Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progress

Abstract

W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness." A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWB (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Full text

Psychological Bulletin
1999, Vol.
125,
No. 2,
276-302
Copyright 1999
by the
American Psychological
Association,
Inc.
0033-2909/99/$3.00
Subjective
Weil-Being: Three Decades
of
Progress
Ed
Diener, Eunkook
M.
Suh, Richard
E.
Lucas,
and
Heidi
L.
Smith
University
of
Illinois
at
Urbana-Champaign
W.
Wilson's (1967) review
of the
area
of
subjective well-being
(SWB)
advanced several conclusions
regarding those
who
report high levels
of
"happiness."
A
number
of his
conclusions have been
overturned: youth
and
modest aspirations
no
longer
are
seen
as
prerequisites
of
SWB.
E.
Diener's
(1984)
review
placed greater emphasis
on
theories
that stressed psychological factors.
In the
current article,
the
authors review current evidence
for
Wilson's conclusions
and
discuss modern theories
of SWB
that stress
dispositional
influences, adaptation, goals,
and
coping strategies.
The
next steps
in the
evolution
of the
field are to
comprehend
the
interaction
of
psychological factors with
life
circumstances
in
producing
SWB,
to
understand
the
causal pathways leading
to
happiness, understand
the
processes underlying
adaptation
to
events,
and
develop theories that explain
why
certain variables
differentially
influence
the
different
components
of SWB
(life
satisfaction, pleasant
affect,
and
unpleasant
affect).
In
1967, Warner Wilson presented
a
broad review
of
subjective
well-being (SWB) research entitled,
"Correlates
of
Avowed Hap-
piness."
Based
on the
limited data available
at
that time, Wilson
concluded that
the
happy person
is a
"young, healthy, well-
educated, well-paid, extroverted, optimistic, worry-free, religious,
married person with high self-esteem,
job
morale, modest aspira-
tions,
of
either
sex and of a
wide range
of
intelligence"
(p.
294).
In
the
three decades since Wilson's review, investigations into
SWB
have evolved. Although researchers
now
know
a
great deal more
about
the
correlates
of
SWB, they
are
less interested
in
simply
describing
the
demographic characteristics that correlate with
it.
Instead, they
focus
their
effort
on
understanding
the
processes
that
underlie
happiness. This trend represents
a
greater recognition
of
the
central role played
by
people's
goals, coping
efforts,
and
dispositions.
In
this article,
we
review research
on
several
major
theoretical approaches
to
well-being
and
then indicate
how
these
theories
clarify
the findings on
demographic correlates
of
SWB.
Throughout
the
review
we
suggest
four
directions that research-
ers
should pursue
in the
decades
ahead.
These
are by no
means
the
only
questions
left
to
answer,
but we
believe they
are the
most
interesting
issues
left
to
resolve. First,
the
causal direction
of the
correlates
of
happiness must
be
examined through more sophisti-
cated methodologies. Although
the
causal priority
of
demographic
factors
such
as
marriage
and
income
is
intuitively appealing,
it is
by
no
means certain. Second, researchers must
focus
greater
at-
tention on the interaction between internal factors (such as per-
sonality
traits)
and
external circumstances.
As we
shall see,
de-
mographic
factors have surprisingly small
effects
on
SWB,
but
these
effects
may
depend
on the
personalities
of
those individuals
being studied. Thus,
future
research must take Person
X
Situation
interactions into account.
Third,
researchers must strive
to
under-
stand
the
processes underlying adaptation. Considerable adaptation
to
both good
and bad
circumstances
often
occurs,
yet the
processes
responsible
for
these
effects
are
poorly understood. Research that
examines
how
habituation, coping strategies,
and
changing goals
influence
adaptation will shed much light
on the
processes
respon-
sible
for
SWB. Finally, theories must
be
refined
to
make specific
predictions about
how
input variables differentially influence
the
components
of
SWB.
In the
past, many researchers have treated
SWB as a
monolithic entity,
but it is now
clear that there
are
separable
components that exhibit unique patterns
of
relations with
different
variables.
In
each section
of
this article
we
discuss
progress
and
opportunities
in
these
four
areas.
It
is
unfortunate that page limitations restrict
our
coverage.
Emerging
areas
of
study including
the
consequences
of
happiness
(Myers, 1992;
Veenhoven,
1988)
and
people's
beliefs about hap-
piness (Gilbert,
Pinel,
Wilson, Blumberg,
&
Wheatley,
1998;
Loewenstein
&
Schkade,
in
press;
Schkade
&
Kahneman,
1997)
are not
discussed. Specific literatures
on the
role
of
social support
(Argyle,
1987;
Sarason,
Sarason,
&
Pierce,
1990)
and the
biolog-
ical systems underlying
SWB are
each extensive enough
to
war-
rant their
own
literature reviews
and are
thus omitted
from
the
present discussion. Because
our
review must
be
selective, readers
are
referred
to
several additional sources: Argyle (1987); Diener
and
Suh (in
press); Strack, Argyle,
and
Schwarz
(1991);
and
Kahneman,
Diener,
and
Schwarz
(in
press).
Ed
Diener, Eunkook
M.
Suh, Richard
E.
Lucas,
and
Heidi
L.
Smith,
Department
of
Psychology, University
of
Illinois
at
Urbana-Champaign.
Heidi
L.
Smith
is now at the
Department
of
Psychology,
Hobart
and
William
Smith Colleges.
We
wish
to
thank
Carol Diener, Alexander Grob,
and
Shige Oishi
for
their
suggestions.
Correspondence concerning
this
article should
be
addressed
to Ed
Die-
ner, Department
of
Psychology, University
of
Illinois
at
Urbana-
Champaign,
603
East Daniel, Champaign, Illinois
61820.
Electronic mail
may
be
sent
to
ediener@s.psych.uiuc.edu.
The
Field
of
Subjective
Well-Being
Growth
in the field of SWB
reflects larger societal trends
concerning
the
value
of the
individual,
the
importance
of
subjec-
tive views
in
evaluating life,
and the
recognition that well-being
necessarily includes positive elements that transcend economic
prosperity.
The
scientific study
of
subjective well-being developed
in
part
as a
reaction
to the
overwhelming emphasis
in
psychology
on
negative states. Psychological articles examining negative
states outnumber those examining positive states
by a
ratio
of 17
276

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
277
to
1
(Myers
&
Diener,
1995).
SWB
researchers
recognize that
people approach positive incentives
and do not
just avoid misery,
and
thus they study
the
entire range
of
well-being
from
misery
to
elation.
In
addition,
SWB
researchers believe that social indicators alone
do not
define quality
of
life
(Diener
&
Suh, 1997). People react
differently
to the
same circumstances,
and
they evaluate conditions
based
on
their unique expectations, values,
and
previous experi-
ences. Although crime statistics
and
income levels
are
relevant
to
discussions
of
quality
of
life,
the
subjective element
is
essential.
The
vast
majority
of
college students around
the
world consider
happiness
and
life
satisfaction
to be
extremely important. Indeed,
almost
all
respondents believe happiness
is
more important than
money
(Diener
&
Oishi,
in
press). Furthermore, happy people
are
judged
to
have
a
more
desirable
life than unhappy
people,
to be
better people,
and to be
more likely
to be
admitted into heaven
(King
&
Napa,
1998)!
However,
few
people would argue that
subjective
well-being
is the
only ingredient
of a
good
life
(Diener,
Sapyta,
&
Suh, 1998)
The
Components
of
Subjective
Weil-Being
Subjective
well-being
is a
broad category
of
phenomena that
includes
people's
emotional responses, domain satisfactions,
and
global judgments
of
life satisfaction. Each
of the
specific con-
structs
need
to be
understood
in
their
own
right,
yet the
compo-
nents
often
correlate substantially, suggesting
the
need
for the
higher
order factor (Stones
&
Kozma,
1985). Thus,
we
define
SWB as a
general area
of
scientific interest rather than
a
single
specific
construct. Table
1
presents
the
major divisions
and
sub-
divisions
of the field.
Moods
and
emotions, which together
are
labeled
affect,
repre-
sent
people's on-line evaluations
of the
events that occur
in
their
lives.
Bradburn
and
Caplovitz
(1965)
suggested that pleasant
affect
and
unpleasant
affect
form
two
independent factors
and
should
be
measured separately. Although
the
degree
of
independence
be-
tween
momentary pleasant
and
unpleasant
affect
is
still debated,
the
separability
of
long-term
affective
dimensions
is
less contro-
versial. Diener
&
Emmons
(1984)
found
that pleasant
and
unpleas-
ant
affect
became increasingly separate
as the
time-frame
in-
creased.
Diener, Smith,
and
Fujita (1995) used structural equation
Table
1
Components
Pleasant
affect
Joy
Elation
Contentment
Pride
Affection
Happiness
Ecstasy
of
Subjective
Weil-Being
Unpleasant
affect
Guilt
and
shame
Sadness
Anxiety
and
worry
Anger
Stress
Depression
Envy
Life
satisfaction
Desire
to
change
life
Satisfaction
with
current life
Satisfaction with
past
Satisfaction with
future
Significant
others'
views
of
one's
life
Domain
satisfactions
Work
Family
Leisure
Health
Finances
Self
One's
group
modeling
and
multimethod
assessment
to
control
measurement
error
in
affect
measures. They
found
that
the two
constructs
are
moderately inversely correlated
but
clearly separable. Because
SWB
researchers
are
primarily interested
in
long-term moods
rather
than
momentary emotions, they should include measures
of
both
pleasant
and
unpleasant
affect
in
their research. Kozma,
Stone,
and
Stones
(in
press) discovered
that
various measures
of
SWB
reflect short-
and
long-term influences
to
differing
degrees.
In
addition,
in
certain contexts discrete emotions
such
as
anger,
anxiety,
and
sadness should
be
assessed.
In
addition
to
studying
affective
reactions,
SWB
researchers
are
interested
in
cognitive evaluations
of
life
satisfaction. Andrews
and
Withey
(1976)
found
that
life
satisfaction formed
a
separate
factor
from
the two
major
types
of
affect.
Lucas, Diener,
and Suh
(1996)
used multitrait-multimethod analyses
to
show that pleasant
affect,
unpleasant
affect,
and
life
satisfaction were separable con-
structs.
Even over
2
years
and
across multiple methods
of
assess-
ment
(e.g.,
self-
versus informant reports), validity
coefficients
for
each
of the
three constructs were stronger than
the
intercorrelations
among
different
constructs.
The
Satisfaction
with
Life
Scale (see
Pavot
&
Diener,
1993)
is a
valid
and
reliable scale
for
measuring
life
satisfaction.
Few
existing theories attempt
to
explain
why
variables
differ-
entially
relate
to the
separate components
of
SWB.
For
example,
researchers have attempted
to map the
personality traits
of
extra-
version
and
neuroticism onto pleasant
and
unpleasant
affect,
re-
spectively (e.g., Larsen
&
Ketelaar,
1991).
The
notion
of
separate
emotion
systems suggests that rewarding
stimuli
such
as
daily
pleasures will
be
more strongly associated with variability between
people
in
pleasant
affect
than unpleasant
affect,
and
that
punishing
stimuli
such
as
daily hassles will
be
more strongly associated
with
variability
in
unpleasant
affect.
Yet the
differential
relations
among most
input
variables
and the
components
of SWB are
poorly understood.
In our
review
we
attempt
to
specify
how
variables correlate
with
each
of the
major
components
of
SWB.
It
is
unfortunate
that researchers
often
rely
on
global measures
of
happiness
or
instruments that cannot
be
neatly mapped onto
the
components
of
SWB, making such distinctions impossible.
We
recommend
that
the
major
components
of SWB be
assessed sep-
arately
in
future
research.
Research
Method
The field of SWB has
deep
roots
in
survey research,
and the
most
common assessment technique
is the
single-occasion, self-report Happi-
ness scale. Although this tradition
has
encouraged
the use of
broad,
representative samples that
may be
more
generalizable
than samples used
in
most
areas
in the
psychological sciences,
our
methods have
been
limited
in
some important ways.
First,
SWB
research
is
limited
by the
almost
exclusive
reliance
on
cross-sectional correlational designs with inadequate
tests
of
causal hypotheses. This shortcoming leaves
researchers
in an
uncertain
position
regarding
the
causal priority
of the
variables they study.
Causal
modeling
and
longitudinal studies have
become
more
popular
in
recent
years,
but the field
would
clearly
benefit from further methodolog-
ical
sophistication.
A
second
methodological
concern
is the
ubiquity
of
global self-report
measures
of
SWB.
These
measures
do
possess
adequate psychometric
properties,
exhibiting
good
internal consistency (Larsen, Diener,
& Em-
mons,
1985),
moderate stability,
and
appropriate
sensitivity
to
changing
life
circumstances (Eid
&
Diener,
in
press-b;
Headey
&
Waring, 1991).

