Promoting happiness: The malleability of individual and societal subjective wellbeing

Promoting happiness: The malleability of individual andsocietal subjective wellbeing

Louis Tay1 and Lauren Kuykendall2

1School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore2Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

I s it possible to enhance the subjective wellbeing of individuals and societies? If so, what are the mental health

interventions and economic mechanisms by which subjective wellbeing could be enhanced? We address these

questions in our review of the literature on subjective wellbeing. Research now shows that although subjective wellbeing

is heritable and stable, it can change substantially over time. Long-term changes can be affected by positive or negative

life events; subjective wellbeing interventions have also proved to be effective for boosting wellbeing for as long as six

months. At the societal level, economic factors matter for the subjective wellbeing of citizens. Economic wealth is shown

to be a predictor of societal wellbeing across countries and over time. Also, high unemployment severely lowers the

wellbeing of individuals and has spillover effects on other societal members, such as the employed. Given the weight of

evidence, we are optimistic that subjective wellbeing can be enhanced. For practitioners, policy makers, and economists

interested in the wellbeing of individuals, we propose that these findings have implications for mental health practice and

economic policies. Future research and methodological issues are discussed.

Keywords: Life satisfaction; Positive emotions; Negative emotions; Review; Intervention; GDP; Income;

Unemployment.

E st-il possible d’accroıtre le sentiment de bien-etre des individus et des societes ? Si oui, quelles sont les

interventions en sante mentale et les mecanismes economiques par lesquels le sentiment de bien-etre pourrait etre

accru. Nous avons aborde ces questions dans notre recension des ecrits sur le sentiment de bien-etre. La recherche

montre que meme si le sentiment de bien-etre est heritable et stable, il peut changer significativement avec le temps. Les

changements de longue duree peuvent etre affectes par des evenements positif ou negatifs de l’existence; les

interventions visant a rehausser le sentiment de bien-etre se sont averees effectives sur une periode aussi longue que six

mois. Au niveau societal, les facteurs economiques ont de l’importance pour le sentiment de bien-etre des citoyens. La

richesse economique s’avere un bon predicteur du bien-etre societal a travers les nations et a travers le temps. En outre,

un taux eleve de chomage diminue severement le bien-etre des individus et exerce des effets de contaminations sur le

bien-etre societal en affectant notamment celui des personnes qui exercent un emploi. Cela etant, nous demeurons

optimistes quant aux possibilites d’accroıtre le sentiment de bien-etre. Pour les praticiens, les concepteurs de politiques

et les economistes qui s’interessent au bien-etre des individus, nous soulignons les implications de ces donnees sur les

pratiques en sante mentale de meme que sur la formulation de politiques economiques. De nouvelles recherches ainsi que

les approches methodologiques y sont discutees.

¿Es posible mejorar el bienestar subjetivo de los individuos y las sociedades? Si es ası, ¿con cuales intervenciones de

salud mental y mecanismos economicos se puede mejorar el bienestar subjetivo? Abordamos estas preguntas en

nuestra revision de la literatura sobre el bienestar subjetivo. La investigacion indica ahora que aunque el bienestar

subjetivo es hereditario y estable, puede cambiar de forma sustancial con el tiempo. Los sucesos de vida positivos y

negativos pueden afectar los cambios a largo plazo; se ha probado que las intervenciones para el bienestar subjetivo

tambien son efectivas para impulsar el bienestar hasta por seis meses. Desde el plano social, los factores economicos

importan para el bienestar subjetivo de los ciudadanos. Se ha visto que la abundancia economica es un predictor

del bienestar social, entre paıses y a lo largo del tiempo. Ademas, el alto desempleo disminuye de manera considerable

q 2013 International Union of Psychological Science

Correspondence should be addressed to Louis Tay, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, 703 Third Street, West

Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. (E-mail: [email protected]).

Louis Tay is currently at Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences.

International Journal of Psychology, 2013

Vol. 48, No. 3, 159–176, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2013.779379

el bienestar de los individuos y tiene efectos indirectos en otros miembros de la sociedad, tales como los empleados.

Dado el peso de la evidencia, somos optimistas de que se puede mejorar el bienestar subjetivo. Para los profesionistas

que ejercen, responsables de las polıticas y economistas interesados en el bienestar de los individuos, proponemos que

estos hallazgos tienen implicaciones para el ejercicio profesional en salud mental y las polıticas economicas. Se discute

la investigacion futura y los asuntos metodologicos.

Philosophers and religious thinkers have long

considered the topic of happiness. However, over

the past half century, empirical research on happiness

has developed because of the efforts of psychologists

as well as of specialists in allied fields. In this

literature, happiness is referred to as subjective

wellbeing (SWB), which encompasses cognitive and

affective components that reflect the sense of wellness

of individuals (Diener, 1984). The cognitive SWB

component includes overall life evaluations and the

affective SWB component includes the presence of

positive emotions and the absence of negative

emotions.

Higher levels of SWB reflect optimal functioning

and are valued by both individuals and society

(Diener, 2000; Diener & Seligman, 2004). Surveys

have shown that many people across the world are

concerned more about happiness than about money

(Diener, 2000). Further, accumulating evidence

shows that there are many positive outcomes

associated with SWB (Diener & Tay, 2012). For

instance, higher levels can lead to productivity,

success, and health (Diener & Chan, 2011; Judge,

Thoreson, Bono, & Patton, 2001; Lyubomirsky, King,

& Diener, 2005). Given the value of SWB, policy

makers and economists in many countries are now

reconsidering the traditional emphasis on economic

indices. Instead, they are beginning to be concerned

about how SWB of individuals and societies can be

enhanced.

In view of this, the goal of our paper is to review the

literature on subjective wellbeing with these questions

in mind: Is it possible to enhance the wellbeing of

individuals and societies? If so, what are the mental

health interventions and economic mechanisms by

which SWB could be enhanced (cf. Seligman, Steen,

Park, & Peterson, 2005)?

Our review is structured as follows. First, we

examine the stability and malleability of SWB at the

individual level. The literature shows that although

there is a component of SWB that is heritable, SWB

can change over the life course and can be improved

with interventions. We discuss the role of mental

health practices inspired by these findings. Second,

we identify the economic determinants of SWB at the

societal level. Specifically, we evaluate whether

enhancing wealth and lowering unemployment are

related to SWB. We discuss how policy makers and

economists can benefit from these findings.

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL: STABILITY ANDMALLEABILITY OF SWB

When we think about happiness, our minds often float

to examples of people in our lives who are happy

regardless of where they are at, or people who are

unhappy no matter the occasion. It is often difficult to

imagine how someone could become happier given

their predisposition, unless in a fictional case such as

Charles Dickens’ tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, who was

transformed by the Ghosts of Christmas and

converted from a miserly, cynical man to a generous

and happy one. However, does science confirm our

assumptions of the immutability of happiness?

The question of whether we can become happier is a

very important one for applied and policy consider-

ations. Can long-lasting changes in SWB be induced?

Or are changes a fleeting apparition that disappears in

the next moment? If the experience of SWB is solely a

predisposition, trying to enhance happiness will be a

futile exercise. Conclusive evidence that SWB is

purely dispositional would confirm the famous

assertion that “trying to be happier is as futile as trying

to be taller” (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996, p. 189). The

latter view does not suggest that happiness is static;

rather, it proposes that interventions do not leave an

indelible mark on individuals’ happiness—much like

wearing high heels will elevate an individual

temporarily but not permanently.

