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Measuring Happiness with a Single-Item Scale
Abstract
This study examined the accuracy of measuring happiness by a single item (Do you feel happy in general?) answered on an 11-point scale (0-10). Its temporal stability was 0.86. The correlations between the single item and both the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI; Argyle, Martin, & Lu, 1995; Hills & Argyle, 1998) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; Pavot & Diener, 1993) were highly significant and positive, denoting good concurrent validity. Moreover, the single item had a good convergent validity because it was highly and positively correlated with optimism, hope, self-esteem, positive affect, extraversion, and self-ratings of both physical and mental health. Furthermore, the divergent validity of the single item has been adequately demonstrated through its significant and negative correlations with anxiety, pessimism, negative affect, and insomnia. It was concluded that measuring happiness by a single item is reliable, valid, and viable in community surveys as well as in cross-cultural comparisons.
... First, regarding the predictor, we focus on trait-like general happiness as one distinct dimension of well-being to examine whether it is predictive of cognitive function as it is for general health outcomes (Pressman & Cohen, 2005). Notably, single-item measures of happiness are not only economical and face valid to use in large cohort studies, but they also demonstrate acceptable reliability and construct validity (Abdel-Khalek, 2006;Moldovan, 2018; see Measures below). Second, regarding the outcome, we are interested in whether the known benefits of happiness for creative cognitive processes extend to other aspects of cognition. ...
... This measure is similar to commonly used single-item measures of happiness, which demonstrate high test-retest reliability (r = .86, Abdel-Khalek, 2006). They are significantly correlated with multi-item measures of happiness (e.g., Oxford Happiness Inventory, OHI; Argyle et al., 1995), suggesting high construct validity (Abdel-Khalek, 2006). ...
... Abdel-Khalek, 2006). They are significantly correlated with multi-item measures of happiness (e.g., Oxford Happiness Inventory, OHI; Argyle et al., 1995), suggesting high construct validity (Abdel-Khalek, 2006). They are also positively corelated with measures of positive affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, PANAS; Watson et al., 1988;r = .57), ...
Feelings of happiness have been associated with better performance in creative and flexible thinking and processing. Less is known about whether happier individuals have better performance on basic cognitive functions and slower rate of cognitive decline. In a large sample from the UK Biobank (N = 17,885; Age 40–70 years), we examine the association between baseline happiness and cognitive function (speed of processing, visuospatial memory, reasoning) over four assessment waves spanning up to 10 years of follow-up. Greater happiness was associated with better speed and visuospatial memory performance across assessments independent of vascular or depression risk factors. Happiness was associated with worse reasoning. No association was found between happiness and the rate of change over time on any of the cognitive tasks. The cognitive benefits of happiness may extend to cognitive functions such as speed and memory but not more complex processes such as reasoning, and happiness may not be predictive of the rate of cognitive decline over time. More evidence on the association between psychological well-being and different cognitive functions is needed to shed light on potential interventional efforts.
... Positive Feelings were measured using a single item. Abdel-Khalek (2006) examined the accuracy of measuring happiness by a single item and concluded that it is reliable, valid, and viable in community surveys as well as in cross-cultural comparison. Thus, for the sake of clarity, efficiency, and to not burden our participants we simply asked: 'How are you feeling right now'. ...
... For practical reasons and because of simplicity, we asked participants how they were feeling at the moment of measurement using a single-item question. Whereas this single-item question is believed to result in reliable, valid, and viable responses (Abdel-Khalek, 2006), more elaborate questionnaires might be better suited for measuring positive feelings. Second, and despite the fact that we performed sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our findings, a true robustness check in terms of a replication study might further strengthen our conclusions. ...
Although individuals play an important role in shaping their environment, they cannot always freely choose the behaviors they engage in. The consequence is that people regularly behave out of character. Based on a long psychological tradition emphasizing “being true to oneself”, it has been theorized that deviating from one’s typical behavior (i.e., acting counterdispositionally) might carry psychological costs. Yet, empirical evidence regarding this claim is mixed at best. One reason is that most of studies have examined the immediate consequences of counterdispositional behavior, neglecting that effects may unfold over time.
In addition, previous research focused on isolated personality dimensions, while personality is multidimensional. This is problematic because it might be less costly if someone deviates from the baseline on only one dimension, rather than on several dimensions simultaneously. Lastly, the remarkable heterogeneity in the way that counterdispositional behavior—using different measures and procedures—has been studied may also be partly responsible for inconsistent findings. In this thesis, we aim to explore these matters and answer the question whether there are costs associated with acting out of character. In Chapter 1, we examined whether the effects of counterdispositional extraversion materialize over time, but our
findings showed that this was not the case: in weeks during which participants behaved more often in a more extroverted way than typically, they experienced more positive feelings, and when they behaved more often in a more introverted way, they experienced fewer positive feelings. The second chapter showed that concurrently, higher levels of conscientiousness were related to lower levels of exhaustion and negative affect. In addition, when analyzing cumulative effects, repeated positive deviations from one’s baseline (i.e., repeatedly acting more conscientiously than typically) were associated with lower levels of depletion. Thus, on balance, these findings are in line with the “more is better” idea, according to which higher levels of extraversion and conscientiousness are beneficial, even when this goes against one’s typical behavior. In contrast, Chapter 3 showed that out of character behavior, as measured by the summed absolute deviation from one’s personality profile, was associated with decreased levels of positive affect and increased levels of negative affect. Thus, when looking at multiple personality dimensions simultaneously, counterdispositional behavior did seem to
be harmful. Lastly, in Chapter 4, we revealed that also measurement strategy matters. As such, the overall conclusion of this dissertation seems to be that momentary state deviations from one’s baseline personality do relate to cognitive and affective outcomes, but not in a straightforward way.