278
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
Furthermore, global reports show
a
moderate level
of
convergence
with
daily mood reports, informant reports (Sandvik, Diener,
&
Seidlitz, 1993),
spouse reports (Costa
&
McCrae,
1988),
and
recall
for
positive versus
negative
life
events (e.g.,
Seidlitz,
Wyer,
&
Diener,
1997).
People
who
score
high
on
global
life
satisfaction
are
less likely
to
attempt suicide
(Mourn,
1996)
and to
become depressed
in the
future
(Frisch,
in
press;
Lewinsohn,
Redner,
&
Seeley, 1991).
However,
Schwarz,
Strack,
and
their colleagues documented
a
number
of
artifacts that
can
plague
the
reports.
SWB
values
may
change depending
on
the
type
of
scales used,
the
order
of
items,
the
time-frame
of the
questions, current mood
at the
time
of
measurement (e.g., Mourn, 1988),
and
other situational factors (see Schwarz
&
Strack, 1991,
for a
review).
Although
current mood
is
relevant
to
investigations
of
SWB,
researchers
do not
want current mood
to
unduly influence reports
of how one has
felt
over
the
past month
or
year.
Eid and
Diener
(in
press-b), however, found
that
in
normal testing situations,
the
stable component
of
life
satisfaction
overshadowed
the
influence
of
current
mood.
Because global self-report measures
may be
subject
to
distortions (in-
cluding
traditional artifacts such
as
impression management; Park,
Up-
shaw,
&
Koh, 1988), researchers should assess
the
impact
of
these artifacts
when
possible.
For
example,
the
influence
of
impression management
can
be
assessed
by
comparing responses taken
from
in-person interviews
to
those
from
anonymous questionnaires.
In
addition, steps should
be
taken
to
reduce measurement error. Well-being measures should
be
administered
under
constant
or
systematically varied conditions,
as the
measurement
situation
can
influence reports.
Perhaps because
of
these distortions, global self-reports
of SWB do not
map
completely
onto
SWB
scores
assessed
using other techniques.
For
example, global reports
of SWB do not
always strongly converge
with
average mood levels computed
from
multiple-occasion, daily diary studies
(e.g.,
Schimmack,
1997;
D.
Thomas
&
Diener,
1990).
In
addition, indi-
viduals
who
report positive well-being
may
simultaneously exhibit distress
in
measurements
of
physiological reactivity
and
interview ratings (Shedler,
Maymann,
&
Manis,
1993).
In a
similar vein, Eisenberg,
Fabes,
Schaller,
Carlo,
and
Miller
(1991)
found
that boys
who
were socialized
to
inhibit
emotional
displays reported less stress during
a
sympathy-inducing
film
but
exhibited
more
physiological
distress.
Because
of
clear
instances
where
global reports
of SWB and
other types
of
measures yield discrepant
readings,
a
fuller
range
of
measures must
be
used.
Several other methods
for
assessing
SWB
besides global self-reports
are
now
available.
Kahneman
(in
press) argued that experience sampling
measures
of
happiness ought
to be the
primary method
for
measuring
SWB.
By
sampling moods, emotions,
and
other feelings
at
random
mo-
ments
in
respondents'
everyday lives,
this
method
reduces
the
memory
biases that
affect
retrospective reports
of
experiences. Despite
some
limi-
tations, experience sampling
may
sometimes provide more accurate values
than
global reports (Stone,
Shiffman,
&
DeVries,
in
press). Other methods
such
as
scoring qualitative descriptions
of
people's lives (e.g.,
L. E.
Thomas
&
Chambers,
1989),
measuring reactions
to
emotionally ambigu-
ous
stimuli (e.g., Rusting, 1997),
and
recording people's memories
for
good
and bad
events (Pavot, Diener, Colvin,
&
Sandvik,
1991)
can
also
be
used
to
assess SWB. Finally, physiological measures such
as
salivary
cortisol
levels (e.g., Dinan, 1994) might also
be
used
to
indicate levels
of
well-being
and
ill-being.
Subjective
well-being
is not a
simple unitary entity.
It has
multiple facets
that
must
be
assessed through global judgments, momentary mood reports,
physiology, memory,
and
emotional expression. Although some might
argue
that
SWB is,
after
all, subjective,
it
nevertheless depends
on
reactions
in
multiple physiological
and
psychological systems. Thus,
we
believe that
subjective experience
can
also
be
measured
by
physiological characteris-
tics, behavioral reactions,
and
memories.
As
more
researchers
use
varied
measures, they
will
be
able
to
transcend Wilson's description
of SWB
measures
as
mere avowals
of
happiness.
Theory
In
1930, Dodge wrote that theories
of
happiness
had not ad-
vanced beyond those formulated
by the
Greek
philosophers
(cited
in
Wilson, 1967). More than
30
years later, Wilson echoed this
sentiment, noting that only
a few
tentative theoretical postulates
had
been proposed
to
explain individual differences
in
SWB.
These postulates
(which
Wilson himself proposed
in his
1960
doctoral dissertation) were
as
follows:
(a)
"The prompt satisfaction
of
needs
causes
happiness,
while
the
persistence
of
unfulfilled
needs causes
unhappiness";
and (b)
"The degree
of
fulfillment
required
to
produce satisfaction depends
on
adaptation
or
aspira-
tion
level, which
is
influenced
by
past experience, comparisons
with
others, personal values,
and
other factors" (1967,
p.
302).
By
examining
the
correlates
of
avowed happiness, Wilson hoped
to
identify
which needs were
of
central importance
to
SWB.
At the
time
of his
review, however,
few
studies
had
addressed
the
second
of
Wilson's postulates.
It
is
fortunate that numerous theories have
now
been proposed
and
tested. Perhaps
the
most important theoretical advance
of the
past
30
years
is the
shift
in
emphasis
from
the first of
Wilson's
postulates
(identifying
which needs must
be met for
happiness
to
ensue)
to the
second
(identifying
the
comparative factors that
influence
whether
or not
resources will
influence
well-being).
Whereas
the
former approach attempts
to
identify
external, situa-
tional,
or
bottom-up factors that consistently
affect
happiness,
the
latter approach focuses
on the
top-down processes within
the
individual.
The
fact
that researchers have
not yet
identified resources that
strongly
affect
SWB, although once considered
a
failure
of SWB
research,
now
motivates many
of the
studies about
the
processes
underlying
happiness. Researchers have begun
to
examine
the
context
provided
by
people's experiences, values,
and
goals when
assessing
the
influence
of
external events
on
happiness.
In the
following
section,
we
introduce
several
major
conceptual
models
pertaining
to SWB and
review
the
evidence relevant
to
these
models.
Bottom-Up
Situational
Influences
In
his
1984 review, Diener distinguished between top-down
and
bottom-up
processes that
influence
SWB.
The
major
focus
of
early
theoretical formulations
was to
identify
the
bottom-up factors that
influence
SWB:
how do
external events, situations,
and
demo-
graphics
influence
happiness?
The
bottom-up approach
is
built
on
Wilson's idea that there
are
basic
and
universal human needs,
and
that
if
one's
circumstances allow
a
person
to
fulfill
these needs,
he
or
she
will
be
happy.
In
support
of the
bottom-up approach,
a
variety
of
pleasures
have
been shown
to be
connected
to
reports
of
well-being.
For
example,
the
experience
of
daily pleasurable events
is
related
to
pleasant
affect,
and the
experience
of
daily undesirable events
is
related
to
unpleasant
affect
(Stallings, Dunham, Gatz, Baker,
&
Bengtson,
1997). Yet, researchers
are
often
disappointed
by the
relatively
small
effect
sizes
for the
external, objective variables
that
were explored
in
most early studies. Campbell, Converse,
and
Rodgers (1976)
found
that demographic factors
(e.g.,
age, sex,
income, race, education,
and
marital status) accounted
for
less
than
20% of the
variance
in
SWB. Andrews
and
Withey
(1976)
could

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
279
only
account
for 8% by
using these variables. Moreover,
on the
basis
of his
review
of the
literature,
Argyle
(in
press) suggested
that
external circumstances account
for
about
15%
of the
variance
in
SWB
reports. Because
of the
small
effects,
researchers turned
to
top-down
areas
to
explain variability
in
SWB, structures within
the
person that determine
how
events
and
circumstances
are
perceived.
Personality
Personality
is one of the
strongest
and
most consistent predictors
of
subjective well-being (for
a
review,
see
Diener
&
Lucas,
in
press). Evidence
for the
personality-SWB
link comes
from
a
wide
variety
of
research traditions
and
methodologies.
Because
person-
ality
is a
reliable predictor
of
SWB,
a
number
of
theories have been
developed
to
explain
why it is
related
to
SWB.
In the
following
sections,
we first
review data showing that
SWB has the
properties
of
a
disposition.
We
then discuss which adult personality traits
are
most
reliably correlated with
SWB and
review
how
personality
interacts
with
life
circumstances
to
influence SWB. Finally,
we
discuss
how
personality
correlates
with more dynamic aspects
of
SWB
such
as
emotional variability.
Temperamental
predisposition
for
SWB.
One
conceptual
model
for the
link between personality
and SWB is
that some
people have
a
genetic predisposition
to be
happy
or
unhappy,
which
is
presumably caused
by
inborn individual differences
in the
nervous
system.
The
strongest evidence
for a
temperamental pre-
disposition
to
experience
certain
levels
of SWB
comes
from
behavior-genetic
studies
of
heritability.
Heritability
studies esti-
mate
the
amount
of
variance
in SWB
scores
that
can be
explained
by
one's
genes. Tellegen
et
al.
(1988),
for
example, examined
monozygotic
and
dizygotic twins
who
were
reared
together
and
others
who
were reared apart. Tellegen
et al.
found
that monozy-
gotic twins
who
grew
up in
different
homes were more similar
to
each
other than were dizygotic twins
who
were raised together
or
apart. Furthermore, twins
who
were raised
in the
same family were
not
much more similar
to
each other than were twins
who
were
raised apart. Tellegen
et al.
estimated that genes account
for
about
40% of the
variance
in
positive emotionality
and 55% of the
variance
in
negative emotionality, whereas shared family environ-
ment
accounts
for 22% and 2% of the
variance
in
positive emo-
tionality
and
negative emotionality, respectively.
Braungart,
Plo-
min,
DeFries,
and
Fulker (1992) used both adoption
and
twin
methodologies
and
found
substantial heritability
for
positive
affect
in
12-month-old
babies.
In
a
reanalysis
of
Tellegen
et
al.'s
twin study,
Lykken
and
Tellegen
(1996)
calculated that although
40% to 55% of the
variation
in
current
SWB can be
explained
by
genes,
80% of
long-term
SWB is
heritable. Based
on the
later heritability esti-
mate,
it
could
be
said
that
it is as
hard
to
change
one's
happiness
as
it is to
change
one's
height. Note, however, that although
Lykken
and
Tellegen's
heritability estimate
of .80 is for
that
portion
of
affect
that
was
stable over
a
10-year
period,
the
stable
portion
of SWB
accounted
for
only
a
moderate
percentage
of the
variance
in SWB
responses
at
either time period. Thus,
one can
focus
on
happiness
at a
specific period
in
life
and
conclude that
heritability
has a
moderate influence,
or one can
focus only
on
people's
average happiness over
the
long term (e.g.,
a
decade)
and
conclude that heritability
has a
substantial
effect.
Naturally,
the
portion
of
happiness that
is
constant
for a
period
of 10
years
is
more likely
to be
influenced
by a
stable
factor
such
as
one's
genes
and
is
less likely
to be
influenced
by a set of
events that might
influence
current well-being. Note
too
that heritability estimates
are
influenced
by the
amount
of
environmental variability
in the
sample being examined.
If
environment
was
held
absolutely
con-
stant,
variation could only
be
explained
by
genes. Samples
in-
cluded
in
twin studies
are
unlikely
to
experience
the
most extreme
environments
that might influence
SWB
(e.g., revolution
or
soli-
tary
confinement). Thus, heritability studies tell
us
about
the
heritability
of
long-term
SWB
among
a
sample
of
people
in
modern Western society,
but
they
do not
provide absolute,
un-
changeable estimates
of
genetic
effects.
Another reason
for
caution
is
that heritability estimates
are
often
inconsistent
across studies. Baker,
Cesa,
Gatz,
and
Mellins
(1992)
found
a
significant heritability
for
negative
affect
but
environmen-
tal
effects
and
assortative
mating influences
for
positive
affect.
McGue
and
Christensen
(1997)
found
a
heritability estimate
of .27
for
affect
among elderly Danish twins. Gatz, Pedersen, Plomin,
and
Nesselroade
(1992)
studied older adults
and
found
a
modest
heritability
score
for
depression,
but
heritability
was
minimal
for
depressed mood
and
well-being. Unique
life
experiences
ac-
counted
for the
largest portion
of
variance.
In a
similar vein,
Silberg
et al.
(1990)
found
that
nonshared
environmental factors
explained
the
largest percentage
of
variance
in
depressed
affect
and
positive
affect.
Thus, heritability estimates
are
often
smaller
than
those
found
by
Lykken
and
Tellegen (1996).
One
complicating
factor
is
that monozygotic twins
may or may
not
share placentas
in
utero,
and
this might make them more
or
less
similar. Thus,
the
intrauterine
environment
may
confound
the
genetic interpretation
of
earlier
twin
study
findings
(Phelps,
Davis,
&
Schartz,
1997).
Another challenging factor
is
that genetic effects
on
SWB may not be
direct.
For
example, Plomin, Lichtenstein,
Pedersen,
McClearn,
and
Nesselroade
(1990)
found
that genes
have
an
influence
on
life
events.
In
other words, there
are
genetic
factors
influencing behavior that increase
the
probability that cer-
tain
life
events will
be
experienced. Thus, genes might
influence
SWB by
making certain behaviors more likely
in
certain contexts.
Thus,
the
heritability estimates
do not
inevitably point
to un-
changeable predispositions
to
experience emotions.
It
appears that there
is
some genetic influence
on
SWB, although
the
estimates
for the
size
of
this influence vary widely. Indeed,
it
is
likely that
the
heritability coefficients
for SWB are
influenced
by
the
environment
and
also
by the
particular component
of SWB
being considered.
A
more direct examination
of
genetic influences
on
SWB is to
examine
how
specific genes
may
influence
brain
hormones
and
receptor sites, which
in
turn influence
SWB
(Hamer
&
Copeland, 1998). Thus,
the
genetic predisposition approach
may
soon
be
connected
to
biological variables that
are
known
to
indi-
cate
mood.
If
there
are
stable
predispositions
to
experience happiness
or
unhappiness,
one
would expect
SWB to be at
least somewhat
consistent across time
and
across situations. Although situational
factors
may
move
SWB up or
down
from
baseline levels, stable
personality factors should exert
a
long-term influence.
In
support
of
this
idea,
Magnus
and
Diener
(1991)
found
that measures
of
personality predicted
life
satisfaction
4
years
later,
even
after
controlling
for the
influence
of
intervening life events.
In a
similar
vein,
Headey
and
Wearing (1989)
found
that people eventually
return
to a
baseline
of
positive
and
negative
affect
after
the

280
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
occurrence
of
good
and bad
events. They proposed
a
dynamic
equilibrium theory
in
which personality determines baseline levels
of
emotional responses. Events
can
move
people
above
or
below
this
baseline,
but
they will
in
time return
to
this stable
set
point.
Kozma,
Stone,
and
Stones
(1997)
explored
whether
stability
in
SWB
is due to
stability
in the
environment,
in
personality,
or in
affective
styles. They
found
that
all
factors contributed
to the
stability
of SWB to
some degree, although
the
stable environmen-
tal
component
was the
smallest. Stable environmental factors
could
not
completely account
for the
substantial stability
in
SWB,
indicating
that more
stable
factors such
as
personality must also
be
involved.
If
stability
in SWB
scores
is
influenced
by
stable personality
variables,
one
would
not
only expect stability across time
but
also
consistency across
different
types
of
situations. People
who are
happy
at
work should also
be
happy when
at
leisure. Diener
and
Larsen
(1984)
examined this hypothesis
and
found
that average levels
of
pleasant
affect
in
work situations correlated
.70
with average moods
in
recreation situations,
and
average levels
of
negative
affect
in
work
situations correlated
.74
with average levels
in
recreation situations.
Similar levels
of
consistency were
found
across
social
versus alone
situations
and
across novel versus typical situations. Although events
and
situations certainly influence
our
emotions
and
feelings
of
well-
being,
we
have
a
tendency
to
experience similar mean levels
of
positive
and
negative emotions
in a
wide variety
of
situations. Natu-
rally,
people react
to
events—it
is
only
the
aggregated levels
of
emotion
that tend
to be
stable.
The
limited influence
of
objective circumstances,
in
combina-
tion
with
studies that estimate
the
genetic component
of SWB to be
significant,
led
some
to
believe that happiness
is a
trait
(e.g.,
Costa,
McCrae,
&
Zonderman,
1987). This viewpoint
has
been criticized
by
Veenhoven (1994b),
who
argued that happiness
can
change
over time
and is
influenced
by
fortune
and
adversity.
In
support
of
Veenhoven's claim, Kozma
et
al.
(1997) show that
SWB
does
fluctuate
over time. Furthermore, evidence reviewed here later
demonstrates that certain circumstances
do
influence levels
of
SWB.
Based
on the
large body
of
evidence
on the
correlates
of
SWB,
Veenhoven's claim that happiness itself
is not a
trait appears
to
be
correct. However, stable personality traits
can
influence
SWB,
and
thus
SWB has
both trait-like
and
state-like properties.
The
current working model
of
researchers
in the field is
that
personality predisposes people
to
certain
affective
reactions
but
that
current events
also
influence
one's
current levels
of
SWB.
As
we
will
see in
future
sections, however, long-term
life
circum-
stances
can
also have some continuing influence
on
people's
level
of
SWB.
Traits
and
cognitive dispositions associated with SWB.
The
traits
that have received
the
most theoretical
and
empirical atten-
tion
in
relation
to SWB are
extraversion
and
neuroticism.
Costa
and
McCrae (1980) posited that extraversion influences positive
affect,
whereas neuroticism influences negative
affect.
Using
structural
equation modeling
to
control
for
measurement error,
Fujita
(1991)
found
that
an
extraverison
latent correlated
.71
with
a
positive
affect
latent trait,
and
neuroticism
and
negative
affect
formed
a
single, indistinguishable
factor.
Lucas, Diener, Grob,
Suh,
and
Shao
(1998)
replicated
the
strong
extraversion-pleasant
affect
relation:
In
their study
the
latent
traits
of
positive
affect
and
extraversion
correlated
.74 in an
international sample.
The
relations among these constructs
are so
strong
and
consis-
tent that Watson
and
Clark
(1984)
relabeled
the
trait
of
neuroticism
as
negative
affectivity
and
suggested that positive
affectivity
forms
the
core
of the
broad trait
of
extraversion (Watson
&
Clark, 1997).
Watson
and
Clark posit that neurotics
and
extraverts
have
a
tem-
peramental
susceptibility
to
experience
negative
and
positive
af-
fect,
respectively. This claim
is
based
on
Gray's (1991) theory
of
personality. Gray claims that
two
underlying brain systems
are
responsible
for
much
of the
individual differences
in
personality.
The
behavioral activation system (BAS)
is
sensitive
to
signals
of
reward
and
nonpunishment
and
controls approach behavior.
The
behavioral inhibition system (BIS)
is
sensitive
to
signals
of
pun-
ishment
and
nonreward
and is
responsible
for
inhibiting behavior
when
there
is the
threat
of
punishment.
Based
on
Gray's (1991)
theories,
Lucas
et al.
(1998) suggested
that
extraverts
are
more sensitive
to
rewards
and
that this sensi-
tivity
manifests
itself
in the
form
of
greater pleasant
affect
when
exposed
to
rewarding stimuli. Higher positive
affect
then moti-
vates individuals
to
approach rewarding stimuli. Because social
situations
tend
to be
more
fun and
rewarding that nonsocial situ-
ations,
extraverts'
elevated positive
affect
and
sensitivity
to re-
wards leads
to
increased social behavior. Thus,
they
conjecture
that
extraversion
may
actually result
from
individual differences
in
pleasant
affect.
Larsen
and his
colleagues (Larsen
&
Ketelaar,
1991;
Rusting
&
Larsen, 1997) tested
the
hypothesis that extraverts
are
character-
ized
by a
greater sensitivity
to
rewards
by
exposing introverts
and
extraverts
to
positive
and
negative
mood induction
procedures.
The
extraverts were more sensitive
to the
positive mood induction
(i.e., extraverts
had
higher levels
of
positive emotions) than intro-
verts,
but
there were
no
differences between groups
for the
nega-
tive mood induction.
In a
similar vein,
Derryberry
and
Reed
(1994)
found
that extraverts
and
introverts inhibited differential attention
to
positive stimuli,
with
no
difference
in
attention
to
negative
stimuli, whereas
the
converse
was
true
for
neurotic participants
compared with
low
neurotic participants. Larsen
and
Ketelaar
believed that
extraverts'
greater reward-sensitivity results
in
higher
average levels
of
positive emotions because extraverts react more
positively than introverts
to the
same daily stimuli
and
events.
Other
researchers
suggest that extraversion
is
related
to
positive
affect
through more indirect mechanisms
(e.g.,
Argyle
& Lu,
1990;
Pavot, Diener,
&
Fujita,
1990).
For
example, both extraverts
and
introverts experience more positive
affect
in
social situations than
in
nonsocial situations (Pavot
et
al.,
1990).
If
extraverts spend
more time
in
social situations, their greater happiness could
be
explained
by the
greater amount
of
time spent
in
positive, happy
engagement
with
people. Pavot
et al.
found
that extraverts were
happier
than introverts, however, even when alone. Moreover,
Diener, Sandvik, Pavot,
and
Fujita
(1992)
found
that extraverts
were
happier
than
introverts
whether they
lived
alone
or
with
others, worked
in
nonsocial
jobs
or in
social
jobs,
or
lived
in
rural
or
urban areas. Furthermore, Pavot
et al.
(1990)
found
in a
time-
sampling study that extraverts
did not
spend more time with others,
although
they were happier than introverts.
Others examined
the
hypothesis that extraverts
are
happier than
introverts because
of
greater
personality-environment
fit
(Diener
et
al.,
1992; Diener, Larsen,
&
Emmons,
1984). According
to
this
explanation, social involvement
is
required
by the
demands
of
society,
and
because extraverts
are
more comfortable
and
happy
in
social situations, extraverts
are (on
average) happier than
intro-

