Why is Intelligence not Making You Happier?
This study examines the association between cognitive ability and happiness and presents three main findings using a nationally representative sample from China. First, there is only a tiny and insignificant correlation between cognitive ability and happiness. Second, cognitive ability is not associated with greater expectations of worldly success or disregarding real life. Third, people with higher cognitive ability have advantages regarding objective physical and mental health, income level, and social status. Still, they tend to underestimate their relative socioeconomic position and have less confidence about their fut...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - February 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
One (Financial Well-Being) Model Fits All? Testing the Multidimensional Subjective Financial Well-Being Scale Across Nine Countries
AbstractA multidimensional model of emerging adults ’ subjective financial well-being was proposed (Sorgente and Lanz, Int Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(5), 466–478 2019). The authors also developed a 5-factor scale (the Multidimensional Subjective Financial Well-being Scale, MSFWBS) intending to measure this construct in the European con text. To date, data using this instrument have been collected in nine countries: Austria, Canada, Finland, India, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey. In the current study, data from these countries were analysed to test the validity of this model internationally. I...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - February 1, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Long and Short-Form Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale: A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis
This study used non-experimental research design with archival data. Guided by systematic inclusion/exclusion criteria, electronic database searches identified 294 published articles reporting estimates of score reliability for either the WEMWBS or SWEMWBS. Sample, design and instrument characteristics were extracted then coded examined to address factors that may impact score reliability for both instruments. Across all published studies, mean score reliability estimates for the WEMWBS and SWEMWBS were 0.89 and 0.81 respectively across published studies. Moderator analyses revealed select sample (e.g., Age) and instrument...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 25, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Comparing Subjective Well-being Longitudinally: Measurement Invariance of the Personal Wellbeing Index Across Time
AbstractThe Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) is commonly used as an instrument for measuring subjective well-being, and longitudinal comparisons of PWI scores are increasingly being used to monitor well-being trends within a nation. The aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal invariance of the PWI, as well as the latent mean differences across time, provided that scalar invariance was established. Using data from a sample of Chinese adults (N = 774), we conducted longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis to explore the measurement invariance of the PWI across a three-year period (with one assessment per year). W...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Situational Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMILE): Development and Validation Studies
AbstractThe present multi-study work presents a new self-report measure of meaning in life in the context of situational life experiences. Study 1 presents the development of the Situational Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMILE), a six-item measure that integrates the three content-dimensions (comprehension, significance and purpose) and the two process-dimensions (presence and search) of meaning in life. The scale is provided with a situational anchor that can be easily adapted to different event- and time-related situations. Two empirical studies examined the psychometric properties of the SMILE measure. Study 2 involved an...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
In My Grasp or out of My Hands? Belief About Where Life Satisfaction Comes from Predicts Motivation to Seek it
AbstractPeople often expect a future brighter than the present. However, expectations of steep improvement have been linked to worse psychological functioning, perhaps because rosy predictions often do not come to pass. Should we conclude that expecting a highly satisfying future is maladaptive? We wondered instead whether the adaptiveness of these trajectories may depend on other belief systems which accompany them. Across three studies we found that although individuals high and low in depressive symptoms both expected a better future, they differed in their beliefs about whether satisfaction comes from primarily control...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Norwegian Outdoor Happiness: Residential Outdoor Spaces and Active Leisure Time Contributions to Subjective Well-being at the National Population Level at the Start of and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This study refines our understanding of these complex relations and contributes to setting these effects in perspective with other sociodemographic factors and SWB measures. Lastly, the importance of residential outdoor spaces upon the prospect of future pandemics is discussed. (Source: Journal of Happiness Studies)
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Feeling Important, Feeling Well. The Association Between Mattering and Well-being: A Meta-analysis Study