With growing research in this area, the empirical

evidence shows that happiness is not an unchangeable

trait. In this section, we review several lines of

evidence that show that while there are individual

differences in SWB levels, SWB is substantially

malleable in the long run. The evidence we review

includes heritability studies, longitudinal studies, life

event studies, and studies based on experimental

interventions.

Heritability studies

One way of determining whether happiness is due to

inherited genetic material is to compare monozygotic

and dizygotic twins in same and different family

environments. An early study of US twins reared

TAY AND KUYKENDALL160

either apart or together found that the heritability of

SWB was .48 (Tellegen et al., 1988). This suggested

that 48% of the observed differences in SWB scores

are attributable to differences in genetic material. This

value has been corroborated in other studies that have

found heritability estimates in the range of .38 to .52

for individuals in the US and The Netherlands.

(Lykken & Tellegen, 1996; Stubbe, Posthuma,

Boomsma, & De Geus, 2005), with small or no

differences found between men and women in a

Norwegian sample (Roysamb, Harris, Magnus,

Vitterso, & Tambs, 2002; Roysamb, Tambs, Reich-

born-Kuennerud, Neale, & Harris, 2003). In line with

this perspective that SWB is trait-like, it was found

that genetic effects underlying differences in SWB

also underlie variability in scores of the five factor

model of personality in a US sample. This evidence

suggests common genes affecting personality and

wellbeing (Weiss, Bates, & Luciano, 2008).

By contrast, shared environmental contribution to

SWB—or the effects of being raised in a similar home

environment—in the abovementioned studies has

been found to be negligible (US sample: Lykken &

Tellegen, 1996; Norwegian sample: Roysamb et al.,

2002), around .15 at most (Norwegian sample:

Roysamb et al., 2003; Dutch sample: Stubbe et al.,

2005). Because heritability estimates are substantially

larger than shared environmental estimates, it is

tempting to conclude that SWB is dependent only on

immutable inborn predispositions. That is, how happy

an individual is depends on genes rather than external

conditions. However, the conclusion that circum-

stances do not matter is too strong for several reasons.

First, variance partitioning studies often assume

that inherited genetic material (i.e., DNA) is the

underlying substrate of psychophysiological systems;

DNA is deemed to be fixed at birth and to exert an

immutable influence on behaviors. However, this

assumption is simplistic in light of advances in

molecular biology (Roberts & Jackson, 2008;

Robinson, 2004). DNA encases information on how

proteins should be built but requires the cellular

environment around it to actually synthesize proteins,

which build and maintain physiological systems that

lead to behaviors downstream. Throughout this

process, environments can directly affect protein

production (e.g., nutrition), influencing the behavioral

expression of DNA. Therefore, environments can

directly influence the extent to which inherited

genetic material affects SWB throughout the lifespan.

A recent study using a variance partitioning paradigm

in a US sample has demonstrated that the relative

contribution of genes to the experience of emotions is

moderated by environmental factors. Negative

emotionality as well as lack of positive emotionality

were more attributable to genetic and shared

environmental factors when there were high levels

of parental conflict, whereas at low levels of parental

conflict, both negative and positive emotionality were

primarily attributable to genetic factors (Krueger,

South, Johnson, & Iacono, 2008). Clearly, more

studies that directly specify environmental features

that could affect the genetic expression of SWB are

required.

Second, many of the studies available have been

cross-sectional or correlational. One can conclude

from them that genetic factors are important, in the

sense that SWB levels at a particular point in time are

more similar in monozygotic twins as compared to

dizygotic twins. Yet there is less direct evidence that

individuals have a particular inborn SWB set point.

Only longitudinal studies can directly determine

whether individual set points are unchanging. To

conclude that individuals have a set point level of

SWB based on heritability studies one must assume

genetic immutability leading to unchanging SWB.

However, it is equally plausible that there is a genetic

blueprint for how SWB levels change over the course

of a lifespan. In this sense, strong genetic factors do

not necessarily imply a fixed, invariable set point.

If, however, we are willing to assume that an

unchanging set point does exist across the lifespan, to

what extent would genetic factors contribute to this

stability? Based on the retest correlations calculated

after five to 10 years, it was estimated that the

heritability was 80% (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996; Nes,

Roysamb, Tambs, Harris, & Reichborn-Kjennerud,

2006; US and Norwegian samples, respectively). It is

important to emphasize that the retest correlations

were about .50. Therefore, in these studies, only about

50% of the variance over time is stable, and out of this

about 80% can be accounted for by a genetic

component. Almost 60% of the variability in SWB

over time is left unaccounted for and it is unlikely that

all of the variance is error; that is, some of it is likely

attributable to environmental factors. A subsequent

study with a larger US sample and a time frame of five

years found heritability effects although they were

substantially lower, ranging from 27% to 45% for life

evaluations and emotions (Johnson, McGue, &

Krueger, 2005). Overall, this suggests that there are

heritability effects that lead to retest stability.

However, they are not overwhelming.

Third, the use of correlations in the abovemen-

tioned heritability studies limits the conclusions that

can be drawn about the invariability of SWB. In these

studies, rank-order consistency over time was

evaluated rather than mean level equivalence (Roberts

& DelVecchio, 2000). Large environmental

changes—such as economic downturn—can affect

the studied cohort on mean levels but this would not

be detected using correlations as the entire cohort may

PROMOTING HAPPINESS 161

be similarly affected (cf. Inglehart, Foa, Peterson, &

Welzel, 2008).

Therefore, the conclusion that happiness is fixed

and unchangeable from genetic studies is too strong.

Because of advances in molecular biology, it is now

known that conventional methods of variance

partitioning may give inflated estimates of herit-

ability, and it has been suggested that future research

needs to identify specific environmental factors so

that more sophisticated models can be tested (Roberts

& Jackson, 2008). For example, the study by Krueger

and colleagues (2008) identified conflict as a

dimension of environmental variability. Although

there is evidence for heritability, there is still a

substantial amount of variance that is left unac-

counted for over time. This suggests that environ-

mental factors can play a role. In fact, Lykken (1999)

later admitted that happiness can be changed within

“wide limits.”

Longitudinal studies

As we have argued, the existence of a heritability

effect in twin studies does not necessarily imply an

unchanging set point for SWB, even if the heritability

effect is strong. Instead, longitudinal studies provide

more direct evidence on this issue. In this section, we

focus on those that analyze the stability and variability

of SWB over time.

The idea of an invariant set point is not merely an

argument from genetic determinism but a broader

notion that existed in the early SWB literature under

the label of the hedonic treadmill—the tendency to

return to a relatively stable level of happiness fairly

quickly after experiencing positive or negative life

changes or events (Brickman & Campbell, 1971).

Apart from a physiological argument that proposes

that prolonged SWB offsets are unsustainable, there

are also arguments that cognitive forces such as social

comparison (e.g., conditions of friends or colleagues)

and temporal comparisons (e.g., past conditions) lead

to a reversion to the baseline. In an excellent review

on this topic, it has been proposed that set points are

malleable but also exhibit stability (see Diener, Lucas,

& Scollon, 2006). In this review, we go beyond the

past review by examining the relative estimates of

these effects.