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
281
verts. Although this hypothesis
has
received mixed support
(e.g.,
Diener
et
al.,
1984; Moskowitz
&
Cote, 1995),
it
cannot explain
Pavot
et
al.'s
finding
that
extra
verts
are
happier
in all
types
of
situations. Argyle
and Lu
(1990)
reported
that about half
of
extra-
verts' greater happiness
can be
attributed
to
their participation
in
certain types
of
social activity.
In
sum, there
are a
number
of
models
for why
extraverts
may
experience more pleasant
affect
than
introverts,
but an
intriguing possibility
is the
idea that
the
characteristics
of
extraverts
are
actually
an
outcome
of
higher
levels
of
positive
affect.
Extraversion
and
neuroticism
are
clearly
not the
only traits that
relate
to
SWB.
For
example, Wilson concluded that self-esteem
is
related
to
SWB. People
in
Western
societies
use
many
and
diverse
cognitive strategies
to
maintain their self-esteem (e.g., Dunning,
Leuenberger,
&
Sherman,
1995).
The
finding
that self-esteem
measures
are
strongly
correlated
with
SWB is
often
replicated
in
Western samples (e.g., Lucas
et
al.,
1996),
but
Diener
and
Diener
(1995) provided evidence that
the
relation
is not
universal.
In a
cross-cultural
investigation
of the
relation between self-esteem
and
life
satisfaction, they
found
that
the
correlation between
the two
constructs
is
lower
in
collectivist cultures. Extending this
finding,
Kwan,
Bond,
and
Singelis
(1997)
found
a
strong relation between
self-esteem
and
life
satisfaction
in the
United
States
but
discovered
that
relationship harmony
was
also
a
strong predictor
of
life
satisfaction
in
Hong Kong. Reporting high self-regard
may not be
an
all-powerful predictor
of SWB in
cultures that value
the
group
above
the
individual.
Another
characteristic that Wilson mentioned
as a
correlate
of
happiness
is
optimism. Scheier
and
Carver
(1985)
developed
a
theory
of
dispositional optimism,
in
which
one's
characteristic
thoughts
about
the
future
affect
one's
circumstances
and
therefore
one's
SWB. According
to
their theory, optimism represents
a
generalized tendency
to
expect favorable outcomes
in
one's
life.
If
one
expects positive outcomes,
he or she
will work
for the
goals
that
he or she has
set, whereas,
if one
expects failures,
he or she
will
disengage
from
the
goals that have been set. This pattern
of
behavior leads
to
more successful achievement
of
goals
by
opti-
mists than
by
pessimists.
A
related trait, expectancy
for
control,
also
correlates
with
SWB
(Grob, Stetsenko, Sabatier, Botcheva,
&
Macek,
in
press).
For
example, Lachman
and
Weaver (1998) found
that
the
effects
of low
income
on
well-being were moderated
by
control beliefs.
It is
difficult
to
disentangle, however, whether
the
cognitive
processes
associated
with optimism
and
expectancy
for
control
are the
cause
or the
result
of
higher well-being. Early
studies
on
pollyannaism
have shown that
a
number
of
positive
feelings
and
thoughts
often
co-occur (Matlin
&
Gawron, 1979),
and
it is
difficult
to
determine whether
the
cognitions cause
the
mood,
or
vice versa.
Taylor
and
Brown
(1988)
suggested that many
people
possess
positive illusions that include unrealistically positive self-
perceptions,
views
of the
future
that
are
overly
optimistic,
and
overestimates
of
environmental control.
These
illusions
seem
to
foster
not
only
SWB but
also other positive qualities such
as
caring
for
others
and the
ability
to
engage
in
productive work.
Taylor
and
Armor (1996)
found
that positive illusions
are
correlated with
successful
adjustment
to
stressful circumstances, including
ex-
treme adversity.
In the
same view, Erez, Johnson,
and
Judge
(1995)
found
that those with
a
positive disposition tended
to use
more self-deception, which
in
turn increased
their
SWB. Lightsey
(1994)
found
that among
people
with
automatic positive cogni-
tions, negative events have
a
weaker relation
to
depression. Sei-
dlitz
and
Diener (1993)
found
that happy people
can
remember
more good events
and
that primary reason
for
this
is
that they
initially
encode more
of the
events
from
their lives
in a
positive
way.
Once events
are
stored
in
memory, people
who
ruminate
on the
negative events
are
likely
to
have lower SWB.
For
instance,
Nolen-Hoeksema,
Parker,
and
Larson
(1994)
found
that bereaved
adults
with
a
ruminative coping style were more depressed
6
months
after
widowhood, even when controlling
for
gender, initial
depression,
and
social support.
In
fact,
they
found
that
the
effects
of
social support were entirely mediated
by
rumination.
Pierce
et
al.
(1998)
found
that
a
predisposition
to
rumination predicted
cognitive
interference beyond
the
effects
of
neuroticism.
An im-
portant
task
for
future
research
is to
explore
how
cognitive
ten-
dencies
influence
personality,
and
vice versa,
and how the two
interact
to
influence SWB.
Personality
X
Environment interactions.
The
influences
of
traits
on
emotions
are
probably moderated
by the
environment
in
which
the
individual
is
immersed. Thus,
the
effects
of
personality
may
extend beyond straightforward main
effects;
personality
may
interact with situations
and the
environment
to
influence
SWB.
Research
on the
nature
of
these interactions
is
limited,
and the
research that does exist
is
hindered
by
inconsistent definitions
and
models
of
interactionism. Emmons, Diener,
and
Larsen
(1986),
for
example, identified three models
of
interactionism that could
be
studied
in the
context
of SWB
research. They suggested that
the
inconsistent
and
imprecise
use of the
term interaction
has led to
confusion
in the
field.
The
first
type
of
interaction that Emmons
et al.
(1986)
identified
was
a
statistical
or
additive form
of
interaction
in
which
the
variance
in the
dependent variable
is
partitioned into variance
accounted
for by
persons, situations,
and
their interactions.
If one
applies
this type
of
interactionist thinking
to the
field
of
SWB,
one
derives models that
are
analogous
to the
diathesis-stress
model
of
depression. Certain individuals
may
have
a
predisposition
to
react
strongly
to
positive events,
but
greater
happiness will only ensue
if
pleasant events occur. Happiness would require precise combina-
tions
of
personality
and
environment.
Larsen's
(Larsen
&
Ketelaar,
1991; Rusting
&
Larsen, 1997) work
on
differential
susceptibility
to
positive
and
negative mood induction procedures among extra-
verts
and
neurotics
is an
example
of
this type
of
interactionist
model. Because extraverts react more strongly
to
pleasant
stimuli
than
introverts,
we may
expect
differential
levels
of
happiness
among extraverts
and
introverts
only
if
sufficient
pleasant condi-
tions exist
in the
extraverts'
environments. When exposed
to
neutral
conditions, extraverts
and
introverts
may
have similar
emotional experiences.
The
statistical definition
of
interactionism
(in
which
the
product
of
personality
and
environment account
for
variance beyond their
main
effects)
can be
contrasted with
more
complex models
of
interactionism that Emmons
et al.
(1986)
refer
to as
"reciprocal,
dynamic,
transactional,
or
organismic
interactionism"
(p.
851).
Reciprocal interactions treat both personality
and
environment
as
simultaneous independent
and
dependent variables with bidirec-
tional causality.
In a
series
of
studies designed
to
test this dynamic
form
of
interactionism, Emmons
and
Diener
(Diener, Larsen,
&
Emmons, 1984; Emmons
et
al.,
1986; Emmons
&
Diener, 1986)

282
DIENER,
SUH,
LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
investigated whether individuals choose situations
on the
basis
of
their
personality
and
whether congruence between personality
and
situation
would lead
to
greater
SWB.
Although Diener
et
al.
found
some support
for the
idea that
people
choose situations
on the
basis
of
their
personality,
support
for the
congruence
hypothesis
was
limited. People were
not
necessarily happier when
in
situations
that
were congruent with their personality.
Emmons
et al. and
Emmons
and
Diener
found
greater support
for the
congruence
hypothesis when they distinguished between chosen versus
im-
posed situations: Participants experienced elevated pleasant
affect
when
in
personality-congruent situations that they
had
chosen
but
not
in
personality-congruent situations that were imposed. More
recently,
Moskowitz
and
Cote (1995)
found
that
personality-
situation
congruence
is
less
important
in
determining
affect
than
the
congruence between
one's
personality
and the
specific behav-
ior in
which
one is
engaged. Assertive individuals feel more
positive
affect
when engaged
in
assertive behavior,
not
when they
simply
are in
situations
in
which
assertiveness
can be
displayed.
Thus,
features
of the
environment,
one's
behavior,
and
one's
personality
may
mutually influence each other
and
SWB.
In
line
with
this dynamic approach
to
personality-environment
interactions, researchers have begun
to
examine
the
influence that
personality
has on
situations that
are
likely
to
increase
or
decrease
SWB.
For
example, Headey
and
Wearing
(1989)
and
Magnus,
Diener, Fujita,
and
Pavot (1993) used longitudinal designs
to
assess
the
influence
of
personality
on the
experience
of
life
events.
In
both studies,
extraversion
and
neuroticism
predisposed
individ-
uals
to
experience positive
and
negative
life
events, respectively.
These
life
events,
in
turn,
had an
influence
on SWB
that could
not
be
explained
by
personality variables alone. Thus, personality
can
create situations that increase
or
decrease overall SWB. Although
at
this time there
is
only limited support
for
personality-
environment
interaction
effects,
future
research must
use
more
sophisticated methodology (including longitudinal designs
and
causal
modeling)
to
advance
our
understanding
of
dynamic, recip-
rocal
interactionism.
Nevertheless,
it
appears that
the
influence
of
personality
on SWB
goes beyond dispositions
to
react
in
positive
or
negative ways
to
events.
The
effects
of
personality appear also
to
include behaviors that increase
or
decrease
the
probability
of
rewarding
events.
Variability.
Mean
levels
of SWB
indicate
how
much
SWB a
person possesses
on
average.
One can
also examine variability
in
well-being
over time
by
examining
the
standard deviation
of a
person's
SWB or by
examining cycles
in
well-being
via
spectral
analysis.
The
amount
of
variability
of a
person's
life
satisfaction
and
affect
is
itself stable over time
and
correlates with other
personality variables (Eid
&
Diener,
in
press-a).
For
instance,
Eid
and
Diener
(in
press-a)
found
that
the
variability
of
affect
corre-
lates
primarily with neuroticism.
The
quality
of
happiness that
different
people experience
is
influenced
by
factors such
as
mood intensity
(Larsen
&
Diener,
1987), emotionality (Eisenberg
et
al.,
1995),
and
mood variability
(Eid
&
Diener,
in
press-a).
Two
individuals
may be
equally happy
on
average,
yet one may
experience substantial mood swings,
whereas
the
other
may
experience
little variability
in his or her
moods.
In
addition,
Oishi,
Schimmack,
and
Diener
(1998)
found
that
people
differentially
value emotional
experiences
of
varying
levels
of
intensity, depending
on
their values
and
personality.
Higher
sensation seekers were more satisfied when they experi-
enced pleasure
and
high-arousal emotions, whereas
low
sensation
seekers preferred lower-arousal
affective
states. Thus, emotional
intensity
may
influence
the
type
of
emotions that
are
preferred
and
the
variability
in
one's
emotional
life
even
if it
does
not
influence
one's
mean
level
of
happiness.
In
sum,
people
may
experience
a
contented
form
of
happiness
or a
relatively more aroused
form
of
joy
as
their modal mood,
and
people vary
in
terms
of
which type
of
experience they most desire.
Personality
conclusions. With
a few
caveats,
we
agree with
Wilson's
statement that
the
happy individual
is one who is
extra-
verted, optimistic,
and
worry-free (see also DeNeve
&
Cooper,
1998). Personality traits exhibit some
of the
strongest relations
with
SWB,
and it
appears that genes
may be
partly responsible
for
these relations.
We are
unsure
how
many additional personality
traits
are
needed
to
provide
a
complete picture
of the
happy
individual.
Identifying which personality traits
are
related
to
SWB,
the
direction
of
causality,
and the
mechanisms responsible
for
these relations have emerged
as
important goals
in
personality
and
SWB
research. Several conceptual models exist
for
explaining
the
relation
of
personality
to
SWB—affective
predispositions, reward-
ing
behaviors,
and
person-environment
fit—and
there
is
some
evidence
to
support each
of
these theoretical approaches.
Discrepancy
Theories
In
1985, Michalos advanced
the
multiple discrepancy
theory
of
satisfaction,
which
borrowed
from
the
ideas
of the
ancient Greeks,
Wilson
(1967), Campbell
et al.
(1976),
and
others. According
to
Michalos's
theory, individuals compare themselves
to
multiple
standards
including other
people,
past conditions, aspirations
and
ideal levels
of
satisfaction,
and
needs
or
goals. Satisfaction judg-
ments
are
then based
on
discrepancies between current conditions
and
these standards.
A
discrepancy that involves
an
upward com-
parison (i.e., where
the
comparison standard
is
higher)
will
result
in
decreased satisfaction, whereas
a
downward comparison will
result
in
increased satisfaction.
Social
comparison. Early models
of
social comparison
em-
phasized contrast
effects
in
explaining social comparison
influ-
ences
on SWB
(see Diener
&
Fujita,
1997).
The
idea
was
that
one
should
be
happy
if
proximate others
are
worse off,
and
unhappy
if
proximate others
are
better off.
In
recent years, however, theories
of
social comparison have become more intricate, allowing
for
variation
in the
type
of
information that
is
used
in
comparison
as
well
as the way
that
the
information
is
used.
In a
recent definition
of
social comparison, Wood
(1996)
stated that social comparison
is
simply "the process
of
thinking about information about
one or
more
other people
in
relation
to the
self"
(p.
520). Three
major
processes involved
in
social comparison
are (a)
acquiring social
information,
(b)
thinking about
social
information,
and (c)
reacting
to
social comparisons.
The
social information
one
acquires
can
come
from
proximate individuals, individuals that
one
reads about,
or
even imagined individuals
(e.g.,
J.
Wood, Taylor,
&
Lichtman,
1985).
The
process
of
thinking about social information includes
observing similarities, differences,
or
both, between
the
other
and
the
self. Finally, reactions
to
social comparison scan involve
a
variety
of
cognitive,
affective,
or
behavioral
responses
and do not
necessarily involve perceiving
a
contrast between oneself
and
others.
According
to
Wood's
definition,
the
choice
of a
comparison