AbstractPerception of mattering, the feeling of being important to others (Rosenberg& McCullogh in Community Ment Health J 2:163 –182, 1981), is receiving increasing attention as a factor that promotes well-being. Individual well-being has been defined in different ways, such as hedonic, as in a deep satisfaction with life (Diener& Lucas in Well-being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology 213, 1999), eudaimonic, as in the realization of the true self (Ryff in Curr Dir Psychol Sci 4(4):99 –104, 1995), and holistic, which is satisfaction across all domains of life (Prilleltensky et al., in J Community Psychol 43(2):...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Well-Being Contextualism and Capabilities
AbstractTypically, philosophers analysing well-being ’s nature maintain three claims. First, that well-being has essential properties. Second, that the concept of well-being circumscribes those properties. Third, that well-being theories should capture them exhaustively and exclusively. This predominant position is calledwell-being monism. In opposition, contextualists argue that no overarching concept of well-being referring to a universally applicable well-being standard exists. Such a standard would describe what is good, bad, and neutral, for us without qualification. Instead, well-being research is putatively about ...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Artificial Intelligence Perceptions and Life Satisfaction
AbstractThe paper estimates whether there is any relationship between life satisfaction and people ’s perceptions towards artificial intelligence. Using data from 39 European countries collected in 2021, it is consistently found that people with negative perceptions report lower life satisfaction. This finding is robust across a number of robustness checks. This provides further evidence that p eople may fear some new technologies, in this case artificial intelligence, which adds weight to governments needing to establish moratoriums to openly discuss what the objectives of new science, technologies and innovations are a...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Essentializing Humor and Implications for Pursuing Happiness
AbstractTo what extent an individual holds an essentialist belief about a sense of humor may influence their use of humor and subsequently subjective well-being. We conducted three studies with Chinese adults to examine the effect of suchBelief inEssentialism aboutSense ofHumor (BESH) on people ’s intention to use humor and subjective happiness. Study 1 (n = 333) manipulated BESH and found that high BESH reduced individuals’ likelihood of using humor, especially in negative social contexts. Study 2 (n = 240) showed that the high BESH predicted lower subjective happiness through a low intention to use humor in n...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Longitudinal Effect of Gratitude on Prosocial Behavior among Young Adults: Evidence from the Bi-factor Model of Gratitude
The objective of this study was to explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of affective gratitude and cognitive gratitude on prosocial behavior applying the bi-factor model. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional approach including measurements of affective gratitude, cognitive gratitude and prosocial behavior in a sample of 329 participants (294 females,Mage = 20.02,SDage = 2.38) and revealed that general gratitude but not affective gratitude or cognitive gratitude positively predicted prosocial behavior even after controlling for relevant demographic variables. In study 2, a total of 237 college students (213 fe...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 23, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Responsiveness, Social Connection, Hope, and Life Satisfaction in Everyday Social Interaction: An Experience Sampling Study
AbstractWhat are the specific everyday communication experiences —from across people’s social networks—that contribute to well-being? In the present work, we focus on the effects of perceived partner responsiveness in social interactions on various well-being outcomes. We hypothesized that everyday moments of responsiveness indirectly support two key estima tes of well-being (hope and life satisfaction) through feelings of social connection. Data were obtained in an experience sampling study collected across ten days (N = 120). Results of dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) showed that responsive interact...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 22, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Personal Growth and Life Satisfaction among Arab Mothers After Fertility Treatment – The Role of Stress and Optimism
AbstractProcreation has always been one of the main goals of marriage in Muslim society, where it is a religious obligation. Therefore, the inability to conceive is an extremely stressful experience that is liable to have long-term implications for a woman ’s mental health. These effects may persist even after the problem is resolved and the woman has given birth. The current study therefore examined the personal growth and life satisfaction of Israeli Arab mothers (n = 154) up to two years after childbirth, comparing those who conceived as a result of fertility treatment with those who conceived spontaneously. By comple...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - January 22, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Economic Crises, Subjective Well-Being, and Vote Switching: The Case of Brazil ’s 2018 Presidential Election
AbstractThis paper examines the influence of the 2015 economic crisis on subjective well-being (SWB) and the withdrawal of support for the incumbent party during the 2018 presidential election in Brazil. Using Gallup World Poll data and a post-election national survey conducted by the Center for Studies on Public Opinion, we find that the economic crisis influenced through different channels both SWB and vote switching. Worsening personal economic circumstances explain the decline in SWB in the aftermath of the crisis, while deteriorating perceptions about the economy explain the vote switching during the presidential elec...
Source: Journal of Happiness Studies - December 12, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
