Culture, Aging, Self-Continuity, and Life Satisfaction
AbstractThe present work examines how culture and age interact to influence self-continuity and life satisfaction. Specifically, we compared Canadian and Chinese young (17 –26 years old) and older adults (60–88 years old) in their sense of self-continuity and life satisfaction (N = 424). Consistent with past research, older adults reported greater self-continuity compared to their young counterparts, while cross-cultural comparisons showed that young Chinese r eported greater self-continuity than young Canadians. In terms of life satisfaction, older adults again scored higher than younger adults, while cross-cultur...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 27, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Development and Evaluation of a Prospective Group Coaching Program: Increasing Well-Being and Openness to the Future in a Subclinical Sample
AbstractProspection is the ability to think about the future in order to guide behavior and gain desirable outcomes. Although theoretical research on the topic exists, there is a lack of practical application. We developed and evaluated a prospective coaching program in a subclinical sample with limited subjective well-being. Twenty-nine participants (Mage = 40.6 years,SD = 13.6; range 19–62 years) participated in three 3-h sessions of a prospective coaching intervention. In a between- and within-subject design, participants completed preintervention, postintervention, and follow-up questionnaires. We compared ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 20, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Smoking Bans, Leisure Time and Subjective Well-being
AbstractDuring 2007 and 2008 smoking bans were gradually implemented in all of Germany ’s sixteen federal states to prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants, and dance clubs. Aimed at reducing smoking and improving health, tobacco control policies are often controversially discussed as they entail potential side effects. We exploit regional variation to identify effects of smoking bans on life satisfaction and leisure time satisfaction. Difference-in-differences estimates reveal that predicted smokers who used to visit bars regularly are less satisfied with life and leisure time, following the enforcement of a smoking ban. ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 19, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Does the Dream of Home Ownership Rest Upon Biased Beliefs? A Test Based on Predicted and Realized Life Satisfaction
AbstractThe belief that home ownership makes people happy is probably one of the most widespread intuitive theories of happiness. However, whether it is accurate is an open question. Based on individual panel data, we explore whether home buyers systematically overestimate the life satisfaction associated with moving to their privately owned property. To identify potential prediction errors, we compare people ’s forecasts of their life satisfaction in 5 years’ time with their current realizations. We find that home buyers for whom the purchase of the home is a main reason for moving, on average, systematically overesti...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 14, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Will You Make Me Happy? The Role of Dating and Dating Violence Victimisation in Happiness Among Adolescents in Europe
Conclusions: there is an association between dating violence victimisation, and happiness among adolescents in Europe. The results suggest the importance of creating healthy, non-violent romantic relationships to build happiness during adolescence, the importance of seeking social support and to provide educational interventions focused on the development of problem-solving skills. (Source: Journal of Happiness Studies)
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 5, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Does Neurocognition Predict Subjective Well-Being?
AbstractGreater subjective well-being (SWB) is associated with a myriad of positive outcomes across adulthood. While several studies have demonstrated a relationship between cognition and SWB, the current study extends previous work by examining the relationship between neurocognition and SWB across age and time. Data were drawn from 3,856 individuals between the ages of 18 –99 years who participated in the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project, a prospective study of cognition in community dwelling adults. Participants completed a battery of neurocognitive tasks (assessing spatial visualization, episodic memory, reasoning, p...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 5, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Does Happiness Increase in Old Age? Longitudinal Evidence from 20 European Countries
AbstractSeveral studies indicate that happiness follows a U-shape over the life cycle: Happiness decreases after the teenage years until reaching its nadir in middle age. A similar number of studies views the U-shape critically, stating that it is the result of the wrong controls or the wrong model. In this paper, we study the upward-pointing branch of the U-shape, tracing the happiness of European citizens 50 and older over multiple waves. Consistent with a U-shape around middle age, we find that happiness initially increases after the age of 50, but commonly stagnates afterwards and eventually reverts at high age. This p...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - September 2, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Quiet Ego Intervention Enhances Flourishing by Increasing Quiet Ego Characteristics and Trait Emotional Intelligence: A Randomized Experiment