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
283
target
is a flexible
process
and is not
determined solely
by the
proximity
or
accessibility
of
relevant others.
In
fact,
social com-
parison
may be
used
as a
coping strategy
and can be
influenced
by
personality
or
performance (Diener
&
Fujita, 1997). Gibbons,
Benbow,
and
Gerrard
(1994),
for
example,
found
that students
who
performed poorly
on a
test reduced
the
amount
of
social compar-
isons
in
which they engaged. Brown
and
Button
(1995)
stated that
people
"compare
themselves with others when they think
it
will
make them
feel
good,
but shy
away
from
comparing with others
when
they think
it
will make them feel bad"
(p.
1292).
In
addition,
Lyubomirsky
and
Ross (1997)
found
that happy people tended
to
use
only downward comparisons, whereas unhappy people tended
to
compare upward
as
well
as
downward.
The
second
process
implicated
in J. V.
Wood's
(1996) definition
of
social comparison, thinking about social information, exhibits
similar
flexibility.
McFarland
and
Miller
(1994),
for
example,
found
that
an
individual's personality influenced
the way he or she
used
social comparison information. Nondepressives
and
optimists
tended
to
focus
on the
number
of
people
who
performed worse
than
they did, whereas depressives
and
pessimists focused
on the
number
of
people
who
performed better than they
did
(see also
Ahrens, 1991; Wheeler
&
Miyake,
1992). Thus, happy
people
tended
to be
more positive
as the
number
of
comparison others
grew, whereas unhappy people were
less
happy
as the
number
of
comparison others grew. Furthermore,
the
tendency
to use
down-
ward
or
upward comparison
may be a
result
and not a
cause
of
increased SWB. This conclusion
was
supported
by
Diener
and
Fujita
(1997),
who
found
that although participants' resources
(e.g.,
income
and
intelligence) were hardly
correlated
with each
other, participants' ratings
of how
they compared
to
others
on
these resources were much more strongly related.
This
correlate
disappeared when
the
participant's
life
satisfaction score
was
con-
trolled, suggesting that perceptions
of
social comparison gaps
may
result
from
global top-down processes rather than
from
actual
calculated
comparisons.
Even when individuals
use the
same comparison target (i.e.,
all
individuals
use
upward comparison
or all
individuals
use
down-
ward
comparison), they
may not use
this
information
in the
same
way.
Buunk, Collins, Taylor,
Van
Yperen,
and
Dakof
(1990)
found
that
the
directionality
of a
comparison does
not
affect
SWB in a
consistent manner. Indeed, both upward
and
downward compari-
sons have
the
potential
for
increasing
or
decreasing happiness.
For
example,
if a
cancer victim
sees
others with cancer
who are
worse
off,
she may
receive
a
boost
in
well-being because
she
notes that
her
condition
is not
that bad.
On the
other hand,
she may
believe
that
her
cancer could worsen
as
well,
and
this would decrease
feelings
of
well-being (see also
Pelham
&
Wachsmuth, 1995).
In
a
similar manner, seeing
a
person
who has
overcome cancer
may
either give someone hope
or it may
cause envy.
These
effects
may
be
inconsistent because most traits
are
ambiguous
and can be
redefined
in a
self-serving
way
(Dunning, Meyerowitz,
&
Holzberg,
1989).
It
is
clear
that
the
effects
of
social comparison
on SWB in
natural
settings
are
more subtle than originally
believed.
Fujita
(1993),
for
example, examined
the
effects
of
one's
objective
standing
and his or her
roommate's standing
on
achievement,
physical attractiveness,
and
social relationship dimensions.
He
then
used
these
measures
to
assess
the
degree
to
which compari-
sons
with
proximate others
influence
satisfaction
on
these dimen-
sions. Neither
the
objective standing
nor the
perceived standing
of
the
roommate negatively influenced satisfaction
in any of
these
domains. Indeed,
Fujita
found
that participants
who had a
popular
roommate were themselves more satisfied with their social
life.
The
question
is no
longer whether
or not
social comparison
can
affect
SWB. Laboratory studies demonstrate that,
at
least
in the
short-run,
happiness
and
satisfaction scores
can be
affected
by the
standing
of
others (Diener
&
Fujita,
1997).
The
interesting ques-
tions
now
concern when
and
where social comparison produces
which
types
of
effects.
The
choice
of
comparison target,
the use of
upward
or
downward comparison,
and the
directionality
of
effects
on
SWB are flexible
and,
to
some degree, dependent
on
person-
ality.
Thus,
the
influence
of
one's
immediate social environment
appears
not to
produce long-term
effects
on
people's
SWB
through
social comparison. Instead,
we
hypothesize that social information
has its
largest
influence
on SWB
when
it
influences their goals,
a
topic covered
in a
subsequent section.
Modest
aspirations. Wilson
(1967)
mentioned
one
specific
discrepancy
in his
review
of the
happiness literature:
He be-
lieved that high aspirations were
a
major threat
to
happiness.
Many
contemporary theories suggest that
the
discrepancy
be-
tween
one's
aspirations
and
actual standing relates
to SWB
(e.g., Markus
&
Nurius,
1986; Michalos, 1985).
The
general
theoretical idea
is
that high aspirations will lead
to
unhappiness
because
the
person will
be
discouraged
by the
long
gap
between
where
he or she is and
where they would like
to be.
However,
either inappropriately high
or low
levels
of
aspiration
can be
detrimental
to
SWB, leading
to
anxiety (Emmons, 1992)
or
boredom (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), respectively. Thus,
Em-
mons
and
Diener
(1985)
found that aspiration
level
per se was
not
a
good
predictor
of SWB
among
college
students.
It is
probably
not the
absolute level
of
one's
aspirations
but
whether
they
are set
realistically
and are
congruent with
one's
personal
resources that predicts
SWB
(Diener
&
Fujita, 1995).
Current theories suggest that
the
process
of
moving toward
one's
aspirations
may be
more important
to
well-being than
the
end-state
of
goal attainment (e.g., Carver, Lawrence,
&
Scheier,
1996; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Thus,
people
with
high aspirations
and
low
current outcomes
may be
satisfied
as
long
as
they
are
making adequate progress toward their goals. Furthermore,
low
aspirations might reflect
a
series
of
past failures
and
therefore
may
not
predict positive levels
of
SWB.
In
addition, being
overly
obsessed
with
the final
outcomes
of
one's
aspiration
is
negatively
related
to
well-being
(Mclntosh
&
Martin,
1992).
Kasser
and
Ryan (1993, 1996)
found
that
the
likelihood
of
achieving
an
aspiration
is
less
important than
the
content
of the
aspiration
in
determining
one's
well-being. When respondents'
beliefs about
the
likelihood that
they
would achieve their aspira-
tions were measured, their estimated
likelihood
of
attaining intrin-
sic
aspirations (e.g., personal growth)
was
positively related
to
subjective well-being,
but the
likelihood
of
attaining extrinsic
aspirations
(e.g.,
fame
or
money)
was
negatively correlated with
SWB. Thus,
the
relation between aspirations
and SWB is
more
complex
than envisioned
by
Wilson,
and
high aspirations alone
do
not
guarantee unhappiness. Although aspiration level
per se
does
not
directly predict SWB,
the
related concept
of
goals
has
proven
valuable
in
understanding SWB.

284
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
Goals
According
to
what Diener (1984) called
telic
theories,
individ-
uals' behaviors
can be
best understood
by
examining goals: what
people
are
typically trying
to do in
life
(Austin
&
Vancouver,
1996)
and how
well they
are
succeeding
at it. The
types
of
goals
one
has,
the
structure
of
one's
goals,
the
success with which
one is
able
to
attain one's goals,
and the
rate
of
progress toward
one's
goals
can all
potentially
affect
one's
emotions
and
life satisfaction.
The
general conceptual model
is
that people react
in
positive ways
when
making progress toward goals
and
react negatively when
they
fail
to
achieve goals. Thus,
a
central idea
is
that goals serve
as an
important reference standard
for the
affect
system.
Cantor
and
Sanderson
(in
press) emphasized
the
importance
of
having goals. Commitment
to a set of
goals provides
a
sense
of
personal
agency
and a
sense
of
structure
and
meaning
to
daily life.
Furthermore, commitment
to
goals
may
help individuals cope with
various problems
in
daily
life
and
hence maintain personal
as
well
as
social well-being
in
times
of
adversity. Cantor
and
Sanderson
maintained that
the
types
of
goals that
one
chooses influence
the
effect
of
goals
on
SWB:
"Well-being should
be
enhanced when
individuals
are
able
to
pursue their distinct personal goals
in
ways
that
are
intrinsically valued
and
autonomously chosen, approached
at
a
feasible level,
and
facilitated
in
their daily
life
context"
(manuscript
p. 5).
Thus, resources
may
facilitate well-being indi-
rectly
by
allowing individuals
to
pursue
and
attain important goals.
Cantor's
model provides important insight into
the
reasons
why
bottom-up situational factors have such
a
small
influence
on SWB
in
nomothetic research that examines well-being across individu-
als. Events, circumstances,
and
demographic factors
may
affect
SWB
primarily when they interfere with
or
facilitate progress
toward goals,
but
because people have diverse goals
and
motives,
different
resources predict
SWB for
different
people. Diener
and
Fujita
(1995) tested this idea
by
measuring
people's
individual
goals, their resources,
and
their SWB. Resources predicted
SWB
more strongly when they were relevant
to a
person's
goals than
when
they were not.
On the
basis
of
Diener
and
Fujita's
findings,
we
know that resources such
as
income
or
physical attractiveness
contribute
more
to the SWB of
individuals
who
have goals related
to
these resources.
A
related point
was
made
by
Brunstein
(1993),
who
found
that
the
effects
of
goal achievement
on SWB
were
mediated
by the
degree
of
commitment
to
those goals.
In a
similar
vein,
Oishi, Diener, Sun,
and
Lucas
(in
press)
found
that students
with
achievement values
felt
better
on
days when they
did
well
in
school,
and
people
with strong social values
felt
better
on
days
when
they
had a
more
satisfying
interpersonal
life.
Because
the
ability
to
reach goals depends
on the
situational
context,
having certain goals
may
predict either well-being
or
ill-being, depending
on the
environmental circumstances.
For ex-
ample, Kasser
(1996)
found
that
for
prisoners, placing importance
on
self-acceptance
was
related
to
greater depression, whereas
being
physically
fit was
related
to
feeling
vigorous.
On the
other
hand, there
was a
tendency
for
those with satisfying intimate
relationships, perhaps with people outside
of the
prison,
to
have
lower
well-being
in the
prisoner sample. Thus, during incarcera-
tion, goals
that
usually predict
SWB
might
be
inversely related
to
it
because
the
ability
to
attain these goals
is so
low.
These
findings
are
important
in
showing that
the
influence
of
people's
motives
and
goals
on SWB may
depend
on the
environmental context.
Certain goal strivings
may be
more beneficial than other goal
strivings
only within contexts where those goal strivings
are
likely
to
be
rewarded.
Another
important finding
is
that
not all
goals
are
equal
in
terms
of
producing high SWB. Brunstein, Schultheiss,
and
Grassman
(1998)
found
that only progress toward motive-congruent goals
was
related
to
SWB. Indeed, they
found
that commitment
to
motive-incongruent
goals
led to a
decline
in
emotional well-being.
The
idea
is
that
an
individual
has
certain needs, which
may or may
not
be
consciously labeled,
and
that meeting these needs will lead
to
higher SWB. However, individuals
may
adopt goals that
are not
congruent with their needs,
and
success
at
these goals will
not
enhance SWB.
In a
similar vein, Kasser
and
Ryan
(1993)
found
that
those
who
rated financial success
as
more important than
self-acceptance, community feeling,
or
affiliation
goals reported
lower
well-being.
They
also
found that
SWB
does
not
occur when
people make progress toward certain goals such
as
making money.
Kasser
and
Ryan explained these
findings
by
theorizing that some
success
at
certain goals meets intrinsic human needs, whereas
other goals
(e.g.,
wealth, beauty,
and
fame)
are
extrinsic
and do not
meet human needs. Thus,
it
appears that
the
influence
of
goals
on
SWB
is
more complex than simply achieving one's goals.
The
goals must
be
appropriate
to the
person's motives
and
needs before
the
connection occurs
and
must
be
appropriate
in the
context
of the
individual's
life.
An
important component
of
context
is the
culture
in
which
the
individual
is
immersed.
As
Cantor
and
Sanderson
(in
press)
pointed out, commitment
to
goals
is
most conducive
to
happiness
when
those goals
are
valued
by the
culture
or
subculture
to
which
the
individual belongs. Culture
influences
the
goals people
select,
and
thus
the
sources
of
SWB.
One
dimension
of
culture that
has
been particularly
useful
in
identifying
systematic differences
in the
processes underlying
SWB
constructs
is
individualism-collectivism
(Triandis,
1989)
or
independent-interdependent concepts
of the
self
(Markus
&
Kitayama,
1991).
A
defining feature
of
this dimension
is the
degree
to
which people view
the
self
as an
autonomous, self-
sufficient
entity.
In
individualist cultures, such
as
North America
and
Western Europe, individuals typically attempt
to
distinguish
themselves
from
others. Consequently, feelings
and
emotions—
phenomena that
are
considered unique
to the
individual
who
experiences
them—weigh
heavily
as
predictors
of
life
satisfaction
(Suh,
Diener, Oishi,
&
Triandis, 1998).
It is not
surprising that
feelings
about
the
self
(i.e.,
self-esteem),
in
particular, correlate
highly with happiness
in
these
cultures
(Diener
&
Diener,
1995).
In
collectivist cultures, however,
a
central goal
of the
individual
is
not
to
distinguish herself
or
himself
from
others
but to
maintain
harmony
with them.
One's
personal desires
often
are
subordinated
to
those
of the
group. Because
of the
lessened importance
of the
autonomous
person, feelings, emotions,
and
other thoughts expe-
rienced
by
the
individual
are
seen
as
less important determinants
of
behavior. Consequently,
feelings
about
the
self
and
emotions
weigh
less heavily
in
satisfaction judgments
in
members
of
col-
lectivist cultures.
A
similar pattern
of
results
was
also
found
between Asian American
and
White
college
students
in the
United
States (Suh, 1998).
Because
people's
goals
are
likely
to
differ
substantially across
cultures,
what
is
important
for
happiness
in one
culture
may be
less
important
in
another (Suh,
in
press). This does
not
mean that
the