One way of examining stability is to use retest

correlations over long time frames such as a period of

10 to 20 years. Because SWB measures are highly

reliable (i.e., 0.80–0.90; Diener, Inglehart, & Tay,

2012; Pavot & Diener, 1993), long-term retest

correlations represent rank-order stabilities. Analysis

of retest correlations of 26 studies from several

continents showed that they shrink to about .15 to .20

in the long run (Veenhoven, 1994). An updated meta-

analysis of 38 samples showed a similar value of

around .20 in the long run on the correlation–time

plot (Schimmack & Oishi, 2005). This is substantially

lower than retest correlations for personality traits,

which have been estimated to be around .41 to .49

over time intervals of 10 to 20 years (Roberts &

DelVecchio, 2000). This line of evidence strongly

suggests that SWB is changeable over time and is not

as trait-like (relative to Big Five personality traits) as

has been suggested by heritability studies. It is

important to note that after correcting for measure-

ment error the retest correlations for SWB will be

higher—estimated at .30 to .40—indicating that a

non-negligible percentage of variance is stable,

although there is malleability in SWB scores.

Similar results have been found in studies using

sophisticated statisticalmodels to estimate not only the

stability but also the variability in SWB after

accounting for measurement error (Ehrhardt, Saris, &

Veenhoven, 2000; Lucas & Donnellan, 2007; Schim-

mack, Krause, Wagner, & Schupp, 2010). In an early

study, Ehrhardt and colleagues (2000) analyzed the

German Socioeconomic Panel (GSEOP) data consist-

ing of yearly surveys from 1984 to 1994. They

estimated that the trait component accounts for about

30% of SWB whereas life changes explained another

30%. In a subsequent analysis of the same data using a

different model, it was estimated that 40% of the

variability represents trait variance and 23% represents

occasion-specific variability (Schimmack et al., 2010).

In a later study, Lucas and Donnellan (2007) analyzed

the GSEOP and the British House Panel Survey

(BHPS) that spanned over 20 years. They found that

the stable component of SWB was about 34%–38%

and that an autoregressive trait, representingmoderate-

term change, was at around 29%–34% (Lucas &

Donnellan, 2007). Therefore, the results are very

consistent. Using different structural models that

account for measurement error, the stable component

of SWB accounts for around 30% to 40% of the

variance and another 30% to 40% represents

variability. This shows that environments have

potentially a large influence on SWB over time.

Life event studies

If SWB is fairly malleable in the long run, it is

important to identify environmental antecedents that

lead to its change. One way of studying this issue is by

examining how naturally occurring major life events

such as marriage, widowhood, disability, and

unemployment can potentially change SWB. In this

section, we review key studies that have been

conducted on life events and SWB.

An influential study by Brickman, Coates, and

Janoff-Bulman (1978) concluded that US lottery


winners and paraplegic accident victims were no

happier or less well off than controls, suggesting that

major life events—positive or negative—have little to

no effects. It is important to note that the sample size

for this study was very small, about 20 participants in

each condition. Further, paraplegics scored signifi-

cantly lower than controls and lottery winners on

current life satisfaction but the scores were not lower

than expected. Therefore, the conclusions drawn are

equivocal. In view of these limitations, Headey and

Wearing (1989) used a large Australian panel study

and instead found that, over time, favorable and

unfavorable life events contributed to all three

components of SWB (with the exception of the effect

of favorable circumstances on negative emotions)

beyond personality factors. This provided strong

initial evidence that naturally occurring life events

can change SWB levels.

Yet what specific types of favorable or unfavorable

life events impact SWB most? Lucas (2007a)

reviewed his own research, from British and German

samples, on the extent to which individuals adapt to a

potentially positive event such as marriage and to

negative events such as widowhood, divorce,

unemployment, and disability (Lucas, 2005, 2007b;

Lucas & Clark, 2006; Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, &

Diener, 2003, 2004). We make two main observations

from Lucas’s studies. First, with the exception of

marriage and divorce, individuals were significantly

affected by the various life events in the long run with

little evidence of adaptation. Second, life events with

greater severity influenced SWB more: For instance,

disability lowered SWB with larger effects for severe

disability. Overall, the evidence suggests that specific

life events do impact SWB and leave an indelible

mark.

However, there are some limitations to the

examination of the effect of life events on SWB

despite the intuitiveness of this approach. A recent

meta-analysis representing a wide range of countries

examined a larger set of life events—marriage,

divorce, bereavement, childbirth, unemployment,

reemployment, retirement, and relocation/migration

—on the cognitive and affective components of SWB

(Luhmann, Hofman, Eid, & Lucas, 2012). It found

that life events impact the components of SWB

differentially. For some life events (e.g., bereave-

ment), cognitive wellbeing and affective wellbeing

were influenced in the same direction but at different

magnitudes. For example, bereavement had stronger

negative effects on cognitive wellbeing than on

affective wellbeing. For other life events, only one

component of SWB was influenced. For instance,

unemployment reduced cognitive wellbeing but not

affective wellbeing. Finally, some life events

influenced cognitive and affective wellbeing in

opposite directions. Childbirth led to increased

affective wellbeing and decreased cognitive well-

being. Further, the extent to which individuals adapt

also differs depending on the life event. Based on

these findings, Luhmann et al. (2012) suggested that

“events cannot generally be classified as desirable or

undesirable” (p. 612). Although SWB is impacted by

life events, future research needs to examine the

underlying psychological connections between life

events and SWB.We propose that researchers attempt

to measure psychological interpretations of events

such as their valence, intensity, and expectancy

(anticipated vs. non-anticipated).

Experimental interventions

The analysis of effect of life events on SWB is

valuable but may not necessarily capture effects of the

impact exerted by life environments. This is because

individual dispositions can lead individuals to choose

specific contexts that could increase the probability of

certain life events. For instance, through their choices,

happier people have more positive life outcomes

(Lyubomirsky, King, et al., 2005) and by extension

choose contexts where they encounter more positive

life events, or fewer negative life events (cf.

Fredrickson, 2001). In support of this idea, it was

found that personality was related to the number of

favorable and unfavorable life events encountered,

leading to a conceptual model where individual

dispositions underlie SWB set points and life events;

life events may in turn affect SWB (Headey &

Wearing, 1989). A stronger test for environmental

effects can be made by experimental interventions.

In general, because of the practical difficulties

involved in intervening in the circumstances of

individuals (e.g., changing a person’s financial

situation), SWB interventions have focused on

encouraging individuals to engage in positive

behavioral or cognitive exercises to boost happiness

(also, there are ethical issues in trying to lower SWB).

Several researchers such as Lyubormirsky, Sheldon,

and Seligman have significantly advanced research on

this issue and we highlight their key findings here (see

reviews by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005;

Seligman, et al., 2005; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky,

2007).

The key motivation behind the use of positive

exercises is the idea that a substantial part of SWB is

driven by positive goals and intentional activities

(Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005; Sheldon &

Lyubomirsky, 2007). Interventions that elicit positive

behavioral, cognitive, and volitional changes can lead

to higher sustained SWB. By contrast, changes in life

circumstances may make small changes in happiness

in the long run. In a sample of students from a US


university, Sheldon and Lyubormirsky (2006) showed

that positive activity change at the start of the

semester (i.e., adoption of new positive goal or

activity) predicted rank order gains six weeks later as

well as their maintenance after 12 weeks. By contrast,

positive circumstance change (i.e., changes in living

arrangements, finances, or course load) did not. This

study demonstrated two important points. First,

happiness can be changed and sustained over

substantial time periods. Second, intentional activities

are a promising path to enhancing happiness.

