, fear, and happiness by 5-year-olds: and for all emotions by 8-year-olds and adults. Children as young as 5 years were shown to rely on emotion-specific movement cues in their decoding of anger and happiness intensity. The theoretical significance of these effects across development is discussed. Language: en
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: Despite economists' preference for the more objective concepts like preference, more emphasis should be given to the more subjective concepts like happiness, as happiness is our ultimate objective and as more money does not buy more happiness much, despite the rate race for material growth due to relative-income effects as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Despite economists' preference for the more objective concepts like preference, more emphasis should be given to the more subjective concepts like happiness, as happiness is our ultimate objective and as more money does not buy more happiness much, despite the rate race for material growth due to relative-income effects. Confinement to the more objective concepts, especially reinforced by economists' self denial of cardinal utility and interpersonal comparison, makes economics less relevant and even misleading. Utility is cardinally measurable and interpersonally comparable if appropriate methods are used. However, for many purposes, the willingness to pay may be used to measure the intensity of preference and used in an interpersonally acceptable sense.
TL;DR: An evolutionary understanding of individuals in terms of their relationship strategies and the social emotions offers great promise for psychotherapists.
Abstract: Understanding emotional disorders requires understanding the evolutionary origins and functions of normal emotions. They are special states, shaped by natural selection to adjust various aspects of the organism in ways that have tended to give a selective advantage in the face of the adaptive challenges characteristic of a particular kind of situation. They are designed to maximize reproductive success, not happiness. Negative emotions such as anxiety and low mood are not disorders, but, like the capacity for pain, evolved defences. Excessive anxiety or low mood is abnormal, but we will not have confidence about what is excessive until we understand their functions better than we do. Emotional disorders arise often from social emotions because of the conflicts inherent in social life, and because of the strategic advantages of demonstrating commitments to follow through on threats and promises. An evolutionary understanding of individuals in terms of their relationship strategies and the social emotions offers great promise for psychotherapists.
TL;DR: The authors found that positive and negative consumer emotions may sometimes, but not always, be distinct, and more importantly, suggest further studies, and evidence is presented that suggests that the respondent task may moderate correlations between positive and negatively consumer emotions.
TL;DR: This paper explored the impact of travel and tourism ex-perience on travelers' psychological well-being or level of happiness using a pretest-posttest experimental design, senior travelers taking an escorted tour were asked to assess their happiness before and after the tour.
Abstract: This study explored the impact of travel and tourism ex perience on travelers' psychological well-being or level of happiness. Using a pretest-posttest experimental design, senior travelers taking an escorted tour were asked to assess their happiness before and after the tour. While the findings rejected the hypothesis that travel may change level ofhappi ness, other variables may explain the variation.
TL;DR: The Oxford Happiness Inventory and the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were completed by four samples of students: 378 in the U.K., 212 in U.S.A., 255 in Australia, and 231 in Canada.
Book•
07 May 1998
TL;DR: A clear, well-structured overview of the nature and significance of children's and adolescents' friendships examines issues such as the impact of social-cognitive development, relationship problems, and methods of promoting positive relationships as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Friendships are crucial to children's well-being and happiness and lay important foundations upon which later relationships in adolescence and adulthood are built.
This clear, well-structured overview of the nature and significance of children's and adolescents' friendships examines issues such as the impact of social-cognitive development, relationship problems, and methods of promoting positive relationships.
TL;DR: This article found that children who scored high on deception, emotion understanding, and false belief tasks at 47 months gave more adequate and differentiated accounts of mothers' and friends' emotions seven months later.
Abstract: Fifty-five 4-year-old children took part in a study focused on children's accounts of the situations that caused happiness, anger, sadness and fear in themselves, their friends, and their mothers. Themes, agents, and adequacy of accounts were studied at two time points. Interpersonal causes of anger and happiness were cited by many children; confusion about causes of anger and sadness was not evident, although the notion of loss and controllability as factors distinguishing causes of anger versus sadness found some support. Accounts for self, friend, and mother differed considerably, suggesting emotion understanding could usefully be considered in relation to specific relationships. Analysis of individual differences showed that children who scored high on deception, emotion understanding, and false belief tasks at 47 months gave more adequate and differentiated accounts of mothers' and friends' emotions seven months later. Implications for our views of children's close relationships are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors explored the effects of eight measures of religious involvement on three indicators of well-being in a national probability sample of African Americans, including religious attendance, church membership, church activity, reading religious books, listening to religious TV/radio, prayer, asking for prayer, and subjective religiosity.
Abstract: This panel study explores the effects of eight measures of religious involvement on three indicators of well-being in a national probability sample of African Americans. Religious measures include religious attendance, church membership, church activity, reading religious books, listening to religious TV/radio, prayer, asking for prayer, and subjective religiosity. Well-being indicators include single-item measures of life satisfaction and happiness, and a 10-item version of the RAND Mental Health Index (MHI), a scale assessing psychological distress. Using data from multiple waves of the National Survey of Black Americans, religious effects on well-being are examined both cross-sectionally at each wave and longitudinally across waves. Findings reveal strong, statistically significant, and consistent religious effects on well-being contemporaneously within each wave, which withstand controlling for the effects of health and seven sociodemographic variables. Longitudinal religious effects on well-being are present bivariately, but disappear after controlling for the effects of baseline well-being, lagged religious involvement, and health. The meaning and interpretation of contemporaneous as opposed to longitudinal religious effects on well-being are discussed.