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
285
construct
of
happiness
does
not
exist
in
these cultures;
it
simply
means that certain aspects
of
life
are
weighted
differently
because
people have somewhat
different
goals
in
different cultures. Certain
goals,
especially those related
to
basic biological needs such
as
hunger,
are
probably embraced across cultures
and
therefore
should
be
influential
determinants
of
happiness everywhere. Oishi,
Diener, Lucas,
and Suh (in
press),
for
example,
found
that
the
fulfillment
of
basic biological needs
is
predictive
of SWB
across
diverse cultures. Once basic biological needs
are
met, leisure
is
likely
to
become
an
important source
of
SWB. Leisure activities
can
be
rewarding when intrinsically valuable pursuits allow people
to use
their skills
and
interact with friends
and
family (Argyle,
1987). However, reaction
is
varied
and is
usually
more under
people's
control than
is
their work. Thus,
the
leisure activities that
predict
SWB are
likely
to
vary across individuals
and
cultures.
Oishi
et
al.
found,
for
example, that satisfaction with travel
was a
more important predictor
of SWB in
wealthy than
in
poor soci-
eties.
In
sum, culture
can
have
a
profound
effect
on the
causes
of
happiness
by
influencing
the
goals people pursue
as
well
as the
resources available
to
attain goals.
Simply
having goals
and
having
the
resources
to
pursue those
goals
is not
enough
to
guarantee happiness. Goals
can act as
standards
or
aspirations
and
according
to
this viewpoint,
SWB is
seen
as a
yardstick that measures
an
individual's proximity
to
those things
for
which
he or she
strives. Carver
and
Scheier (1998),
for
example, suggested that discrepancies between goals
and the
actual
conditions
in
people's
lives influence
the
amount
of
positive
and
negative
affect
they experience. Hsee
and
Abelson (1991)
found
that
the
rate
of
progress toward
one's
goals, rather than
the
attainment
of
goals
per se, was
responsible
for
differences
in
affect.
Yet
the
relation between goals
and SWB is
more complex than
this
yardstick metaphor suggests.
Emmons
(1986),
for
example,
found
that several specific characteristics
of
goals predict SWB,
and
the
different characteristics influence positive
affect,
negative
affect,
and
life
satisfaction
in
different
ways. Consistent with
Carver
and
Scheier's
(1998) formulation, Emmons reported that
positive
affect
is
associated with past
fulfillment
of
goals,
and
negative
affect
is
associated with
low
perceived probability
of
success
in
meeting
future
goals.
Furthermore, Emmons
found
that
happy
people's
aspirations
are
more coherently organized
and
congruent with each other than
those
of
less happy
people
(Em-
mons
&
King, 1988; Sheldon
&
Kasser, 1995).
The
importance
that
one
places
on
one's
goals
and the
amount
of
effort
required
to
achieve those goals
are
associated with positive
affect.
However,
in
a
provocative
set of
studies,
Pomerantz,
Saxon,
and
Oishi (1998)
reported that
people
with more goals that they consider very
important have higher
life
satisfaction, self-esteem,
and
positive
affect
but
also
more symptoms
of
anxiety. This suggests that
believing
one's
goals
are
important
has
rewards
but can
also
increase stress because
of the
increased pressure
to
achieve those
goals.
Emmons
(1986)
found
that conflict among goals
and
ambiva-
lence toward goals
are
associated with negative affect. Thus, King
(1996)
argued that
an
important aspect
of
self-regulation
and
adaptation
is
using
processes
to
reduce conflict among
one's
goals.
Thus, selecting compatible goals
may be a
critical aspect
of
achieving
SWB.
Emmons (1986)
found
that simply having valued goals, inde-
pendent
of
past success,
was
associated with higher
life
satisfac-
tion.
Furthermore, happy people
may
select goals
for
which they
have
the
appropriate resources (Diener
&
Fujita,
1995). That
is, it
is
possible that goal attainment
may
result
from
high
SWB as
well
as
cause
it. In
contrast, certain goals
are
reflective
of
preexisting
negative
states
and
therefore
are
related
to
lower SWB.
For ex-
ample,
Lapierre,
Bouffard,
and
Bastin (1997)
found
that
elderly
people
who had
goals related
to
self-preservation
had
lower
feel-
ings
of
mastery, whereas those
who had
goals related
to
self-
development
felt
more competent.
In
addition,
it may be
that
the
loss
of a
resource
in an
area related
to
one's
goals
is
more aversive
than
the
gain
of
that resource. This prediction
of
Kahneman
and
Tversky's (1984) prospect theory
has
been applied
to
everyday
resources
by
Hobfoll, Lilly,
and
Jackson
(1992).
The
study
of
goals
and
their relation
to SWB has
provided
an
important
contribution
to
theoretical conceptualizations
of
happi-
ness. Nevertheless, there remain important questions about goals
and
SWB.
For
example,
can
motives
influence
SWB
even
if a
person
is
unaware
of
them?
Do
social comparisons
and
compari-
sons with one's past have
an
indirect
effect
on SWB
when they
influence
a
person's goals?
The
goal approach provides
a
broad
conceptual model
for
understanding many
SWB
findings,
but
many
details
of
this approach have
yet to be
determined.
Adaptation
and
Coping
The
idea
of
adaptation
or
habituation
to
continuing conditions
is
a
central component
of
modern theories
of
SWB. Evolution pre-
pared
us to
make adjustments
to
external conditions.
For
example,
our
bodies make adaptations to help us
adjust
to cold, heat, too
little water,
and
high altitudes.
In a
similar manner,
we may
adjust,
at
least
to
some degree,
to
both good
and bad
events
so
that
we do
not
remain
in a
state
of
either elation
or
despair.
Our
emotion
system reacts most strongly
to new
events
and
these reactions
dampen over time. When well-being
is
considered, recent events
usually
have
a
greater impact than events that happened
in the
past
(e.g., Headey
&
Wearing, 1989; Suh, Diener,
&
Fujita, 1996).
In
addition, people adapt
to
many events
in a
relatively short
time—in
less than three months
for the
events studied
by
Suh, Diener,
and
Fujita
(1996).
Helson
(1947) defined adaptation
as the
diminished responsive-
ness
to
repeated
or
continued stimuli. There
is now
evidence that
adaptation
to
events
is an
important factor
in
understanding
SWB
(Loewenstein
&
Frederick,
in
press).
Brickman,
Coates,
and
Janoff-Bulman
(1976) found that lottery winners were
not
signif-
icantly
happier
than
a
control group
and
that
a
group
of
individuals
with
spinal cord
injuries
were
not as
unhappy
as
might
be ex-
pected. Silver (1982)
found
that quadriplegics
and
paraplegics
adapted
to
their spinal cord
injury
during
the
ensuing
2
months
after
the
injury.
Although sadness
and
fear were
the
strongest
emotions
one
week
after
the
injury,
positive
affect
predominated
over negative
affect
by the 8th
week.
In a
similar vein,
Mehnert,
Krauss,
Nadler,
and
Boyd
(1990)
found
that individuals
who
acquired disabilities later
in
life
were less satisfied with
life
than
those
who
acquired their disabilities
at
birth
or in
early
life.
Presumably, those
who had the
disability longer
had
more time
to
adapt.
In a
more rigorous test
of
adaptation,
Krause
and
Sternberg
(1997)
used
a
time-sequential longitudinal design
to
separate
the
effects
of age of
injury,
time period,
and
time since
injury
on the

286
DIENER,
SUH,
LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
well-being
of
persons with spinal cord injuries. They
found
that
time since
injury
was a
positive predictor
of
general satisfaction,
controlling
for the
other factors. Research
on
incarceration
and
bereavement after
the
loss
of a
loved
one
also provide evidence
for
the
effects
of
adaptation
(see
Loewenstein
&
Frederick,
in
press,
for
a
review).
It
is
important
to
note, however, that considerable evidence
exists that contradicts
the
"hedonic
treadmill"
theory that people
completely
and
rapidly adapt
to all
circumstances. Adaptation
to
some events
can
occur slowly.
For
example,
Stroebe,
Stroebe,
Abakoumkin,
and
Schut
(1996)
found
that even
after
2
years,
people
who
were widowed showed higher average levels
of de-
pression than nonbereaved persons, although
rates
of
depression
did
decline over this period. Furthermore,
Vitaliano,
Russo,
Young,
Becker,
and
Maiuro
(1991)
found
that family
caregivers
of
Alzheimer's
patients showed deteriorating
SWB
over time. Die-
ner, Diener,
and
Diener
(1995)
found
that respondents
in
very poor
nations
such
as
India
and
Nigeria reported much lower
SWB
than
people
in
wealthier nations even though poverty there
has
been
endured
for
centuries. Finally, Loewenstein
and
Frederick
(in
press) reported that people adapt rapidly
to
some conditions (e.g.,
imprisonment
and
increases
in
income), slowly
to
other conditions
(e.g.,
the
death
of a
loved one),
and
little
or not at all to
other
conditions
(e.g.,
the
pleasures
of
eating
and the
avoidance
of
noise).
One
other limitation
of the
hedonic treadmill idea
is
that
we
may
have
a
positivity
offset
(Ito
&
Cacioppo,
in
press),
or
positive
baseline,
meaning
that
we
adapt back
to a
positive
point
rather
than
to
complete neutrality (Diener
&
Diener, 1996).
Past research raises important questions about
the
phenomenon
of
adaptation.
For
example,
do
people habituate
to
steadily wors-
ening
conditions
or can
they only adapt
to
single-occasion events
such
as
winning
a
lottery
or
losing
a
limb? Does adaptation
represent
a
decrease
in the
magnitude
of
emotional reaction,
a
recalibration
of
one's
scale
for
hedonic experiences,
or an
adjust-
ment
in
people's
goals
and
their strategies
of
living?
For
example,
losing
a
limb might
be
devastating because
of its
impact
on
one's
daily
life
and
long-term goals. Adaptation
may
occur, however,
when
individuals learn
how to
cope with
the
loss
and
adjust
their
goals accordingly.
In
this
case,
individuals
are not
responding less
intensely
to the
same stimulus,
as
Kelson's
definition
suggests;
they
are
restructuring their thoughts about
the
stimulus
and its
effect
on
their lives.
Do
individuals
who
have greater ability
at
emotion regulation (Eisenberg
et
al.,
1995) adapt more quickly
to
negative events?
A
complete theory
of
subjective well-being must
explain
the
effects
of the
temporal context
of
events; when adap-
tations occurs, what processes
are
responsible
for
adaptation,
and
any
limits
to
individuals' abilities
to
adapt.
Adaptation should
be
distinguished
from
coping, where
the
emphasis
is on the
active
role
of the
participant
rather
than
on an
automatic
passive biological process,
as in
habituation. Certain
coping strategies
are
consistently related
to
higher SWB.
For
example,
Folkman
(1997)
found
that spiritual beliefs, giving
or-
dinary
events
a
positive meaning, positive reappraisal,
and
problem-focused coping were
all
related
to
positive states
in HIV
caregivers.
In a
similar vein, McCrae
and
Costa (1986)
found
that
certain coping behaviors were perceived
as
effective
coping
re-
sponses
by
respondents,
for
example, rational action, seeking help,
drawing
strength
from
adversity,
and
faith.
They also
found
that
those
who
used these forms
of
coping reported higher SWB,
and
this relation
persisted
even when personality variables were con-
trolled.
For
example, neurotic coping correlated inversely with
life
satisfaction
(but
not
significantly with
affect),
and
mature coping
correlated with pleasant
affect
(but
not
significantly with
life
satisfaction
or
negative
affect)
after
controlling
for
personality
variables. Despite
the
descriptive
findings,
strong models
of the
processes underlying coping
and how
they mitigate distress
are not
yet
available (Folkman,
1991).
Perhaps
one of the
more compel-
ling agendas
for the
psychology
of SWB is to
understand
why
people
use
certain methods
of
coping
and why
some
are
more
effective
than others.
It is
plausible that adaptation includes diverse
processes, including
attentional
and
emotion habituation, change
in
goal content
or
goal structure,
and
other cognitive coping
strategies. Furthermore,
it
seems likely that
the
diverse
processes
included
under
the
rubric
of
"adaptation"
may
have
different
effects
on the
various components
of
well-being
and
cause "adap-
tation"
to
occur
in
varying lengths
of
time.
Summary
Early
research
on SWB was
limited
to
cataloging
the
various
resources
and
demographic factors that
are
correlated with subjec-
tive well-being. Although
the
most recent
30
years
of
research
have
increased
our
knowledge
in
this area,
the
most important
contribution
is in the
understanding that these external, bottom-up
factors
often
are
responsible
for
only
a
small part
of the
variance
in
SWB. One's temperament
and
cognitions, goals, culture,
and
adaptation
coping
efforts
moderate
the
influence
of
life
circum-
stances
and
events
on
SWB. Theoretical models have been devel-
oped
in
each
of
these areas
to
explain
how
internal factors within
the
person moderate
and
mediate
the
impact
of the
environment
on
people's SWB.
A
major
goal
for the
future
is to
clarify
the
interrelations among these factors.
For
example,
how
does person-
ality
affect
one's
tendency
to
adapt
to
negative
events?
Does
adaptation
exist primarily because
of
changes
in
goals?
Wilson's Conclusions
Reexamined
In
considering
Wilson's
(1967)
conclusions about
who is
happy,
one
must
first
recognize that
the
studies
on
which
he
based
his
judgments
were really about
who is
most happy.
In
fact,
the
majority
of
people avow positive levels
of
happiness (e.g., Diener
&
Diener, 1996; Headey
&
Wearing, 1988;
Matlin
&
Stang,
1978).
Most individuals report that their well-being varies between
slightly
satisfied
and
very satisfied,
and
between slightly happy
and
very happy. Folkman (1997)
found
that even
in the
extremely
distressing
circumstances
of
caring
for and
losing
a
partner
with
AIDS,
caregivers
felt
more
positive
than
negative
affect
most
of
the
time. Thus, there
is a
truncated range
in SWB
that some have
conjectured
might
be of
genetic origin (Diener
&
Diener, 1996;
Lykken
&
Tellegen, 1996). What causes
the
variations
in SWB
between
people
who
score
at
varying places
in the
positive range
may
differ
considerably
from
what causes
a few
people
to
expe-
rience
depression
and
other severe negative states.
In
the
following sections,
we
assess Wilson's conclusions that
happy
people
are
young, healthy, well-educated, well-paid,
reli-
gious, married persons,
with
high
job
morale,
of
either sex,
and of
any
level
of
intelligence.

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
287
Health
Wilson concluded that health
is
strongly correlated with SWB.
This association, however, holds only
for
self-reported health
measures
(e.g.,
George
&
Landerman,
1984;
Larson,
1978; Okun,
Stock,
Haring,
&
Witter, 1984).
The
correlation weakens consid-
erably when objective health ratings
by
physicians
are
examined
(e.g.,
Watten, Vassend,
Myhrer,
&
Syversen, 1997). Okun
and
George (1984),
for
example, examined eight correlations between
physician-rated health
and SWB and
only
one
reached statistical
significance.
A
longitudinal
study
by
Brief, Butcher, George,
and
Link
(1993)
also failed
to
find
a
direct
effect
of
objective health
(as
indexed,
for
example,
by
doctor visits
and
hospitalization)
on
global
life
satisfaction. Instead,
life
satisfaction
was
predicted
by
subjectively
interpreted health, which
was
influenced
by
both
negative
affect
and
objective health. Furthermore,
one's
percep-
tions
of
health
are
influenced
by
personality; Larsen (1992) found
that
neurotics retrospectively recalled more gastrointestinal
and
respiratory symptoms than they
had
previously reported
on a
daily
basis. Self-rated health measures reflect
not
only one's actual
physical
condition
but
also
one's
level
of
emotional adjustment
(Hooker
&
Siegler, 1992; Watson
&
Pennebaker,
1989),
and the
relation
between self-rated health
and SWB is
inflated
by
this
emotional component. Thus, perceptions
of
health rather appear
to
be
more important than objective health
in
their
effects
on
SWB.
When respondents
are
asked
to
judge
the
importance
of
various
domains
of
their
lives,
"good
health"
obtains
the
highest
rating
(Campbell
et
al.,
1976).
How is it
possible, then, that
the
global
life
satisfaction
of
severely
ill
patients (e.g., cancer victims)
and
non-
patients
differ
only slightly (e.g., Breetvelt
& Van
Dam,
1991)?
One
reason
is
that people appear
to be
remarkably
effective
in
coping, using cognitive strategies such
as
downward comparison
(J.
Wood
et
al.,
1985) that induce
a
positive image
of
their health
condition.
If
people
can
find
a way to
appraise their health posi-
tively,
the
adverse impact
of
illness
or
disability
on
life
satisfaction
can
be
mitigated. Furthermore, people
in
poor health downplay
the
importance
of
their health when evaluating their global
life
satis-
faction.
However,
it is
also possible that patients exaggerate their
reports
of
well-being because
of the
pressures they
feel
to be
optimistic
for
their
caregiver's
benefit.
Although
adaptation
has
been
one of the
most popular explana-
tions
for the
weak association between objective health status
and
SWB, adaptation
in
this domain
is
sometimes
not
complete.
For
example, although
the
spinal-cord-injured accident victims
in
Brickman
et
al.'s
(1978) famous
study
did not
appear "nearly
as
unhappy
as
might have been
expected"
(p.
921), their current
happiness
was
significantly lower than
the
control group. Indeed,
the
accident victims scored
one
point lower than
the
control group
on
a
6-point
scale
even
though
their
injury
was
some
distance
in
the
past.
In a
similar vein,
a
number
of
recent studies show that
people with severe physical ailments
may
fail
to
return
to
their
initial
levels
of
SWB.
For
instance,
Verbrugge,
Reoma,
and
Gruber-Baldini
(1994)
traced
the
functional changes
of
patients
with
one or
more symptoms
of
serious chronic morbidity (e.g.,
pulmonary
disease, congestive heart
failure)
from
hospital admis-
sion
to 1
year post-discharge. Patients with
one
chronic problem
showed pronounced improvement
in SWB
during this
period,
whereas patients with
five
or
more physical problems worsened
in
many
ways.
Mehnert
et al.
(1990)
found
that
68% of
individuals
reporting disabling conditions said they were somewhat
or
very
satisfied
with
their lives, compared
to 90% of a
nondisabled
comparison group. Again, those with multiple disabling conditions
were less satisfied than those with
a
single condition. Thus,
SWB
in
people
with
disabilities
might
be
high,
but it is
often
lower
than
the
SWB of
people without disabilities.
In
sum,
the
impact
of
one's
health depends
on the
individual's
perception
of the
situation. When
the
disabling condition
is
severe
or
entails multiple
or
chronic problems, however,
it may
nega-
tively
influence
SWB. When
the
condition
is
less severe, substan-
tial
adaptation
is
possible.
It is
unfortunate
that
we do not yet
understand
the
psychological
and
physical factors that determine
successful
adaptation
to
illness
and
disability.
Ill
health
may
neg-
atively
influence
SWB
because
it
interferes
with
the
attainment
of
important goals. Adaptation could occur
by
adjusting
these goals.
However, some health conditions
may be so
profound that they
interfere
with
a
wide variety
of
goals
and
therefore almost inevi-
tably
affect
SWB.
Frisch
(in
press)
offers
a
review
of how
sub-
jective measures
of
quality
of
life
are
essential
in
health care
assessment.
Income
Researchers examined
the
relation between income
and SWB in
four
lines
of
research:
(a)
within-country correlations between
income
and
SWB,
(b)
changes
in SWB
among individuals
who
experience
increases
or
decreases
in
income,
(c)
trends
in SWB
during periods
of
national economic growth,
and (d)
between-
country
correlations
of
average
SWB and
national wealth.
Within-nation
correlations.
In
studies
of
personal income,
small
but
significant
correlations
are
often
found
within countries
(e.g., Veenhoven, 1994a). Haring, Stock,
and
Okun (1984)
found
an
average correlation
of .17
between income
and
well-being
within
countries. Diener, Sandvik, Seidlitz,
and
Diener (1993)
found
a
correlation between income
and SWB of .12 in a
nation-
ally
representative sample
in the
United States,
but
Clark
and
Oswald (1994)
did not find a
statistically
significant
effect
of
income
in a
representative sample
from
Britain.
Even
when extremely wealthy individuals
are
examined,
the
effects
of
income
are
small. Diener,
Horwitz,
and
Emmons (1985)
compared individuals with
a net
worth over
125
million U.S.
dollars
to
randomly selected controls
from
the
same geographical
areas. Even though
the
very
rich
were,
on
average, somewhat
happier
than
the
mean
of
national samples, there
was
considerable
overlap
in the
distributions
of the
wealthy
and not
wealthy groups.
Thus, wealthier people
are
consistently
found
to be
happier
than
poorer
people,
but the
effects
are
small.
Income change. Within countries, increases
in
income
are not
inevitably
associated
with
increases
in
well-being.
Brickman
et al.
(1978)
found
that lottery winners were happier
than
controls
but
not
significantly
so.
Although
the
statistical power
of
this
study
was
quite low, other studies
of
income change support Brickman
et
al.'s conclusions.
For
example, Diener
et al.
(1993)
found
no
differences
in
hedonic level between groups
of
people
who had
gone
up or
down
at
least
one
half
of a
standard deviation
in
income
over
a
10-year period. When income remains stable over
an
extended period
of
time, individuals
may
adapt
to a
particular level
of
wealth.
If
changes
in
income occur,
SWB may
temporarily
increase
or
decrease, especially
if the
change
in
income results
in

