Measuring Subjective Wellbeing

Two types of wellbeing

Psychological interpretation of HWB and EWB

• HWB– Evaluation of how satisfied we are with our lives– Level of positive emotions minus negative emotions

• EWB– Waterman : “living in congruence with ones deepest

values”– Ryff: combinaton of personal growth, environmental

mastery, sense of purpose, autonomy, self acceptance, and positive relations with others

• Some evidence that Greek philosophers were correct...

– Keyes, Shmotkin and Ryff found that HWB and EWB are separate but related concepts

– EWB and HWB correlate differently with demographic and personality variables

EWB, HWB and SWB• Well being is considered subjective as it is

for people to evaluate for themselves the degree of their personal sense of wellness.

• SWB : high level positive affect, low level negative affect, high satisfaction with life.

• Used interchangeably with ‘happiness’• Maximising WB is maximising feelings of

happiness.

How is subjective well-being measured?

Self ReportUsing questionnaires such as:• Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

Watson et al, 1988

• Satisfaction with life scale Pavot & Diener, 1993 • U- Index Kahneman & Kruger, 2006

Environments to conduct self reports

There are a few ways of administering the self report tests

-Experience Sampling Methodology

-Ecological Momentary Assessment

-Day Reconstruction Method

Non self report measures

• Physiological Measures

• Reports from informants

Application of measures of SWB

• “Big five correlates of three measures of subjective well-being “– Hayes & Joseph (2003)

• Measured subjective well-being using:– Oxford happiness Inventory (OHI)– Depression-Happiness Scale (DHS)– Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS)

• Personality– NEO Five Factor Inventory

Application of measures of SWB• Oxford Happiness Inventory Argyle, Martin & Crossland

1989

– 29 items on 4 point scale– “I do not feel happy”...”I am incredibly happy”

• Depression Happiness Scale Joseph & Lewis 1997

– 25 items on 4 point scale– “I felt sad” “I felt cheerful”

• Satisfaction With Life Scale Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin 1985

– 48 items on 7 point scale– “I am satisfied with my life”

Results• Higher Subjective well being related to:

– Higher Extraversion– Lower Neuroticism– Higher Conscientiousness

• OHI predicted by higher E and Lower N• DHS &SWLS predicted by lower N and higher C

Discussion

• Personality an important correlate of subjective well being– Accounts for 32-56% of variance in SWB scores

• Which personality dimension the strongest correlate of SWB?– Depends on which measure of SWB

Measurement of SWB: Conclusion

• Various different measurement scales– Score correlation indicates measurement of same

construct

• Personality an important correlate– High E, low N and High C– Yet different dimensions correlate higher with

different measures