However, because participants were not randomly

assigned to the experimental or control conditions, it

is still difficult to rule out person effects.

In view of this, Seligman and colleagues (2005)

showed that participants randomly assigned to

positive exercises—the use of character strengths in

a new way for one week and writing down three good

things that went well every day for a week—were

found to have higher happiness and lower depressive

symptoms over six months compared to the controls

who wrote about their early memories every night for

a week. A largely convenience sample of US visitors

to the study website was used for this experiment. In

another study with adults from a US university town,

Sheldon and colleagues (2010) demonstrated that

compared to controls, individuals in the treatment

condition who focused on increasing their sense of

autonomy, competence, and relatedness reported

gains in happiness over six months. Therefore, when

goals satisfy psychological needs, SWB is likely to

increase. Because these studies employed random

assignment, they provide evidence that happiness can

be enhanced, especially when the interventions focus

on need-satisfying goals and positive activities.

Similar studies have revealed enhanced SWB across

a wide range of interventions and populations,

including loving-kindness meditation (sample: cultu-

rally diverse software corporation employees; Freder-

ickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008),

relaxation exercises (sample: culturally diverse

group of teachers; Kaspereen, 2012), gratitude

exercises (sample: undergraduates at a US university

and US adults with neuromuscular disease; Emmons

& McCullough, 2003), and mindfulness exercises

(sample: undergraduates at a US university; Shapiro,

Brown, Thoresen, & Plante, 2011).

However, some happiness intervention studies

employing random assignment have not been

effective, such as the one carried out with

undergraduates at a US university by Sheldon,

Kasser, Smith, and Share (2002). In this study there

was no significant intervention main effect, but an

interaction effect was found such that participants

already high in goal attainment benefited most from

the intervention whatever the condition to which they

had been assigned. This suggests that the effective-

ness of interventions may rely on certain person

characteristics.

Lyubormirsky and colleagues (2011) designed an

experiment to directly test person £ intervention

effects in an ethnically diverse sample of randomly

assigned US university students. Individuals who self-

selected to engage in a happiness intervention

(expressing optimism and gratitude) and completed

the treatment were happier immediately after the

intervention and six months later than participants in a

control condition. Further, individuals who put in

more effort to the tasks were happier in the treatment

condition but not the control condition (Lyubomirsky,

Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2011). Lyubor-

mirsky and colleagues concluded that it takes both “a

will and a way” to be happy. To improve SWB,

individuals need to be sufficiently motivated to

engage in positive exercises. However, these exer-

cises need to be structured correctly, because sheer

motivation alone will not enhance happiness.

Several features influence whether interventions

are optimally structured (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon,

et al., 2005). First, the choice of an intentional

activity needs to fit well with the individual’s

personality, interests, values, and other key charac-

teristics. In a study using students in a US community

college, interventions that have high goal–person fit

have been shown to be more successful than

interventions lacking fit (Fordyce, 1977, 1983).

Further, goal–person fit has been shown to moderate

the relationship between goal attainment and

enhanced happiness, also in a sample of US university

students (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999; Sheldon & Kasser,

1998). Second, the activity must be structured to

counteract the effects of hedonic adaptation. Lyubor-

mirsky and colleagues (2005) suggest two features

that may help: variety and timing. Adding variety to

implementation of intentional activities provides

fresh experiences in the context of habitual activity.

For instance, an individual who has chosen the

activity of bike riding may feel the effects of

adaptation less strongly if he regularly tries new trails

and routes than if he rides the same path every day.

The timing and frequency of intentional activities are

also important. If a person engages in the same

intentional activity (e.g., gratitude exercises) day after

day, the activity may lose its effect. In a study using

an acts-of-kindness intervention (Lyubomirsky,

Tkach, & Sheldon, 2004) on US participants,

individuals assigned to commit five acts of kindness

in a single day each week for six weeks experienced

happiness enhancements, whereas individuals

assigned to spread five acts of kindness out over the

course of each week for six weeks did not. Similar

effects were found for gratitude interventions in the


same study. These studies show the importance of

timing in optimizing happiness interventions. To

maximize gains in happiness, interventions should

have good person–activity fit and should be

implemented with particular attention to variety and

timing.

Most experimental studies have used convenience

samples rather than random probability sampling or

more diverse samples. Although this practice is

common in the field of psychology and behavior

sciences more generally, some may question the

generalizability of the intervention effects (Boehnke,

Lietz, Schreier, & Wilhelm, 2011; Henrich, Heine, &

Norenzayan, 2010). While this is a possible concern,

we believe that these positive findings on a thin slice

of humanity demonstrate that interventions can work.

As interest in happiness interventions generates more

momentum, studies will eventually be conducted on

more diverse samples and in different settings (e.g.,

Boehm, Lyubomirsky, & Sheldon, 2011). In the

future, we expect to have a clearer understanding of

when interventions work most effectively.

Implications for mental health promotion

Mental health practice has conventionally empha-

sized rectifying deficits rather than building psycho-

logical strengths and promoting SWB. This emphasis

is entrenched in the broader context of the biomedical

model where diseases are diagnosed and treated.

However, there is growing awareness that the absence

of deficits or disease is not necessarily the picture of

health. In view of this, there are calls for general

mental health promotion strategies that involve

comprehensive programs that target multiple life

domains (e.g., parenting, relationships) and contexts

(e.g., education, community, family) (Flay, 2002;

Kobau et al., 2011; Yates & Masten, 2004). We

emphasize mental health promotion in the context of

mental health services. In this section, we address

how practitioners can apply mental health promotion

techniques and identify other areas of research that are

needed to promote rigorous science-based practice.

Our review shows that the SWB of individuals is

malleable not simply because of naturally occurring

life events; SWB levels are also sensitive to

interventions. We can therefore be confident that the

application of cognitive and behavioral techniques

such as engaging in behaviors aligned with character

strengths, expressing optimism/gratitude, and reflect-

ing on positive events can significantly improve

mental health over periods of up to six months. A key

issue, as with all clinical practice, is how to increase

the level of engagement throughout the entire

intervention period. One possibility is to have

participants make verbal and written commitments

to complete SWB exercises (Putnam, Finney,

Barkley, & Bonner, 1994). Another possibility is to

elicit the help of participant networks to support

individuals through the intervention process to

improve adherence (DiMatteo, 2004). More research

is needed to determine whether these suggestions bear

fruit in practice. Additionally, screening measures of

positive mental health can be incorporated into

clinical settings to detect and evaluate positive

clinical practice (e.g., Diener et al., 2009).

Further determination of the relative efficacy of the

strategies is needed. Although SWB exercises fulfill

needs that are pancultural—that is, needs such as

social affiliation, autonomy, and a sense of respect

have been found to raise SWB across a worldwide

sample (Tay & Diener, 2011)—there are reasons to

believe that not all interventions are equally effective,

depending on the societal contexts in which they are

applied. Cultural differences can lead to differences in

goals, priorities, and values which may in turn

moderate intervention effectiveness (Diener & Suh,

2000). Boehm and colleagues (Boehm, Lyubomirsky,

& Sheldon, 2011) hypothesized that gratitude

interventions would be more effective than optimism

for Asian Americans compared to Anglo Americans,

because gratitude is more interpersonal than intra-

personal and consistent with a collectivistic mindset.