288
DIENER,
SUH,
LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
the
inability
to
pursue
one's
goals
or to
meet
one's
basic needs.
Adaptation
theory suggests, however, that over time people will
adapt
to the new
level
of
income.
It
is
surprising that
the
effects
of
income
are not
always positive,
a
fact
that complicates
our
study
of the
income-SWB
relation.
Smith
and
Razzell (1975),
for
example, studied individuals
who
had
won
large sums
of
money
in the
British football pools.
Thirty-nine percent described their lives
as
very happy, compared
to
just
19% of
controls. However, there were also costs associated
with
the
increased
wealth. Many
of the
pool
winners
quit
their
jobs, resulting
in
lost relationships
and
decreased
feelings
of ac-
complishment. Furthermore, tension between friends
and
family
can
increase when
the
wealthier individual
is
expected
to
provide
financial
assistance.
In a
large naturalistic experiment
in
which
randomly
selected people received higher welfare incomes,
Thoits
and
Hannan (1979)
found
that increased income
often
led to
increased levels
of
distress. Thus, even positive changes
in
income
may
result
in
more stress, mitigating
the
positive
effects
of
wealth
on
well-being.
Income
change
at the
national level. Large-scale change
in
national
economies also have consequences
for
mental health
and
SWB. Dooley
and
Catalano studied
the
relation between mental
illness
and
economic
recessions
and
found that
economic
contrac-
tion
affects
the
rate
of
depression (Dooley, Catalano,
&
Wilson,
1994)
but
does
not
seem
to
affect
suicide rates (Dooley, Catalano,
Rook,
&
Serxner,
1989). Similar
effects
are seen on the positive
end of the
well-being spectrum. Diener
& Suh
(1997) reported
long-term trends
in SWB
from
1946
to
1990. Despite tremendous
economic growth
in
France, Japan,
and the
United States during
this
period, there
was no
increase
in
mean reports
of
SWB. Figure
1
illustrates this point. Disposable income
rose
dramatically (even
controlling
for
inflation
and
taxes),
but
levels
of
well-being
re-
mained
stable. Oswald (1997)
found
that
there
was
virtually
no
increase
in SWB in
nine European nations during
a
period
of
rapid
economic growth,
and
Diener
and
Oishi
(in
press) reported similar
findings.
Rather, growth
may be
accompanied
by a
concomitant
rise
in
expectations regarding standards
of
living across
all
income
groups.
These
data support
the
conclusion drawn
from
studies
of
personal income: Income changes
are not
necessarily reflected
in
SWB
scores.
Between-nation
differences.
Contrary
to
Easterlin's (1974)
early
conclusions
on
this
topic,
the
relation
between wealth
of a
nation
and
average
SWB is
positive
and
strong. Gross National
Product
(GNP)
per
capita correlates approximately
.50
with
life
satisfaction
across
39
nations (Diener
et
al.,
1993).
Diener, Diener,
and
Diener (1995) replicated these results
in a
sample
of 55
nations,
using
both
GNP and
purchasing power
as
indicators
of
national
financial
status.
It is
important
to
note, however, that
wealthy
nations
differ
from
poorer nations
in
many
ways
and
these
differences
may
inflate
the
income-SWB
correlations between
nations.
Rich countries tend
to be
more democratic
and
egalitarian
than
poorer nations. Thus,
the
relation between national wealth
and
SWB may be
due,
at
least
in
part,
to the
indirect
effects
of
other
benefits
received
by
individuals
in
wealthier nations rather than
to
the
direct
effect
of
wealth
itself.
Conclusions.
The
data
do not
support
a
strong causal path
from
income
to
SWB,
and
more complex models
are
required
to
explain
all of the
results. Wealthy people
are
only somewhat
happier
than poor people
in rich
nations, whereas wealthy nations
appear much
happier
than poor ones. Furthermore, changes
in
income
do not
always have
the
predicted
effects.
It
appears that
examination
of
expectations
and
goal concepts (material desires)
is
required
to
explain this complex pattern. Wealth
may
contribute
to
SWB by
providing
the
means
to
meet certain basic needs
such
as
240
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
47
I
52
57
r
64
66
71
73
75
78
82
84
86
r
88
1946
48 56 63 65
70
72 74 76 80
Income
SWB
83
85 87
1989
Figure
1.
United
States
income
and
subjective
well-being
(SWB),
1946-1989. Income
is
percentage
of
after-tax
disposable personal income
in
1946 dollars
(adjusted
for
inflation).
Subjective
well-being
is
reports
of
happiness
as
percentage
values
of the
1946
values.

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
289
food,
shelter, clean water,
and
health care. Thus, poverty should
affect
SWB if it
affects
basic
needs—a
prediction confirmed
by the
greater importance
of
wealth
in
countries where basic needs
are in
danger
of not
being met. Once basic needs
are
met, however,
the
processes
of
adaptation
may
take over
and
then
the
findings
become more complex.
A
final
issue
in the
study
of
income
is
whether materialistic
goals themselves have
a
direct influence
on SWB
(Sirgy, 1998).
People
who
value money more highly than other goals
are
less
satisfied
with their standard
of
living
and
with
their lives
(Richins
&
Dawson, 1992),
and
this association persists even when income
is
controlled (Crawford, 1998). Materialistic pursuits
may be
coun-
terproductive
insofar
as
they interfere with other prosocial
and
self-actualization
goals (Scitovsky, 1976).
It is
unfortunate
that
researchers have
not yet
discovered
why
materialism
is a
negative
predictor
of
SWB, although Kasser
(in
press) hypothesizes that
it
is
because
the
extrinsic goal
of
money
is not
conducive
to
meeting
inherent
needs
in
economically advanced societies. Furthermore,
researchers
do not
know
the
extent
to
which this relation general-
izes
to
countries where basic needs
are at
stake.
Religion
Marx
described religion
as the
"opiate
of the
masses,"
suggest-
ing
that
it
leads
to
greater feelings
of
well-being. However,
in a
recent review article, Gartner,
Larson,
and
Allen
(1991)
concluded
that
the
"preponderance
of
evidence suggests that religion
is as-
sociated
with mental health benefits"
(p.
16), especially when
religiosity
is
measured
by
actual religious behavior
(e.g.,
church
attendance) rather than
by
attitude
scales.
A
number
of
large
studies,
often
based
on
national samples, show that
SWB
corre-
lates significantly (although
the
effect
sizes
are not
large) with
religious certainty (Ellison, 1991), strength
of
one's
relationship
with
the
divine
(Pollner,
1989), prayer
experiences
(Poloma
&
Pendleton, 1991),
and
devotional
and
participatory aspects
of
religiosity
(Ellison, Gay,
&
Glass, 1989), even
after
controlling
for
demographic variable such
as
age, income,
and
marital status.
Religion
may
provide both psychological
and
social benefits.
Religious
experiences
can
provide
a
sense
of
meaning
in
daily
life
(Pollner, 1989)
as
well
as
during
major
life
crises
(e.g.,
D. N.
Mclntosh,
Silver,
&
Wortman,
1993).
As
Durkheim
(1915) noted,
religion also serves social purposes
by
offering
a
collective iden-
tity
and
reliable social networks consisting
of
individuals
who
share similar attitudes
and
values (e.g.,
R.
Taylor
&
Chatters,
1988). Indeed,
the
benefits
of
church membership
are
greater
for
people
who
have lost other forms
of
social support
(e.g.,
retirees
and
widows), suggesting that
the
benefits
of
religion
may
result
from
increased social support (Moberg
&
Taves,
1965).
Ellison
(1991) reported that religious variables account
for
approximately
5%-7%
of
life satisfaction variance,
but
only
2%-3%
of the
variance
in
affective
well-being. Ellison suggests
that
the
benefits
of
religion
are
mainly cognitive, providing
an
interpretive
framework
by
which
one can
make
sense
of his or her
experiences.
In
contrast, religion
may do
little
to
eliminate
nega-
tive
events
or
increase positive events
in
people's
lives
and
there-
fore
may not
affect
emotional well-being. Religion
may
increase
feelings
of
efficacy,
control,
and
security
and may
therefore pro-
vide
greater benefit
for the
cognitive aspects
of
SWB.
The
psychological
and
social benefits
of
religion
may
vary
according
to the
needs
of the
individual.
For
instance,
extrinsically
oriented individuals
who
regard religion
as a
means
for
other
nonreligious
goals
(Allport
&
Ross, 1967)
may find the
practical
and
social rewards
to be
more important than
the
existential
meaning
provided
by
religious beliefs.
Thus
far, there
is
little
research
on how
various facets
of
religiosity
interact
with
life
circumstances
to
influence SWB.
For
example,
is the
effect
of
belief
in an
afterlife
on SWB
greater
for
those
who are
facing
severe hardships? Strawbridge,
Shema,
Cohen, Roberts,
and
Kaplan
(1998) reported evidence that religiosity
buffers
the
effects
of
some stressors
on
depression,
but
exacerbates
the
effects
of
other
stressors such
as
marital problems
and
abuse. This
finding
suggests
that
the
effects
of
religiosity
are not
inevitably positive
and
points
to the
need
for
more sophisticated
framing
of
psycho-
logical research
in
this area.
As
with
any
correlational
study,
the
relation
may be due to a
third
variable:
Individuals
in the
midst
of
a
family
crisis
may
seek
out
religion
and
also
be
more
troubled,
and
extraverted
people
may
enjoy
the
social contact
of
church
attendance
and
also report higher positive
affect.
A
number
of
important questions
must
be
studied more system-
atically.
For
instance,
do
happier people tend
to be
more religious
in
a
religious society because nonconformists
who
choose
to be
nonreligious
in
such surroundings have personality characteristics
that
predispose them
to
lower levels
of
SWB?
A
corollary idea
is
that
religiosity might
be
most
highly
related
to SWB in
very
religious
societies.
Do
current research
findings,
based
mostly
on
Christianity,
generalize
to
other religions, such
as
Buddhism
or
Islam?
Are
there negative
effects
of
religion
on
SWB?
For
exam-
ple, religious doctrine
may
lead
to
frequent
guilt
in
adherents.
These questions point
to the
need
for
more rigorous methodolo-
gies,
broader samples, greater precision
in
measuring types
of
religiosity,
and
measures
that
differentiate
the
major
components
of
SWB. Finally,
the
causal direction
of the
relation should
be
explored
by
using
longitudinal designs
and by
examining mediat-
ing
variables.
Marriage
The
positive relation between marriage
and SWB
noted
by
Wilson (1967)
has
been consistently replicated
in
national
and
regional surveys conducted
in the
United States (e.g., Glenn, 1975;
Gove
&
Shin, 1989), Canada (White,
1992),
and
Norway (Maste-
kaasa,
1995)
as
well
as in
international studies (Diener,
Gohm,
Suh,
&
Oishi, 1998).
The
large-scale surveys reveal that married
people report greater happiness than those
who
were never married
or
are
divorced, separated,
or
widowed. Among
the
nonmarried
adults,
however,
people
who
cohabit with
a
partner
are
signifi-
cantly
happier
in
some cultures than those
who
live alone (Kurdek,
1991; Mastekaasa, 1995). Marriage
and
well-being correlate sig-
nificantly
even when variables such
as age and
income
are
con-
trolled (Glenn
&
Weaver, 1979; Gove, Hughes,
&
Style, 1983).
A
meta-analysis
by
Haring-Hidore,
Stock, Okun,
and
Witter (1985)
found
an
average correlation
of .14
between marital status
and
SWB.
The
effects
of
marriage
may
differ
for men and
women (Mroc-
zek &
Kolarz,
1998). Differences between married
and
nonmarried
men and
women
from
1972
to
1989
are
shown
in
Figure
2
(based
on
Lee,
Seccombe,
&
Shehan,
1991).
Married women were con-
sistently happier than unmarried women,
and
married
men
were

290
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
50
40
I
30
x
20
10
s
\
•••-.
/\
V
1972
I I I I I
1977
1984
>
i
i
1989
Never
Married
Males
Married
Males
Never
Married
Females
Married
Females
Figure
2.
Subjective
well-being
of
married
and
unmarried
women
and
men,
1972-1989.
consistently happier than unmarried men. There
is an
ongoing
debate, however, about whether marital satisfaction
is
more
im-
portant
to the
overall
well-being
of men or
women
(e.g.,
Glenn,
1975; Gove
&
Shin, 1989;
W.
Wood, Rhodes,
&
Whelan,
1989).
Diener
et
al.
(1998)
found
that marriage holds greater benefits
for
men
than
for
women
in
terms
of
positive emotions,
but
married
men and
women
did not
differ
in
life
satisfaction.
Horwitz,
White,
and
Howell-White
(1996)
found
gender-typical stress reactions
to
divorce
and
separation, with women showing more depression
and
men
showing more alcohol abuse. Whether women
or men
react
more negatively
to
divorce
may
depend
on the
particular sample
and
measure used.
The
causal direction
of the
relation between marital status
and
SWB
remains
an
issue.
There
is
longitudinal
evidence
that happy
and
well-adjusted people
are
more likely
to
marry (and stay
married) than other people
(e.g.,
Mastekaasa, 1992, 1994; Veen-
hoven,
1989). However,
the
selection
effect
is not
very strong.
Hence, many investigators believe that
the
salutary
effects
of
marriage, such
as its
role
as a
buffer
against
the
hardships
of
life
and
the
emotional
and
economic support
it
provides, generate
positive states
of
well-being (e.g., Coombs,
1991;
Gove, Style,
&
Hughes, 1990;
Kessler
&
Essex,
1982).
In
a
longitudinal study, Headey,
Veenhoven,
and
Wearing
(1991) examined
the
bottom-up
effects
of
various
life
domain
satisfactions
on
global
life.
Among
the six
life
domains they
examined (e.g., job, health), only marital satisfaction
had a
signif-
icant
causal influence
on
global
life
satisfaction. Both selection
effects
and the
benefits
of
marriage probably underlie
the
relation
between marriage
and SWB
(Mastekaasa, 1995). Happy people
may
have
a
better
chance
of
getting married, and,
once
they
commit themselves
to the
marital
relationship,
the
psychological
benefits
of
companionship
can
further
boost SWB. Marital quality
is
also
a
predictor
of
life
satisfaction. Factors such
as the
structure
of
interactions
(Gottman
&
Levenson,
1986), emotional expres-
siveness
(King,
1993),
and
role
sharing
(Hendrix,
1997)
are all
related
to
more
satisfying
marriages.
It
is
important
to
note that factors such
as
social change, cultural
characteristics,
and
age-specific expectations might
affect
the
marriage-SWB
link. Glenn
and
Weaver (1988)
and
Lee, Sec-
combe,
and
Shehan
(1991)
found that
the
strength
of the
associa-
tion
between happiness
and
marriage
has
declined steadily
in the
United
States since
the
1970s. Kurdek (1991), however, chal-
lenged this conclusion
as
being
too
simplistic.
After
reanalyzing
Glenn
and
Weaver's data,
he
argued that
the
happiness
gap be-
tween
the
married
and the
never-married seemed
to
narrow
be-
cause
of the
increase
in the
numbers
of
married individuals with
multiple
histories
of
divorce
and of
never-married people
who
cohabit with
a
partner (see
also
Mastekaasa,
1993,
for
evidence
that
the
"marriage gap"
is not
narrowing).
Cultural
characteristics
can
influence
the
relation between
SWB
and
marital status.
In a
study
of 40
nations, Diener
et al.
(1998)
found
that married people were happier than divorced, separated,
or
single
people
living
alone,
regardless
of the
divorce
rate
and
level
of
individualism
in a
nation. However,
the
effects
of
(unmar-
ried)
cohabitation
depended
on
cultural factors. Unmarried part-
ners
in
individualist cultures were happier
and
more satisfied with
their lives than married
or
single people.
By
contrast,
in
collectivist
countries,
people
living
with
a
significant
other reported lower life
satisfaction
and
more negative emotions than married
or
single
individuals.
Perhaps collectivist societies
are
more traditional
and
therefore
less
accepting
of
cohabitation
outside
of
marriage. How-
ever, individuals
who
were separated
or
widowed fared relatively
better compared
to
married individuals
in
collectivist cultures than