TL;DR: The Oxford Happiness Inventory and the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were completed by 121 male and 335 female students in Wales as discussed by the authors and the findings confirm the internal reliability of the Oxford happiness Inventory and support the view that happiness is a thing called stable extraversion.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present data on subjective well-being collected during the 1980s and 1990s in four nationwide cross-sectional attitude surveys and a multipurpose household survey.
Abstract: During the apartheid era black South Africans indicated markedly lower levels of happiness and satisfaction in all spheres of life than their white counterparts. The gap between black and white subjective well-being closed temporarily after the first universal franchise elections held on April 27, 1994 only to widen again eighteen months later. The paper presents data on subjective well-being collected during the 1980s and 1990s in four nationwide cross-sectional attitude surveys and a multipurpose household survey. Possible explanations for the shifting levels of happiness are explored. These include levels of living, income inequality, rising expectations and new anxieties experienced in the post-apartheid era.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the link between perceived store image and the personal values which underlie behavioural choices, and found that the hedonic values of "enjoyment and happiness" and "quality of life" were the terminal values most sought by consumers in association with store image.
Abstract: Retail store image has been shown to play an important role in store patronage, and it is widely accepted that psychological factors have a significant role in store image formation. Past research has often involved the measurement of tangible attributes, or links between store images and consumers’ self‐images. This study was undertaken to move to the next stage by exploring the link between perceived store image and the personal values which underlie behavioural choices. Fashion retailing was selected as an appropriate research domain because of the well‐established associations between clothing choice, personality, self concept, and personal values. Means‐end theory and laddering methodology were employed in interviews with 30 female respondents. The hedonic values of “enjoyment and happiness” and “quality of life” were found to be the terminal values most sought by consumers in association with store image. These were linked through the consequence “nice feeling” to the tangible attributes of “price”, “quality” and “reputation”. The study illustrates an application of means‐end methodology in a retail environment, and the results provide a platform for fashion store image and positioning strategies. Suggestions for further research are made.
Book•
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: The Myth of Self-Esteem: Finding Happiness and Solving Problems in America by John P. Hewitt as mentioned in this paper examines the concept of self-esteem as a cultural myth in the context of American societal values.
Abstract: The Myth of Self-Esteem: Finding Happiness and Solving Problems in America by John P. Hewitt seeks to describe, interpret, and criticize the contemporary American fascination with self-esteem and its historical roots. Hewitt critically examines the concept of self-esteem as a cultural myth in the context of American societal values. The author provides a penetrating, sometimes amusing, look at how self-esteem is linked to the basic world-view of Americans.
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: In the realm of subjective wellbeing, it appears that situations are weak predictors, and personality is a strong correlate, of long-term subjective well-being as mentioned in this paper, and it is now reasonable to hypothesize that personality was a major determinant of longterm, subjective wellbeing.
Abstract: La Rochefoucauld argued that personality is an important cause of happiness and of unhappiness. Modern researchers find, however, that he was incorrect in underestimating the size of this influence. It appears that happiness, the experience of unpleasant emotions, and life satisfaction often depend more on temperament than on one's life circumstances. Indeed, it is now reasonable to hypothesize that personality is a major determinant of longterm, subjective well-being.Walter Mischel (1968) argued in a well known book, Personality and Assessment, that dispositions are weak determinants of behavior, and that situations are much stronger predictors of overt responses. In the realm of subjective wellbeing, Mischel's argument is turned on its head—it appears that situations are weak predictors, and personality is a strong correlate, of long-term subjective well-being.
TL;DR: Two studies aimed at validating the 25-item self-report McGreal and Joseph (1993) Depression-Happiness Scale (D-H S) confirm the unidimensionality of the scale and the feasibility of a statistically bipolar measure.
Abstract: This article reports two studies aimed at validating the 25-item self-report McGreal and Joseph (1993) Depression-Happiness Scale (D-H S). In the first study, principal component data are reported on the D-H S with 194 respondents. A forced 1-factor solution confirmed the unidimensionality of the scale (item loadings ranged from .38 to .77) and thus the feasibility of a statistically bipolar measure. In the second study, data on the convergent validity of the D-H S with the Beck Depression Inventory (r=-.75) and the Oxford Happiness Inventory (r=.59) with 100 respondents are reported confirming the construct validity of the scale. Implications for research in social and clinical psychology are discussed along with the possible uses of the D-H S in a clinical setting.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, self-reported measures of satisfaction with life in a transition country, Kyrgyzstan, using 1993 household survey data were analyzed and it was shown that higher levels of satisfaction are associated with greater economic well-being.
Abstract: We analyse self-reported measures of satisfaction with life in a transition country, Kyrgyzstan, using 1993 household survey data. We test whether higher levels of satisfaction are associated with greater economic well-being. This hypothesis is strongly supported by the data. Unhappiness is prevalent among older people, the unemployed, and those who are divorced. There appears to be little correlation between happiness and either gender or education level. We find some evidence that income relativities, as measured by perceived position on the wealth ladder, also have a strong effect on life satisfaction.