Congruent with this, their randomized experiment

showed that while both interventions were effective

for both groups, the optimism strategy was less

effective for Asian Americans.

Another important area of research is identifying

personality factors that are associated with reactivity

and adaptation processes. Individual differences in

personality can moderate the extent to which life

events impact SWB; they can also moderate the

effectiveness of interventions. In his review, Lucas

(2007a) found substantial individual differences in the

reactivity and speed of adaption to life events.

Individuals may have dispositional differences in

emotional lability and the ability to regulate emotions

(Chow, Ram, Boker, Fujita, & Clore, 2005). Or

personality factors could underlie emotional varia-

bility (Kuppens, Van Mechelen, Nezlek, Dossche, &

Timmermans, 2007). Indeed, it was proposed that

individuals can change in their set points, particularly

those who are high on extraversion and neuroticism

(Headey, 2008). One way to examine this question is

to use latent class modeling (e.g., growth mixture

modeling) to examine different trajectories in

response to events. One can then examine the

situational and personal factors that are linked to the

trajectories. The identification of factors can help

practitioners understand underlying vulnerabilities or

strengths. More recent research is using a person-

oriented approach to examine SWB (e.g., Busseri,


Sadava, Molnar, & DeCourville, 2009; Tay, Diener,

Drasgow, & Vermunt, 2011). With regard to

interventions, future research needs to use person-

oriented approaches to determine what types of SWB

interventions work best for different types of people

(Meehl, 1992).

Societal-level: Economic factors and themalleability of SWB

The popular magazine The Economist recently

debated this matter and concluded that SWB needs

to be a key indicator of societal progress and a chief

goal for policy makers (Economic debates: GDP,

2010; Schwartz, 2012). Although improving the

quality of life is a desideratum, economic quality of

life measures such as gross domestic product (GDP)

and unemployment rate do not directly index societal

wellbeing. As such, subjective measures need to be

utilized at a national level to complement existing

indicators (Diener & Seligman, 2004; Kahneman &

Krueger, 2006). To understand how SWB interfaces

with the traditional emphasis on economic indicators,

we review research in this area. Because there are a

wide variety of economic indicators, we limit our

review to wealth and labor market forces, which have

been key topics of interest to economists (Frey &

Stutzer, 2002).

Economic wealth and SWB

The topic of economic wealth and SWB is inherently

controversial because of concerns that the pursuit of

money erodes human values and facilitates environ-

mental degradation. On the other hand, economic

wealth is a necessary means for obtaining valued

commodities and conveniences and is important in

this sense. Disregarding the differences in individual

values underlying the pursuit of economic wealth,

there are reasons to be skeptical as to whether

economic prosperity will actually lead to happiness. It

has been proposed that economic wealth is unrelated

to SWB for two connected reasons (Easterlin, 1974,

1995). First, the aspirational argument suggests that

wealth creates higher expectations so that relatively

more wealth is needed for a similar increase in SWB.

This attenuates the relation between money and SWB.

Second, individuals may not experience greater SWB

because of social comparisons. Although there is an

increase in country wealth, such that all individuals

may be richer on an absolute level, they may not be

richer on a comparative level because of a net increase

in wealth. This leads to stable levels of SWB despite

income growth.

By contrast, there are arguments for expecting a

relation between economic prosperity and SWB.

First, economic wealth improves individual con-

ditions—the ability to purchase basic necessities and

afford luxuries—which can increase SWB. At a

societal level, wealth can produce better infrastructure

in telecommunications, transportation, sanitation,

health care, education, civil services, and social

safety nets. In turn, more people are likely to have

their basic needs met and enjoy modern conveniences.

Second, another argument that to our knowledge has

not been mentioned before is that aspirational

processes are framed in a positive manner. That is,

gains in wealth are not associated with SWB whereas

losses can create larger decrements of SWB because

of aspirations. Prospect theory posits that individuals

are more sensitive to losses than to gains (Kahneman

& Tversky, 1979). With high income to begin with,

decreases in income will lead to even stronger

decrements in SWB because individuals have higher

standards at the onset. Third, the social comparison

argument posits that individuals consistently use

others as a standard for evaluating life satisfaction.

However, there are other standards (i.e., the past) that

individuals can use that may lead to higher SWB.

Also, it has been suggested that standards for income

are similar across countries because of migration,

globalization, and the homogenizing effect of media

(Becchetti, Castriota, & Giachin, 2011). Because of

the rise in information availability, the good life

becomes inherently evaluable and absolute compari-

sons rather than social comparison processes are

likely (Hsee & Zhang, 2010).

There are good conceptual arguments on both

sides. However, the arguments for a nonrelation

between SWB and economic wealth emphasize

psychological processes that may not be uniformly

true of every individual. Counterprocesses can create

a positive relation between income and SWB. Further,

life circumstances tangibly improve with individual

and societal incomes. In the previous section, we

reviewed research showing that SWB is substantially

malleable and that situations can account for a

proportion of variance in SWB scores that is

comparable to person effects. It is likely then that

societal wealth and corresponding improvements to

infrastructure can lead to happiness. More recent

evidence now strongly favors the argument that the

relation between SWB and income is not negligible

but positive and substantial for SWB, although limits

to income effects may be present at higher levels (e.g.,

Kahneman & Deaton, 2010). An excellent review

examining evidence for the relation between income

and SWB was written by Diener and Biswas-Diener

(2002) (see also Clark, Frijters, & Shields, 2008). We

focus on the key findings of this review as well as on

subsequent empirical research.


Hence, the relation between economic wealth and

SWB can be evaluated based on several types of

studies: (a) within-country studies; (b) between-

country studies; (c) studies on changes in income and

SWB; and (d) studies on distributions of income and

SWB. We discuss findings from these studies and the

potential moderators and mediators of the income–

SWB relation.

Within-country studies

These studies have shown that the correlations

between income and SWB are consistently positive,

averaging a value of around .20 across multiple

studies (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). In a recent

meta-analysis on pay and wellbeing at work, the

correlations between pay and each of job satisfaction

(r ¼ 0.15) and pay satisfaction (r ¼ 0.23) were

estimated to be in the same ballpark (sample: wide

range of countries, majority US: Judge, Piccolo,

Podsakoff, Shaw, & Rich, 2010). Such values have

been traditionally regarded as small as they account

for only a small percentage of the variance, resulting

in the view that income does not buy happiness.

However, a recent German study and a nationally

representative worldwide poll showed that small

correlations can translate into large mean differences

ranging from 1.0 to 1.5 standard deviations between

the rich and poor on SWB (Lucas & Schimmack,

2009). Clearly, this shows that income has large

effects on SWB. One interesting issue is that less is

known about the practical effects of such large mean-

level differences with regard to behavioral correlates.

Large differences in mean levels could be manifest in

large differences in the counts of positive behaviors,

such as acts of kindness, at a group level (cf.

Fredrickson, 2004). Therefore, more research is

required to determine how this might affect SWB

outcomes.