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
291
they
did in
individualistic cultures, presumably because social
support
is
more readily available there.
The
effects
of
divorce, marital conflict,
and
remarriage
on
offspring
also depend
on the
cultural characteristics
of the
country
(Gohm, Oishi, Darlington,
&
Diener, 1998). Gohm
et
al.
found that
parental marital
conflict
was a
stronger predictor
of
offspring
SWB
than
divorce
per se but
that
the
effects
of
remarriage
and
widow-
hood
on the
offspring
differed
by
culture. Age-specific expecta-
tions
also mediate
the
SWB-marriage
correlation.
For
instance,
being
widowed when
one is
young
is
much worse than being
widowed
at an
older age, suggesting that
the
effects
of
marriage
on
SWB
depend
on how
typical one's situation
is in
one's
age
cohort
(George,
Okun,
&
Landerman,
1985).
Marriage
can
provide both economic
and
social rewards,
yet the
level
of
these benefits
is
likely
to
depend
on the
values
of the
society.
In
those
age
groups
and
cultures where
people's
needs
can
be met
most easily
within
marriage,
the
effects
are
likely
to be
most
positive.
In a
similar fashion,
in
individualistic cultures that
place
a
high value
on
marriage, people
who are
divorced
or
widowed
are
likely
to
suffer
compared
to
married individuals
because marriage
may be the
primary source
of
intimacy
and
social support.
Age
According
to
Wilson's
(1967)
review, youth
is a
consistent
predictor
of
happiness. More recent review articles
and
large-scale
empirical studies challenge this conclusion. Although
a
small
decline
in
life
satisfaction with
age
occasionally
is
found,
the
relation
is
eliminated
when
other
variables such
as
income
are
controlled
(e.g.,
Shmotkin,
1990).
More important
to
note
is
that
other recent studies converge
to
show that
life
satisfaction
often
increases,
or at
least does
not
drop, with
age
(Herzog
&
Rodgers,
1981;
Horley
&
Lavery,
1995; Larson, 1978; Stock, Okun,
Haring,
&
Witter, 1983). Many studies
now
support Campbell's (1981)
contention
that "the literary image
of the
crotchety
old
person,
dissatisfied
with everything,
is not a
very realistic picture
of
older
people"
(p.
203).
The
discrepancy
of
current
findings
from
those
reviewed
by
Wilson
may be due to the
fact
that older
people
are
now
healthier
and
stay involved
in
more
life
domains than
did
previous generations (e.g., Bass, 1995).
International studies based
on
representative samples
from
mul-
tiple countries also show that life satisfaction does
not
decline with
age
(Butt
&
Beiser, 1987;
Inglehart,
1990; Veenhoven,
1984).
Diener
and Suh
(1998) recently examined
the
relation between
age
and
SWB in a
survey that included national probability samples
of
almost
60,000
adults
from
40
nations.
Of the
three components
measured
(life
satisfaction, pleasant
affect,
and
unpleasant
affect),
only
pleasant
affect
declined with age.
There
was a
slight upward
trend
in
life
satisfaction
from
the 20s to the
80s,
and the
amount
of
negative
affect
people experienced exhibited little change across
age
cohorts. Thus, Wilson's (1967) conclusion that
older
people
are
less happy
is
supported only
by
trends
in
positive
affect.
As a
consequence, when researchers examine
affect
balance (positive
minus
negative
affect)
across
age
groups,
the
drop
in
positive
affect
causes
a
lower overall mean
score
in the
older cohorts
(e.g.,
Shmotkin,
1990);
hence, older adults appear
to
exhibit
a
decline
in
overall happiness
or
mood.
Okma
and
Veenhoven (1996),
for
example,
found
no
decrease
in
life satisfaction across
the
adult
life
span,
but a
small decline
in
mood.
One
limitation
of
these studies
is
that researchers primarily
assessed aroused types
of
pleasant emotions such
as
"feeling
on
top of the
world"
and
"energetic."
Emotional intensity declines
with
age
(Diener, Sandvik,
&
Larsen,
1985)
so
that both pleasant
and
unpleasant
affect
decline over
the
life
span (Stacey
&
Gatz,
1991).
Age
declines
in
positive
affect
may
disappear
if low
arousal
or
less intense feelings such
as
contentment
and
affection
were
measured.
For
example, Mroczek
and
Kolarz
(1998)
measured
the
frequency
of
less
and
more intense positive emotions
in
adults
in
the
U.S.,
and
found
an
upward trend with age. Thus,
an
important
agenda
for
future
research
is to
examine emotions
of
different
arousal levels over
the
adult
life
span
to
examine
the
hypothesis
that
decreases
in
mood might
be due to the
sampling
of
high
arousal
emotions
in
past
studies.
Cross-sectional studies
are
limited
by
their inability
to
separate
age
effects
from
cohort
effects.
Longitudinal studies
are
preferable
when
examining
the
impact
of age on
SWB. Costa
et al.
(1987)
found
that cross-sectional differences
in
positive
affect
were
not
replicated
in a
10-year longitudinal study
in the
United States.
Thus,
aging
may not be
causally related
to
lower SWB.
As an
explanation
of the
lower
SWB in
older cohorts, Inglehart
(1990)
argued that
as
nations become industrialized, they endorse more
"post-materialistic" values that
are
accompanied
by
higher levels
of
positive
affect.
Thus, younger
people
may be
more likely
to
report higher levels
of
pleasant emotions because
of the
historical
period
in
which they live.
A
definitive explanation
of the
decline
in
positive
affect
across
age
cohorts will
be
based
on
additional
longitudinal
studies that measure emotions with varying levels
of
arousal.
The
lack
of
significant decreases
in
life satisfaction across
the
life
span suggests
an
impressive ability
of
people
to
adapt
to
their
conditions. Figure
3
shows mean levels
of
life
satisfaction across
the
life
span
in 40
nations (Diener
&
Suh, 1998).
The figure
also
shows
the
declines
in
income
and
marriage that occur across
age
cohorts
in
later adulthood. Although cross-sectional correlational
studies reviewed earlier show positive correlations between
SWB
and
both marriage
and
income,
life
satisfaction
is
stable across
the
age
groups despite
the
decline
in
these objective resources. Some
have
suggested that this
is
evidence that people readjust their goals
as
they
age
(e.g.,
Campbell
et
al.,
1976;
Rapkin
&
Fischer, 1992).
Ryff
(1991)
found
that older adults, compared with younger ones,
have
a
closer
fit
between their ideal
and
actual self-perceptions.
Brandtstadter
and
Renner
(1990)
proposed that adversities
in
life
can
be
overcome either
by
actively changing
life
circumstances
to
personal preferences (assimilative coping)
or by
adjusting
personal
preferences
and
goals
to
given
situational
constraints (accommo-
dative
coping). Although both types
of
coping strategies were
positively related
to
life
satisfaction, they
found
a
gradual
shift
from
the
assimilative
to the
accommodative mode
of
coping with
increasing age. This
is
also consistent with Campbell
et
al.'s
conclusion
that
the gap
between
a
person's circumstances
and his
or her
goals shrinks with age.
The
trends shown
in
Figure
3
suggest
that
the
link between objective conditions
and SWB is
mediated
by
expectations.
Wilson's
pessimistic suggestion that there
is a
decline
in SWB
as
people
age can be
revised.
It
appears that
life
satisfaction does
not
decline, negative
affect
does
not
increase,
and
that even
the

292
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
1
CD
I
05
a
-x-Life
Satisfaction
-*-
Income
-o-%
Married/10
1
1
^—
^
i
1 1 1
20's
30's
40's 50's 60's
Age by
decades
70's
80's
Figure
3.
Subjective well-being
and
resources
across
the
adult
life
span.
decline
in
pleasant emotions might
be a
cohort
effect
or due to the
exclusive
measurement
of
higher arousal positive emotions.
Not
only
are
older persons able
to
cope with
the
declines occurring
in
old age but
these declines
now
occur later
in
adult
life.
The
fact
that
the
life
span
is now
increasing raises
a
number
of
interesting
issues
about
SWB
that have
not yet
been addressed.
For
example,
as the
healthy
life
span increases toward
its
possible outer limit
of
approximately
130
years, might people become habituated
to so
many
bad and
good events that their emotional lives become
bland?
If
present research
on
aging
is
able
to
extend
the
life
span
to 200 or 300
years,
as
some gerontologists
now
predict based
on
the
increasing molecular understanding
of
genes
and
aging, might
people grow bored with activities?
The
pursuit
of
happiness
in a
world
of
very long human
life
spans will
face
new
challenges.
Sex
Differences
Wilson (1967) discusses only
one
study regarding
sex
differ-
ences
in
SWB:
Gurin,
Veroff,
and
Fold's
(1960)
survey
in
which
no
differences were
found.
In a
recent
meta-analysis,
Hating,
Stock,
and
Okun (1984) showed that
men
were slightly happier
than
women,
but the
magnitude
of
this difference
was
very small
(mean
r =
.04).
In an
analysis
of two
large international data sets,
Lucas
and
Gohm
(in
press)
found
that women experienced more
unpleasant
affect
than
men in the
majority
of
nations studied.
In
subsequent
studies, however,
significant
gender differences
in
SWB
have
not
been
found.
When
differences
are
observed, women
usually
report higher SWB,
but the
differences
often
disappear
when
other demographic variables
are
controlled
(e.g.,
Inglehart,
1990; Larson, 1978;
Shmotkin,
1990;
Warr
&
Payne, 1982; White,
1992).
The
finding
that
men and
women
are
approximately equal
in
global
happiness
is on the
surface incompatible
with
the
fact
that,
in
the
general population, depression
is
more prevalent
in
women
than
men
(Eaton
&
Kessler, 1981),
and
reports
of
unpleasant
affect
are
higher among women
(Nolen-Hoeksema
&
Rusting,
in
press).
One
possible explanation
of the
paradox
is
that women experience,
on
average, both positive
and
negative emotions more strongly
and
frequently
than men.
For
example,
W.
Wood
et
al.
(1989)
found
that
women report higher levels
of
positive
affect
on
average
and
more
often
report extremely high levels
of
SWB.
In a
similar vein,
Lee, Seccombe,
and
Shehan
(1991)
found
that women were more
likely than
men to
report being very happy. Thus,
in the
general
population, women's more intense positive emotions seem
to
balance their higher negative
affect,
resulting
in
levels
of
global
SWB
similar
to
those
of
men. Fujita,
Diener,
and
Sandvik
(1991),
for
instance,
found
that gender accounted
for
less
than
1%
of the
variance
in
happiness
but
over
13%
of the
variance
in the
intensity
of
emotional experiences. Because women
are
more open
to in-
tense emotional experiences
on
average, Fujita
et al.
hypothesized
that
this
may
make them more vulnerable
to
depression
if
they
encounter
many
bad or
uncontrollable events.
If
their lives
are
good,
however, women
may be
more likely
to
experience intense
levels
of
happiness. Although intensely happy
and
intensely
un-
happy
individuals
are
rare,
women
may be
overrepresented
in
both
groups.
Why
do
women have more extreme emotional lives than men?
Nolen-Hoeksema
and
Rusting
(in
press) reviewed
a
number
of
potential explanations
and
concluded that
the
difference comes
mainly
from
socially
prescribed
gender
roles
(also
see W.
Wood
et
al.,
1989).
The
traditional female gender
role
includes
greater
caregiving
responsibilities, which
may
encourage more emotional
responsiveness
in
women than
in
men.
As a
result, women
may be
more willing
to
experience
and
express emotions. Grossman
and
Wood
(1993)
manipulated expectations
for
emotional responses
to
assess
the
impact
of
these expectancies
on
emotional behavior.
When
no
gender-specific emotion norms were mentioned, women
generated more extreme emotion ratings than men. When
expec-
tations
for
emotional responses were experimentally manipulated,
however,
no sex
difference
was
obtained. Regardless
of
sex, par-
ticipants indicated more extreme emotions when they were encour-
aged
to be
emotionally responsive than when their attention
was
directed
so as to
attenuate their emotional responses. Furthermore,