... Although SWB includes both cognitive and affective aspects, many studies have shown that different dimensions of SWB generally yield concordant results using a single measure, notably life satisfaction (Abdel-Khalek, 2006;Lim & Putnam, 2010;Medvedev & Landhuis, 2018). Therefore, in order to make it easier for the respondents to understand our questions, the SWB was measured by asking respondents a single question: 'In general, how would you rate the current quality of your life?' with five possible ordered responses: '1 = very poor', '2 = poor', '3 = so-so', '4 = good', and '5 = very good'. ...
... Research integrating more comprehensive measures of SWB, that is, involving both affective and cognitive aspects, may better reflect the multi-dimensional nature of this concept. It should, however, here be noted that numerous studies indicate that different measures of SWB broadly yield consistent results with a single measure (Abdel-Khalek, 2006;Lim & Putnam, 2010). ...
While previous studies have found that living arrangements and religiosity can influence the subjective well-being (SWB) of older adults, they have tended to investigate each of these aspects separately. Engaging with this gap, the current study examines the relationship between living arrangements, religious attendance, and the SWB of older adults, as well as the mediating effect of religious attendance on the relationship between the other two factors. A total of 875 older adults from 40 villages or communities in a Tibetan area in China (Gannan) were surveyed. An ordinary least square regression was used to evaluate the relationship between SWB and living arrangements and/or religious attendance. A structural equation model was then used to test the mediating role played by religious attendance in the association between living arrangements and SWB. The results showed that older adults in the selected study areas who were co-residing with their children and/or spouse had a higher level of SWB compared to those living alone. While religious attendance was positively associated with older adults’ SWB, the findings showed that living with their spouse or children decreased their frequency of attendance at religious activities. In contrast, it was found that living alone directly decreased older adults’ SWB, but increased the frequency of their participation in religious events, thus indirectly promoting their SWB. A key implication of this study is its confirmation that religious attendance plays an important mediating role in the relationship between living arrangements and SWB.
... Importantly, we chose to use single-item questions because it reduces respondent burden (Fisher et al., 2015) in studies where participants are making many ratings of many episodes throughout a day. We have successfully used these single-item questions many times before (Waugh et al., 2020;Leslie-Miller et al., 2021;Waugh et al., 2021) and there are several examples of studies demonstrating the validity and reliability of single-item scales especially when it comes to emotional outcomes (e.g., Wanous and Hudy, 2001;Abdel-Khalek, 2006). Despite our limitations, our findings add valuable support for the literature demonstrating that disengagement is effective for producing momentary reprieves from intense chronic stressors. ...
Introduction
The early part of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) was a chronic stressor that led to decreased life satisfaction, increased psychopathology, and decreased social interaction, making it important to study coping strategies that stimulate increases in emotional well-being. Previous research has demonstrated that disengagement coping may be beneficial in scenarios where engagement coping is too difficult or not possible. We hypothesized that disengagement coping would be related to good emotional well-being (high positive emotions and/or perceived control, lower negative emotions and/or stress), with distraction (taking a break from a stressor) related to better emotional well-being than is avoidance (avoiding thoughts and feelings associated with a stressor).
Methods
Using a daily reconstruction method that represents a “day in the life” of people in the United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we assessed people’s (N = 329) activities, their intention to distract from or avoid the stressor during these activities, emotions, and thoughts about and motivation to deal with COVID.
Results
Between-subjects’ analyses revealed that habitual distraction did not predict any outcomes, while habitual avoidance related to poorer emotional well-being. Within-subject analyses, however, demonstrated that engaging in distraction (and to a smaller extent, avoidance) was associated with better concurrent emotional well-being and less thinking about COVID. Furthermore, the intent to distract/avoid was more reliable in predicting emotional outcomes than was the activity type.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that disengagement from stress can be an adaptive coping behavior during global pandemics and possibly other chronic stressors with similar attributes.
... Psychosocial adjustment: Overall well-being Two picture-based items using the Self-Assessment Manikin [72] are implemented assessing how the parents and children feel in general, and how stressed they are. ...