Of late, a frequently cited study by Kahneman and

Deaton (2010) demonstrated that an annual US

income above $75,000 did not discernibly improve

affective SWB although it did improve cognitive

SWB. One possible limitation of the study is that

affective SWB and cognitive SWB were measured

using different response formats which could be a

potential confound: Affective SWB was measured

asking about feelings experienced “yesterday” with

dichotomous “yes/no” indicators whereas cognitive

SWB was measured on overall life evaluation using a

0–10 point scale. Another issue is that affective SWB

represented proportions of individuals within the

population because of the dichotomous response

formats. Therefore annual income beyond $75,000

did not substantially improve the proportions of

individuals endorsing affective SWB. For example,

positive affect endorsements reached around 90%

after $75,000. Future research can determine whether

this is primarily due to income satiation or whether a

population threshold of happiness is reached (that is,

regardless of the circumstances, there remains a

proportion of [base rate of] unhappy people).

Between-country studies

There is an inherent limitation to using within-country

studies to evaluate the strength of relation between

national economic wealth and SWB. In particular,

because analyses are conducted at the level of

individuals, it is not known whether these generalize

to the societal level. Making unwarranted inferences

from the individual to the societal level has been

known as the individualistic fallacy (Inglehart &

Welzel, 2003). In particular, within-country analyses

omit to consider differences in broad between-country

contexts. For example, Luhmann, Schimmack, and

Eid (2011) used a within-country (British) sample and

found that trait effects were very large for income and

SWB, whereas the occasion (or external conditions)

effects between income and SWB were very small.

Their conclusion was that there is a common

dispositional factor underlying income and SWB,

with little effect of external conditions. While this

inference is correct based on the evidence at hand,

only individual conditions within a country were

examined, and between-country conditions were not

accounted for. Country external conditions could still

be a large determinant for SWB at the aggregate level.

In the case of economic wealth, a relation may or may

not hold across countries despite positive relations at

the individual level.

Analyses between countries on economic wealth

(measured by per capita GDP or purchasing power

parity) and SWB show strong positive correlations.

The eight studies reviewed by Diener and Biswas-

Diener (2002) showed correlations ranging from .15

to .70, averaging .60. The number of countries

examined in the studies ranged from nine to 64, most

of which were representative of all major world

regions. More recently, Deaton (2008) analyzed a

larger sample of 132 countries from the 2006 Gallup

World Poll (GWP), where there is a larger spread of

country incomes. He showed that log GDP was

strongly associated with life satisfaction at .84. This

provides strong evidence that income and SWB are

related. We propose that the conceptual arguments for

income predicting SWB are stronger than arguments

for SWB predicting income. Specifically, it is difficult

to consider that happiness of a nation is the sole driver

of economic wealth as observed across nations,

without reciprocal causal effects from economic

wealth on national happiness. In spite of this, this


evidence has not convinced all researchers on the

causal direction (e.g., Easterlin & Sawangfa, 2010;

Layard, Mayraz, & Nickell, 2010). Instead, stronger

evidence for income leading to SWB requires

analyses over time.

Changes in income and SWB

Easterlin proposed that changes in income do not

produce corresponding changes in SWB (Easterlin,

1974, 1995; Easterlin & Sawangfa, 2010). Case

studies such as the United States serve as examples,

showing growing wealth over time but little progress

in terms of happiness (Myers, 2000). These findings

however have been contested in other worldwide

studies that have found support for a positive relation

between economic prosperity and SWB over time

(Hagerty & Veenhoven, 2003; Inglehart, et al., 2008;

Stevenson & Wolfers, 2008; Veenhoven & Hagerty,

2006).

Diener, Tay, and Oishi (2013) have recently

highlighted several issues that underlie the contrasting

findings. First, as the samples used at the country level

are small, the selection of countries will determine

which time trends are found. Further, as inconsistent

measures are combined across time, method effects

could play out in time trends. Finally, GDP may not

be the best index of country wealth because country

income as measured by GDP may not necessarily be

translated into household wealth on average. To

overcome these limitations, Diener et al. used the

GWP of 135 nations, representative of all inhabited

world regions and 94% of the world’s population,

surveyed across 2005 to 2011. They demonstrated that

GDP and household income are strongly related on

average (aggregated over time) but only weakly

related longitudinally. By using multilevel modeling,

they could differentiate wealth changes from

averages. GDP predicted 89% of the household

income variance on average, but GDP growth

predicted only 18% of household changes over time.

This suggests that GDP growth is not always

translated to household income on a yearly basis.

Importantly, income was related to SWB on average

and over time. Further, cross-lagged analyses

demonstrated that income predicted future SWB

rather than vice versa. Analyzing the differential

effect of income on the separate dimensions of SWB

revealed that the effects of income were stronger for

life evaluations rather than affective dimensions of

SWB. This is consistent with the worldwide cross-

sectional analysis representing 123 countries and all

inhabited world regions by Tay and Diener (2011) in

which log household income correlated more with life

evaluations (r ¼ 0.40) than with positive feelings

(r ¼ 0.10) or negative feelings (r ¼ 20.07). These

findings suggest that household changes in income do

lead to changes in SWB.

Distribution of societal income and SWB

In addition to the link between measures of objective

wealth (e.g., GDP and income) and SWB, several

researchers have explored the link between measures

of relative wealth and SWB. Drawing from empirical

evidence on the influence of social comparisons on

SWB, Hagerty (2000) suggested that income inequal-

ity may impact SWB in addition to one’s objective

level of income. In a nationally representative study

of the United States, he found that the range

(specifically a higher maximum value) and higher

skew of income distribution in a community was

associated with decreased happiness above and

beyond household income. These findings were

replicated in a second study of eight countries (the

United States, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands,

France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Japan).

Decreasing the inequality in a country (as measured

by decreased skew) resulted in increased average

national SWB. In both studies, objective income level

explained more variance in SWB than relative income

level. Other studies have yielded similar findings on

the influence of relative income on SWB (e.g., US

samples: Dynan & Ravina, 2007; Luttmer, 2005;

European sample: Ebert & Welsch, 2009). Therefore,

these studies suggest that the relationship between

income and SWB is influenced by both objective and

relative levels of income.

To conclude, across different types of research, the

evidence strongly suggests that a positive relation

between income and SWB—particularly economic

wealth and SWB—exists. Although adaptation and

social comparisons processes may be present, they do

not entirely eliminate the relation between economic

wealth and SWB. Because adaptation and social

comparison processes are often invoked to explain the

lack of association, we propose that more research be

conducted to directly examine, via self-reports, the

extent to which individuals make income compari-

sons and with whom they compare themselves.

Indeed, some research is moving in this direction

(e.g., Clark & Senik, 2010).

Applications

Diener and colleagues (2012) found that income was

associated with SWB over time. However, economic

growth is a means to an end. The authors found that

when income increased over time and was combined

with higher material goods and standard of living

satisfaction, SWB was even more likely to be

enhanced over time. This suggests that country


wealth needs to be managed in such a way that

supports the material welfare of citizens to be most

effective for raising SWB. Furthermore, the finding

that GDP does not always translate to household

income is also a key consideration for governments.

In part, wealth needs to be distributed in a manner that

benefits the most individuals in the country (cf. Oishi,

Schimmack, & Diener, 2012). It has also been posited

that economic wealth serves its purpose by increasing

existential security to a point. After this point has been

reached, survival values are deemphasized and self-

expression values and free choice are more important

for happiness. Structural equation modeling of data

from the World Values Survey confirmed that a sense

of freedom was a more proximal route to SWB than

income (Inglehart et al., 2008). Therefore govern-

ments need to consider promoting freedom of

expression and civil liberties, which in turn can

translate into SWB.