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
293
the
participants' self-reports were significantly correlated with
their
electromyographically recorded
facial
emotional displays,
suggesting
that differences
in
emotions were
not
simply
due to
differences
in
self-report
but
represented broader
affective
reac-
tions.
Work
by
Robinson (Robinson
&
Johnson, 1997; Robinson,
Johnson,
&
Shields,
1998),
however, indicates that emotion ste-
reotypes
also influence
the
reporting
of
emotions
and
that
the
size
of
sex
differences
in
emotion
depends
on the
form
of
measurement
used.
Job
Morale
Tail,
Padgett,
and
Baldwin (1989) conducted
a
meta-analysis
of
34
studies
and
found
an
average correlation
of .44
between
job
satisfaction
and
life
satisfaction. Work
may be
related
to SWB
because
it
provides
an
optimal level
of
stimulation that people
find
pleasurable
(Csikszentmihalyi,
1990; Scitovsky, 1976), positive
social relationships,
and a
sense
of
identity
and
meaning. Tait
et
al.
found
that
the
relation
between
job
satisfaction
and
life
satisfaction
has
grown stronger
for
women
in
recent decades
as
their roles
in
society have changed
and the
careers
available
to
them have
expanded.
The
characteristics
of
satisfying jobs have been researched
ex-
tensively,
and
certain broad conclusions
can be
drawn.
For
exam-
ple,
person-organization
fit
often correlates with
job
satisfaction
(e.g.,
Bretz
&
Judge, 1994),
and
intrinsic rewards
and
social
benefits
are
also important predictors
of
satisfaction (Mottaz,
1985).
The
relation between number
of
hours worked
and SWB is
complex
and
depends
on a
number
of
moderating factors such
as
job
complexity,
whether
extra
hours
are
voluntary,
and
work-
home conflict (e.g., Gechman
&
Wiener,
1975):
As in
general
SWB,
job
morale
can be
broken down into components such
as
mood
at
work
and job
satisfaction (George
&
Brief, 1992). Fol-
lowing
this reasoning,
in
affective events theory, Weiss
and
Cro-
panzano
(1996) predict that there
are
different
outcomes
of job
satisfaction
(e.g.,
low job
withdrawal) versus
affective
reactions
to
work
(e.g., organizational citizenship behaviors). This theory
points
toward
the
importance
of
discriminating between different
components
of
SWB.
Because
the
work
and
life
satisfaction
findings are
correlational,
they
do not
tell
us
about
the
causal
direction
of the
relation
between
SWB and job
satisfaction.
In
addition, work satisfaction
ratings
are
undoubtedly influenced
by
third variables that also
influence
life
satisfaction. Recently, Judge
and his
colleagues
(Judge
&
Hulin,
1993; Judge
&
Watanabe, 1993) used structural
equation
modeling
and
cross-lagged designs
to
examine
the
direc-
tionality
and
third variable problems.
In
both cases, they
found
evidence
for a
reciprocal relation between
job
satisfaction
and
life
satisfaction
measured
at the
same point
in
time. However, when
lagged correlations between latent traits were examined, life sat-
isfaction
was a
significant predictor
of job
satisfaction
5
years
later.
The
relation
between
job
satisfaction
and
life
satisfaction
5
years later
was not
significant. Thus,
it
appears that
the
relation
between
job
satisfaction
and
life
satisfaction
may
reflect
a
top-
down
process:
People
who are
satisfied with their lives tend
to find
more satisfaction
in
their work (Stones
&
Kozma,
1986).
Perhaps more important than
a
person's
satisfaction with work
is
whether
he or she has a job at
all. Unemployed persons have
higher
distress, lower life satisfaction,
and
higher rates
of
suicide
than
employed individuals (Oswald, 1997;
Platt
&
Kreitman,
1985). Substantial negative
effects
of
unemployment have been
shown
among disabled individuals
(Mehnert
et
al.,
1990)
and
participants
in the
British Household Panel Survey (Clark
& Os-
wald,
1994).
A
meta-analysis
by
Haring,
Okun,
and
Stock (1984)
found
that work status (full-time, part-time,
or not
employed)
was
related
to SWB at a low but
significant level.
The
loss
of
income
associated
with unemployment cannot
ac-
count
for the
effects
on SWB
(Clark,
1998;
Oswald, 1997). Fur-
thermore, unemployment appears
to
have
a
causal
effect
on
SWB.
After
studying
a
multiyear
panel survey, Clark (1998) concluded
that
unemployment typically causes lower SWB,
and it is not
simply
the
case that
a
greater proportion
of
less happy people
are
selected into
the
ranks
of the
unemployed. Banks
and
Jackson
(1982) also used
a
longitudinal design
to
study
the
causal ordering
of
unemployment
and
SWB. They
found
that students'
unhappi-
ness preceded unemployment
but
that employment increased hap-
piness. Thus,
the
influence between unemployment
and SWB
went
in
both directions, although
the
influence
was
larger
for
employ-
ment
on
mental health than
for
mental health
on
employment.
It is
interesting
that Clark (1998)
found
that
the
negative
effects
of
unemployment
were
buffered
by
having another person
in the
same household
who was
also unemployed.
Education
Small
but
significant correlations between education
and SWB
have
often
been
found
(e.g., Campbell
et
al.,
1976;
Cantril,
1965;
Diener
et
al.,
1993).
In a
meta-analysis
of the
literature,
Witter,
Okun,
Stock,
and
Haring (1984) reported
a
median
effect
size
of
.13.
This
effect
size
did not
differ
significantly
for
measures
of
life
satisfaction
(.15), morale (.15), quality
of
life
(.12),
or
happiness
(.12). Education
is
more highly related
to
well-being
for
individ-
uals
with lower incomes (Campbell, 1981; Diener
et
al.,
1993)
and
in
poor countries (Veenhoven, 1994a).
At
least part
of the
relation between education
and SWB is
probably
due to the
covariation
of
education with income
and
occupational
status (Campbell, 1981; Witter
et
al.,
1984). That
education
may be
only indirectly related
to
well-being
is
supported
by
studies
showing
that
the
small
relation
between
education
and
SWB in the
United States becomes nonsignificant
or
even negative
when
the
effects
of
income
are
controlled (Campbell
et
al.,
1976;
Diener
et
al.,
1993). Similar findings
are
obtained when occupa-
tional status
is
considered. When Witter
et al.
(1984) controlled
for
occupational status
in
their meta-analysis, they
found
that
the
average
effect
size dropped
from
.13
to
.06. Thus, much
of the
relation between education
and SWB is due to the
correlation
of
education
with
occupational status
and
income.
It
is
plausible that education
may
have other indirect
effects
on
SWB as
well. Education
may
contribute
to SWB by
allowing
individuals
to
make
progress
toward
their
goals
or to
adapt
to
changes
in the
world around them.
On the
other hand, education
may
raise
aspirations. Clark
and
Oswald
(1994)
found
that
the
highly
educated were more distressed than less educated persons
when
these groups were unemployed. Being
out of
work
may be
more aversive
to the
former group because
of
their higher expec-
tations. Thus, education
may
interfere with
SWB if it
leads
to
expectations that cannot
be
met.

294
DIENER,
SUH, LUCAS,
AND
SMITH
Intelligence
Wilson (1967) concluded that intelligence
is not
appreciably
related
to
happiness, except when
it is low
enough
to
prevent
economic success.
In
contrast, Campbell
et
al.
(1976)
found
that
intelligence
was one of the
strongest predictors
of
well-being.
However,
their measure
of
intelligence
was
based
on
interviewers'
subjective
ratings.
To
provide
a
stronger test
of the
intelligence-
SWB
relation,
Sigelman
(1981)
analyzed
two
separate General
Social
Surveys,
using
standard
intelligence
test
scores
instead
of
subjective
ratings.
In his
study,
the
zero-order correlations between
intelligence
and
life
satisfaction
and
happiness were eliminated
when
demographic variables were controlled, although
an
inverse
association with
anomie
persisted. More recently, Watten,
Sy-
versen,
and
Myhrer
(1995) failed
to
find
a
relation between intel-
ligence
and
well-being
in a
broad Norwegian army recruit sample.
As
Wilson (1967) observed, intelligence
per se
probably does
not
have
a
direct impact
on
SWB.
The
relation between
SWB
with
other types
of
intelligence
such
as
social
intelligence
(Cantor
&
Kihlstrom,
1989)
and
emotional intelligence (Mayer
&
Salovey,
1993)
is
also worth investigating, although
the
concept
of
emo-
tional intelligence
is
controversial (e.g., Davies, Stankov,
&
Rob-
erts,
1998).
It
seems
likely
that
the
relation
of
intelligence
to SWB
will
depend
on the
degree
to
which intelligent people excel
in
society
and the
degree
to
which intelligent people share higher
expectations that counterbalance their advantages.
Take-Home Message
Comments
on
Wilson's Conclusions
Wilson's conclusions regarding
the
greater happiness
of the
married, religious,
extraverted,
optimistic person have stood
the
test
of
time
and
also appear
to
have some
degree
of
cross-cultural
generality.
Researchers
do not
know, however,
all of the
limits
of
these
findings—the
conditions
in
which they
do not
hold. Other
of
Wilson's
assertions,
such
as
those
regarding
sex
differences
or the
effects
of
self-esteem, must
be
qualified
by the
measures
used
or
by
the
culture studied. Women
do
report approximately
the
same
level
of
global happiness
and
life
satisfaction
as
men,
but at the
same time they
are
more likely
to
report greater levels
of
both
negative
and
positive
affect.
Self-esteem
is a
strong correlate
of
SWB
primarily
in
individualistic societies. Wilson's conclusion
about
the
elderly appears
to be too
pessimistic
in
light
of
recent
data.
Wilson's
inferences
are
important,
in
part because
of the
broad
conclusions
that have been reached
in
evaluating them.
The
past
30
years
of
research have shown that
all of the
demographic factors
taken
together
do not
account
for
much variance
in
SWB. This
is
partially
due to the
fact that
the
effects
of
demographic
variables
are
probably mediated
by
psychological processes such
as
goals
and
coping abilities.
For
example, gender
and age may
influence
goals
and
objective
life
circumstances,
but
there probably
is no
direct
path
from
these variables
to
happiness. Furthermore, there
are
many
different
resources that
are
related
to
people's goals,
and
these resources
are
only modestly correlated with each other
(Diener
&
Fujita,
1995). Therefore,
any
single resource
is
unlikely
to
have
a
strong
effect
when analyzed across people.
Caution
is
warranted
in
interpreting
the
correlations
between
domain
satisfaction
and
global
SWB
because satisfaction with
even neutral everyday objects
may
correlate
substantially
with life
satisfaction
(Judge, 1990) because
of the
influence
of
personality
on
these judgments. Judge's findings show
the
absurdity
of
infer-
ring
causality
from
these correlations because nobody would claim
that
a
neutral object such
as a
piece
of
standard
paper
causes
happiness,
and yet
judgments about such neutral everyday objects
often
correlate with global reports
of
SWB. Thus, investigators
must
be
careful
not to
infer
the
importance
of a
domain
from
a
correlation
of
subjective judgments
of
that domain with global
SWB.
The
Causes
of SWB
As has
often happened
in
psychology,
partisan
groups
have
emphasized either genes
or the
environment
in
explaining
differ-
ences
in
SWB.
In
contrast
to
demographic variables, temperament
often
exerts
a
substantial influence
on
SWB. Several lines
of
evidence indicate that
the
influence
of
personality
on SWB can be
substantial: twin studies, early temperament findings, longitudinal
studies,
and
correlations with personality scales that
are
corrected
for
measurement error
all
provide evidence
for the
SWB-
personality
relation.
The
amount
of
variance
in
long-term
SWB
attributable
to a
person's genetic make-up
is
often moderately
high.
It is a
serious error, however,
to
conclude that
SWB
results
entirely
from
a
person's temperament. Such
a
conclusion ignores
evidence such
as the
finding
that young widows
are
much
less
happy than
others,
that
there
are
some nations
in
which
people
are
less happy,
and
that people
do not
completely adapt
to
physical
disabilities. Based
on
people's
ability
to
cope
and
adapt
and the
effects
of
genetics
on
SWB, there
is a
danger
of
believing that
nothing
can
really make
a
person happy
or
unhappy except
for
inborn
temperament. However,
an
impoverished young widow
without
confidants
and
with multiple physical disabilities
who
lives
near
a
noisy airport
is
much
less
likely
to be
satisfied with
her
life
than
the
average person.
In
contrast,
a
woman
with
a
substan-
tial
income
and a
satisfying
marriage
who is
healthy
and
conforms
to the
religious beliefs
of her
culture
is
very likely
to be
satisfied
with
her
life.
Even
if
life
circumstances
do not
lead automatically
to
elation
or
despair, they
can and do
influence
SWB.
Heritability
studies
tell
us how
important
on
average
the
environment
is in
determining long-term happiness
in
modern nations
but not
about
how
strong environmental
effects
can be in
extreme cases.
In
contrast
to the
environmental
focus
of
early demographic
research
on SWB and the
genetic emphasis
of
heritability
research-
ers, scholars
are
studying
how
behavior influences SWB.
An
increasing
number
of
researchers
now
focus
on
people's
goals
and
strivings
and how
people cope with
difficulties.
It is
likely that
researchers
who use
these approaches
will
make
the
most progress
if
they
incorporate
concepts
related
to
people's
dispositions
and
circumstances.
The
genetic,
situational,
goal,
and
coping
ap-
proaches
are
complementary rather than incompatible,
and
they
need
to be
integrated.
There
is not a
simple answer
to
what causes SWB. Studies
of
religion, coping, rumination,
and
attributions suggest that cogni-
tive
factors play
an
important role. Studies
of
people with disabil-
ities show
that
objective factors
can
matter,
but
people
often
adapt
their
goals
to
what
is
possible
for
them. Studies
of
heritability
demonstrate
that
personality
plays
an
important
role.
Cross-
cultural
studies reveal that
different
factors correlate
with
SWB in

SUBJECTIVE
WELL-BEING
295
different
societies.
Different variables lead
to SWB for
people with
different
values
and
different goals. Researchers should
be
open
to
the
possibility that
different
strategies work better
in
different
environments
and for
different people. Thus,
it is
pointless
to
search
for a
single cause
of
happiness. Instead, they need
to
understand
the
complex interplay
of
culture, personality, cogni-
tions, goals
and
resources,
and the
objective environment.
Future
Research
The
field
of SWB
needs
to
grow
in
several directions
as it
enters
the
fourth
decade
after
Wilson's seminal review. First, more
so-
phisticated measurement
is
needed (e.g., based
on
experience
sampling,
psychophysiology,
and
memory), recognizing
the
mul-
tifaceted
nature
of
emotions
and
SWB.
In the
early decades
of the
field,
researchers
validated
the
measures
of
SWB,
and it
appears
that
the
scales have adequate psychometric properties.
At the
same
time,
few
researchers have taken
the
next step
of
incorporating
non-self-report
measures into their assessment batteries. This
is
very
desirable
because
the
alternative measures
are
complemen-
tary
in
strengths
to
self-report
and
because they often reflect
different
aspects
of
well-being. Virtually
all of the
findings
re-
ported
in
this review
are
based
on
simple one-time self-reports
of
SWB. Administration
of the
self-report measures
is
relatively easy
and use of the
non-self-report measures
is
more
difficult,
and so
researchers rely
too
heavily
on
survey instruments.
Although
researchers sometimes argue that self-report
is the
only
way to
measure
SWB
because
it is an
internal, subjective
phenomenon,
there
is no
reason
why
other types
of
measures
cannot
also
be
used
to tap
subjective phenomena.
Why
should
biological indexes, facial expressions, experience sampling,
and
cognitive
measures (e.g., reaction time)
not
also provide valuable
assessments
of
subjective experience? When other types
of
mea-
sures converge with self-report scales, more confidence will
be
placed
in the
conclusions. When
the
non-self-report measures
diverge
from
the
self-report scales, researchers will learn some-
thing interesting
and
more complex about SWB.
In
addition,
we
need
to
assure that
the
studies include separate measures
of
posi-
tive
affect,
negative
affect,
and
life
satisfaction
and
that they
do not
simply
assess global happiness.
Second, sophisticated research designs beyond cross-sectional
surveys
should
be
used much more
often:
cross-cultural, longitu-
dinal, causal modeling, experience sampling,
and
experimental
approaches. Researchers have only rarely explored
the
causal
status
of
variables that might influence
SWB.
Findings suggest that
marriage, unemployment, heredity,
and
physical disability have
a
causal influence
on
levels
of
SWB.
For
income, researchers even
have
experimental data. Initial results suggest that
job
morale
might
follow
from
life
satisfaction rather than cause
it. For
most
variables,
however, researchers still only have cross-sectional cor-
relational data, which shed little light
on
questions
of
causal
direction.
A
major task
for
researchers
in the
decade ahead should
be
to use
longitudinal studies, causal modeling, experimentation,
and
quasi-experimentation
to
unravel
the
causal network leading
to
SWB. Rather than continue
to use
only cross-sectional surveys,
which
are
easy
to
administer
and
score,
the
hope
is
that researchers
will
make
the
added
effort
to
also
use
non-self-report designs,
longitudinal
data collection,
and
other more sophisticated
methodologies.
Third,
research
is
needed that examines
the
interaction
of
per-
sonality
and
environmental factors. Although there
are
many stud-
ies on the
correlations
of
personality
with
SWB,
and
many more
on
the
environmental correlates
of
happiness, researchers know next
to
nothing about
the
interactions
of
these
two
classes
of
variables.
Researchers need
to find out the
role
of
personality
in
shaping
people's
life
circumstances
and how
personality leads people
to
react
differently
to the
same circumstances.
Finally, more sophisticated research
is
needed
on
adaptation
to
understand
this powerful force: when
it
does
and
does
not
occur,
its
limits,
and the
processes underlying
it.
People
in ill
health,
physically
unattractive people (Diener, Wolsic,
&
Fujita,
1995),
and
victims
of
crime
(Michalos
&
Zumbo,
1998)
often
show
average levels
of
SWB,
and
this probably reflects
people's
ability
to
adapt
to
many conditions. What researchers need
to
understand
is
the
processes
that underlie
adaptation
and
when
these
processes
occur.
For
example,
it may be
that people work
to
change condi-
tions
if
there
is a
desire
and
hope
for
change
but
that they alter their
goals
if
change seems hopeless.
Conclusion
Our
prediction
is
that when
a
review
of SWB is
conducted
30
years
from
now, progress will have been even more rapid than
it
has
been
in the
past three decades. Hopefully,
in
2028
nobody
can
possibly
claim that
we
know nothing more than
the
ancient Greeks
about subjective well-being. Indeed, since Wilson's review, con-
siderable
progress
has
been made. Wilson believed
the
happy
person
to be
well-paid, young, educated, religious,
and
married.
We
would emphasize that
the
happy person
is
blessed with
a
positive temperament, tends
to
look
on the
bright side
of
things,
and
does
not
ruminate excessively about
bad
events,
and is
living
in
an
economically developed society,
has
social confidants,
and
possesses
adequate resources
for
making progress toward valued
goals. Because research
in the
area
is
progressing rapidly, how-
ever,
we
know that this description will
be
rewritten
in the
decades
ahead.
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