AbstractThe quiet ego —a personality construct characterized by empathy, inclusivity, non-defensiveness, and growth-mindedness in self-other relations—correlates positively with varied health markers. There is also emerging evidence that quiet-ego-based interventions may have a positive impact on health-related outco mes. However, no research has examined whether such interventions promote psychologicalflourishing and through what mechanisms. We addressed this gap with a randomized longitudinal experiment, hypothesizing that a quiet ego contemplation would improve participants ’ flourishing and that the link between ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 29, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trajectories of Well-Being of Middle-Aged and older Adults: A Multidimensional and Multidirectional Perspective
AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in profound changes of individuals ’ everyday lives. Restrictions in social contacts and in leisure activities and the threatening situation of a spreading virus might have resulted in compromised well-being. At the same time, the pandemic could have promoted specific aspects of psychosocial well-being, e.g., due to intensified rel ationships with close persons during lockdown periods. We investigated this potentially multidimensional and multi-directional pattern of pandemic-specific change in well-being by analyzing changes over up to 8 years (2012-2020) in two broad well-bein...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Correction to: How Healthy and Unhealthy Values Predict Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being: Dissecting Value-Related Beliefs and Behaviours
(Source: Journal of Happiness Studies)
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Revisiting the Energy-Happiness Paradox: A Quasi-Experimental Evidence of Electricity Access in Indonesia
This study revisits the energy-happiness paradox hypothesis using the context of a developing nation. We used Indonesia as a case study, a unique archipelagic country with sparse subnational energy infrastructure, leading to the persistent regional energy access gap. We employed an instrumental variable technique to obviate conventional bias in the happiness regression. The model utilised a newly available national-level household survey on life satisfaction and historical data on digital maps of Indonesia ’s electricity infrastructure conditions in 1985. Unlike the phenomena known as the energy-happiness paradox found m...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 16, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Misunderstood Stoicism: The negative Association Between Stoic Ideology and well-Being
AbstractAncient philosophy proposed a wide range of possible approaches to life which may enhance well-being. Stoic philosophy has influenced various therapeutic traditions. Individuals today may adopt an approach to life representing a naive Stoic Ideology, which nevertheless reflects a misinterpretation of stoic philosophy. How do these interpretations affect well-being and meaning in life? We examine the differential effects of Stoic Ideology on eudaimonic versus hedonic well-being across three cultural contexts. In this pre-registered study, across samples in New Zealand (N = 636), Norway (N = 290), and the US ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 12, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Uncovering the Effects of Awe on Meaning in Life
AbstractResearch on awe and meaning in life (MIL) is rare. In the current research, we conducted a pre-registered study to examine how awe influences MIL from the perspective of the tripartite model of MIL as well as the construction and detection routes of deriving meaning. The results showed that awe increased MIL via motivating purpose pursuit but decreased MIL by reducing the sense of significance. Overall, awe increased MIL, which was driven mainly by the mediating effect of purpose pursuit. Our findings suggest that awe is not a purely positive emotion, and it affects MIL in a complex way. The implications were discu...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - August 6, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Effect of Relative Income Concerns on Life Satisfaction: Relative Deprivation and Loss Aversion
AbstractIncome comparisons are important for individual well-being. We examine the shape of the relationship between relative income and life satisfaction, and test empirically if the features of the value function of prospect theory carry over to experienced utility. We draw on a unique panel dataset for a middle-income country that allows us to work with an endogenous reference income, which differs for individuals with the same observable characteristics depending on the perception error about their relative position in the distribution. We find the value function for experienced utility to be concave for both positive ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - July 23, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Does the Survey Mode Affect the Association Between Subjective Well-being and its Determinants? An Experimental Comparison Between Face-to-Face and Web Mode
This study uses data from a unique mixed-mode survey collected in Croatia and Germany as part of the Generations and Gender Programme to examine whether the relationships between a range of subjective well-being indicators and a set of objective and subjective determinants differ between respondents answering these questions in face-to-face or web mode. Although respondents report lower subjective well-being in web than in face-to-face mode, the relationships between these variables and a range of objective and subjective indicators are relatively stable across modes. This suggests that substantive conclusions about antece...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - July 14, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research