Promoting societal values that guide how wealth is

spent is also important. Recent research demonstrates

that allocating discretionary resources toward life

experiences makes people happier than allocating

discretionary resources toward material possessions.

This is because experiences are more open to positive

reinterpretation, less prone to disadvantageous

comparisons, and more likely to foster successful

social relationships (Van Boven, 2005). In addition,

experiences incur less rumination than material goods

and the use of a more “satisficing” strategy that

enhances SWB (Carter & Gilovich, 2010).

Labor market forces and SWB

Apart from economic wealth, the effect of labor

markets on SWB—unemployment in particular—has

been of interest to both psychologists and economists

(Clark & Oswald, 1994; Eisenberg & Lazarsfeld,

1938; Frey & Stutzer, 2002; Stewart, 2005). There is

strong evidence that being unemployed leads to

substantially lowered SWB. As we reviewed earlier,

longitudinal studies show that unemployment leads to

lowered SWB. At the onset of unemployment, mean

levels of SWB are significantly below baseline, even

after reemployment (Lucas et al., 2004). The meta-

analytic uncorrected effect size of job loss on

wellbeing has been estimated to be 20.35 (McKee-

Ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005). However,

repeated unemployment worsens this effect (German

sample: Luhmann & Eid, 2009). We review more

research on this topic at the individual level and at the

societal level. At the individual level, we seek to

address how SWB compares between the unemployed

and employed and to identify potential moderators

and mediators. At the societal level, we review

whether the macroeconomic index of unemployment

has effects on societal SWB.

Personal unemployment

Subgroup differences between the employed and

unemployed show consistent differences on SWB. A

meta-analysis across 77 cross-sectional studies from

13 countries in various world regions found that

unemployed individuals had lower levels of mental

health, life satisfaction, and physical health (McKee-

Ryan et al., 2005). In a large-scale study across British

households, unemployed individuals have been found

to have lower levels of general happiness than those

who are employed, even when controlling for

demographic characteristics (Theodossiou, 1998).

Moreover, studies have found that unemployment

effects hold even when controlling for income in

samples from Canada (Latif, 2010) and Germany

(Winkelmann & Winkelmann, 1998). This implies

that unemployment substantially lowers SWB even

beyond the loss of income. Overall, these studies

reveal that unemployment robustly lowers SWB.

More recent research has focused on identifying

personal characteristics that may mediate or moderate

the effects of unemployment.

Both Warr (2007) and Jahoda (1982) proposed that

employment provides physical, psychological, and

social resources/needs that promote SWB. It has been

reported as well that unemployment affects core self-

evaluations in an Australian sample (e.g., self-

efficacy, self-esteem) (Cole, Daly, & Mak, 2009).

The loss of employment lowers SWB via psycho-

logical mechanisms such as perceived control, social

interaction, and self-esteem. Empirical research from

Australia and Germany has validated many of these

propositions (Cole et al., 2009; Creed & Bartrum,

2008; Creed & Klisch, 2005; Creed & Macintyre,

2001; Goldsmith, Veum, & Darity, 1996a, 1996b;

Hoare &Machin, 2010; Pavlova & Silbereisen, 2012).

Along these lines, it was found in the meta-analysis by

McKee-Ryan and colleagues (2005) that the experi-

ence of social support, self-esteem, and higher core

self-evaluations were related to higher SWB in the

unemployed.

This provides direct evidence that these key factors

can moderate the ill-effects of unemployment. Other

moderators such as demographics, personal disposi-

tions, and lifestyles have also been studied. Andersen

(2009) found that British middle-class individuals

were most affected by unemployment. Further,

conscientious German individuals were more affected

by unemployment (Boyce, Wood, & Brown, 2010).

On the other hand, German individuals who had a

more active social life did not experience buffering

effects of unemployment (Winkelman, 2009). Indeed,


a time-use study among the unemployed in the US

showed that despite more engagement in leisure, they

still experienced lower SWB (Krueger & Mueller,

2012).

Unemployment rates

Apart from studying unemployment at the individual

level, there is interest in how unemployment rates as a

macroeconomic index affect societal SWB. One

conceptual reason for the link is that having more

unemployed individuals will result in lower SWB at

the aggregate level. Moreover, spillover effects have

been proposed to hold, such that unemployment

creates lower levels of SWB in employed individuals

due to a sense of guilt, increased workload, and job

insecurity (see Clark, Knabe, & Ratzel, 2010). We

review regional studies examining the effects of

unemployment rates on aggregate SWB.

Across 17 nations in Latin America, high

unemployment rates have been reported to have

negative effects on happiness (Graham & Pettinato,

2001). Data from 11 European Union countries show

the same trend (Ochsen, 2011). In two compelling

studies, it was shown that across countries in Europe

and over time, high unemployment rates lower the

average levels of happiness (Di Tella, MacCulloch, &

Oswald, 2001). Negative spillover effects of high

unemployment rates were found for employed

individuals in three separate datasets—a German

dataset, a US dataset, and a European dataset of 13

countries including Germany (Luechinger, Meier, &

Stutzer, 2010). Further, a representative worldwide

survey of 136 nations found that national unemploy-

ment rate negatively predicted SWB via lowered job

satisfaction in workers even when controlling for

country GDP per capita and job optimism (Tay &

Harter, 2013). The authors also used a nationally

representative poll of the USA to show that monthly

unemployment rates were associated with job

dissatisfaction over time, with prior unemployment

predicting future happiness rather than the converse.

Strong evidence was also shown in one study that

controlled for person characteristics such as demo-

graphy and even personal unemployment of the

sample and found that unemployment had incre-

mental validity (Di Tella, MacCulloch, & Oswald,

2003). Because personal unemployment was con-

trolled for, it suggests the existence of negative

spillover effects onto other societal members in

general (Di Tella et al., 2003).

Recently there has been interest in the effects of

regional unemployment rates as a moderator of

personal unemployment and SWB. A social norm

effect was proposed such that as unemployment rates

increase, it becomes a norm for more individuals to be

unemployed. Because social comparison effects in

part underlie ratings of SWB, the presence of high

unemployment attenuates the detrimental effect of

personal unemployment on SWB.

Strong social norm effects can be seen when

unemployed individuals enjoy higher levels of SWB

compared to employed individuals in regions of high

unemployment; weaker effects would be present

when the subgroup difference on SWB is small

(Clark, 2003). In a seminal study, Clark (2003)

demonstrated this by showing that apart from main

effects of unemployment, social norm interaction

effects hold between personal unemployment and

three other variables: regional unemployment rate,

proportion of household unemployed, and partner

unemployment. This shows that social norm effects—

at the regional, household, and relational levels—can

attenuate the negative effects of personal unemploy-

ment. The analysis by Clark was conducted on a

British sample. In a later replication in an Australian

sample, Shields, Price, and Wooden (2009) found a

social norm interaction between neighborhood

unemployment and personal unemployment, although

it was significant for men but not women.

However, the social norm effect of unemployment

has not been univocal. There was no evidence of this

effect in aGerman sample (Schwarz, 2012).Moreover,

ameta-analysis of 104 studies did not find that regional

unemployment rates moderated the effect of personal

employment on SWB (McKee-Ryan et al., 2005).

Finally, a study of 94 countries in the World Values

Survey found that country unemployment aggravates

personal unemployment such that unemployed indi-

viduals experience even lower SWB (Stanca, 2010). It

was suggested that social norm effects were found

previously because GDP per capita was not controlled

for. Indeed, a subsequent study by Clark et al. (2010)

found social norm effects in a different form. Insecure

employed and unemployed individuals with poor job

prospects were more affected by unemployment rates

as compared to those with good job prospects, both

employed and unemployed. This suggests that those

with less at stake are less affected by unemployment

rates. In sum, more research is required on the

psychological mechanisms underlying the social norm

effects of unemployment.

Applications

A consideration of the research on unemployment can

spawn a variety of applications for improving the

SWB of workers and the unemployed within a nation.

Because work confers on individuals a sense of

identity and value (Terkel, 1974) and other psycho-

logical and material benefits (Jahoda, 1982; Warr,

2007), job provision is vitally important. Societally,


unemployment can lead to large psychological and

social costs in the form of stress-induced alcohol and

drug abuse and mental and physical health problems

(Riegle, 1982). It has been suggested that the

provision of social services, health care, and income

assistance programs can potentially help alleviate

some of these problems and lead to higher SWB.

Further, having programs that help with reemploy-

ment can buffer the negative effects of unemployment

status (Green, 2011).

Policy makers and economists can focus on

economic growth as a primary vehicle of job creation

to ensure a steady supply of jobs. Scholars have

proposed that employment itself may not lead to

higher SWB, especially if one is underemployed at a

current job (Dooley, 2003). As governments focus on

improving educational standards and qualifications of

citizens, it is important to have a supply of jobs that

are commensurate with the educational attainment of

the population. Finally, research has shown that low

unemployment at the regional and country level is a

key determinant of societal SWB because unemploy-

ment negatively spills over to the lives of other

societal members such as other employed workers.

Conveying a sense of job optimism through policy

and media may be one way to alleviate the SWB of

workers (Tay & Harter, 2013).

Isomorphism of SWB: Some methodologicalconsiderations for future research

In the abovementioned discussions, the construct of

societal-level SWB is commonly indexed by the

aggregate of individual-level SWB. A question posed

by a reviewer is whether societal-level SWB, as

indexed using averages of individual-level SWB, has

the same meaning as individual-level SWB. In other

words, is societal-level SWB isomorphic to individ-

ual-level SWB? The corresponding question has been

asked in the context of research on values, where there

is debate on whether averages of individual values can

index societal values and what the meaning of such

changes is (e.g., Fischer, 2012; Fischer, Vauclair,

Fontaine, & Schwartz, 2010). Therefore, we seek to

consider this methodological–substantive issue of

crosslevel isomorphism (Marsh & Hau, 2007). Is the

emergent collective phenomenon of societal-level

SWB qualitatively similar to or distinct from

individual-level SWB?

To address this question, we draw on multilevel

research from organization science. In this literature,

isomorphism of crosslevel constructs can be defined

in three forms. First, isomorphism holds when the

crosslevel construct of interest resides in a nomolo-

gical network that holds across levels (Rousseau,

1985). This form of isomorphism emphasizes a

pragmatic approach whereby constructs are identified

via their operations; similarity denotes the equival-

ence of construct inputs and outputs (Morgeson &

Hofmann, 1999). Higher-level constructs can there-

fore derive their meaning from similarity of function

to lower-level constructs. By implication, when the

two constructs of individual-level and societal-level

SWB had similar antecedents and outcomes, they

would be isomorphic. This form of isomorphism is

commonly assumed in SWB research. Indeed, in our

review of economic factors, we found that societal-

level SWB had similar antecedents to individual-level

SWB. For example, societal-level SWB and individ-

ual-level SWB were predicted by societal and

individual-level wealth, respectively.

The second form of isomorphism is defined by the

convergence of individual-level scores within the

collective unit (e.g., country) (Kozlowski & Klein,

2000). Isomorphism of this kind assumes that

convergence of individual-level scores imbues

aggregate scores with similar meaning to individual-

level scores. When there is complete convergence of

individual-level SWB scores within a country, any

single individual-level SWB score can be used to

represent country-level SWB; scores across levels are

directly interchangeable and therefore have the same

meaning. On the other hand, complete disagreement

at the individual level would imply that aggregate

scores are not representative of national SWB. In this

sense, it is important to demonstrate some form of

interrater reliability and/or interrater agreement of

within-nation scores. One way of indexing this is to

compare within-country and between-group varia-

bility using the intraclass correlation (ICC) typically

conducted in multilevel modeling. Past research has

shown that societal SWB can be representative of

individual SWB, with ICC values generally larger for

cognitive SWB (ICC ¼ 0.24) than affective SWB

(ICCs ¼ 0.04 to 0.06) (see Tay & Diener, 2011). We

recommend that, as best practice, future research on

societal-level SWB should report the ICCs.

Third, isomorphism can also be in the form of

equivalent factor structures across levels (see

definition by Chen, Mathieu, & Bliese, 2004).

Specifically, one can examine the measurement

equivalence of SWB at the individual level and

societal level to determine whether individual-level

dimensions are borne out at the societal level. This

form of isomorphism is arguably the most important

because the two previous forms of isomorphism hinge

on the measurement equivalence (i.e., factor equiv-

alence at the minimum) of the SWB construct. If

national SWB does not reflect a similar structure to

individual SWB, the scores aggregated on individual

dimensions are not representative of societal-level

dimensions; also, models specifying antecedents and


outcomes of societal-level SWB may be improper.

Unfortunately, less research has examined this form

of isomorphism because of the methodological

complexity of confirmatory multilevel factor analytic

procedures (e.g., Muthen, 1994) and sampling/survey

limitations with respect to number of countries and

number of indicators administered in crossnational

surveys.

Based on these evaluative criteria of isomorphism,

we conclude that individual-level and societal-level

SWB show some evidence of isomorphism. That is,

societal-level SWB functions in a similar manner as

individual-level SWB and it depicts the SWB of

individuals within a country. However, evidence for

complete isomorphism is not conclusive because little

research has examined the third and, in our view, most

fundamental form of isomorphism. With the appro-

priate SWB dataset, future research can more

rigorously address the question of isomorphism in

the form of crosslevel measurement equivalence.

CONCLUSION

In our review, we examined dispositional and

contextual determinants of SWB with two questions

in mind: Is it possible to enhance the wellbeing of

individuals and societies? If so, what are the mental

health interventions and economic mechanisms by

which SWB could be enhanced? We reviewed studies

showing that the happiness levels of individuals can

change, as well as interventions that proved to be

effective for substantial periods of time. At the

societal level, research now shows that personal

income and societal income do matter to people and

countries. GDP growth can promote SWB in

particular if it is accompanied by rising material

living standards and average incomes. Lowering

unemployment is vital for policy makers and

economists, as unemployment has spillover effects

for other societal members. Therefore, we are

optimistic that interventions and economic policies

can be enacted that raise the overall wellbeing of

individuals and countries.

Manuscript received November 2012

Revised manuscript accepted February 2013

First published online April 2013

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Promoting happiness: The malleability of individual and societal subjective wellbeing