Background
There is consistent evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with an increased psychosocial burden on children and adolescents and their parents. Relatively little is known about its particular impact on high-risk groups with chronic physical health conditions (CCs). Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to analyze the multiple impacts on health care and psychosocial well-being on these children and adolescents and their parents.
Methods
We will implement a two-stage approach. In the first step, parents and their underage children from three German patient registries for diabetes, obesity, and rheumatic diseases, are invited to fill out short questionnaires including questions about corona-specific stressors, the health care situation, and psychosocial well-being. In the next step, a more comprehensive, in-depth online survey is carried out in a smaller subsample.
Discussion
The study will provide insights into the multiple longer-term stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with a child with a CC. The simultaneous consideration of medical and psycho-social endpoints will help to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interactions affecting family functioning, psychological well-being, and health care delivery.
Trial registration
German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), no. DRKS00027974. Registered on 27th of January 2022.
Understanding socioeconomic status (SES) and social capital as predictors of life outcomes has remained central to humanitarian, health and social research. This current study explores how socioeconomic status and social capital (community solidarity, locus of control and generalised trust) predict happiness among a sample of South African adults. Possible gender differences were also considered. Cross-sectional data from (n = 1049) South Africans on SES, social capital, happiness and sociodemographic characteristics were collected using an online questionnaire between January 2021 and September 2021. A correlation matrix was calculated to explore bivariate associations between the variables. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine the predictive influence of SES and social capital indices on happiness and the gender differential in these relationships. SES and all social capital variables were significantly correlated with happiness. The model, including SES and social capital, accounted for 25% of the variance in happiness. Gender differences were found regarding the relationship between SES and all social capital variables (except locus of control) and happiness. The results confirm that efforts to facilitate individual social capital correspond to greater happiness among South Africans. Furthermore, it highlights the need for further empirical exploration of social predictors of life outcomes. The current analysis provides a framework for developing and implementing policies that promote happiness and other life outcomes.
Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and in countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8,031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, and avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, contrary to concerns, we found little evidence that boredom posed a public health risk during lockdown and quarantine. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Pain tolerance, defined as the ability to withstand physical pain states, is a clinically important psychobiological process associated with several deleterious outcomes, including increased pain experience, mental health problems, physical health problems, and substance use. A significant body of experimental work indicates that negative affect is associated with pain tolerance, such that increased negative affect is associated with decreased pain tolerance. Although research has documented the associations between pain tolerance and negative affect, little work has examined these associations over time, and how change in pain tolerance is related to changes in negative affect. Therefore, the current study examined the relationship between intraindividual change in self-reported pain tolerance and intraindividual change in negative affect over 20 years in a large, longitudinal, observation-based national sample of adults (n = 4,665, Mage = 46.78, SD =12.50, 53.8% female). Results from parallel process latent growth curve models indicated that slope of pain tolerance and negative affect were associated with each other over time (r = .272, 95% CI [.08, .46] p = .006). Cohen’s d effect size estimates provide initial, correlational evidence that changes in pain tolerance may precede changes in negative affect. Given the relevance of pain tolerance to deleterious health outcomes, better understanding how individual difference factors, including negative affect, influence pain tolerance over time, are clinically important to reduce disease-related burden.
Dieses Kapitel vermittelt folgende Lernziele: Die unterschiedlichen Vorgehensweisen bei der Bildung theoretischer Konzepte in der qualitativen Forschung und der Operationalisierung theoretischer Konzepte in der quantitativen Forschung kennen. Wissen, was man unter der Konzeptspezifikation versteht und wie man dabei vorgeht. Latente und manifeste Variablen voneinander abgrenzen können. Die vier Skalenniveaus definieren und an Beispielen erläutern können. Die Ratingskala als Antwortformat von der psychometrischen Skala als Messinstrument unterscheiden können. Die Messung theoretischer Konzepte mit Einzelindikatoren, psychometrischen Skalen und Indizes als drei zentralen Operationalisierungsvarianten in ihren Vor- und Nachteilen abwägen können.
The current biodiversity crisis, extinction of experience of nature and rising concern about people's well‐being and mental health require us to understand the benefits of activities supporting people's engagement with nature. We ran a 1‐week randomised controlled experiment to test the impact of nature‐focussed activities on people's connectedness to nature and well‐being. This project, called ‘Nature Up Close and Personal: A Wellbeing Experiment’ recruited 500 people who completed the pre‐ and post‐participation surveys which included seven psychometric outcome measures. People were randomly assigned to one of six groups. Those in non‐control groups were asked to take part in one 10‐min activity five times over 8 days; this could be done in any place with nature near to them. The activities were as follows: two different citizen science activities, a nature‐noticing activity (asking people to note three good things in nature: 3GTiN) or a combination of citizen science and 3GTiN. Citizen science, 3GTiN and the combination of the two had significant positive effects on nature connectedness, happiness, sense of worthwhile life and satisfaction with life. 3GTiN (alone and in combination with citizen science) had significant positive effects on pro‐nature conservation behaviours. All activities engaged the pathways to nature connectedness. Compared to 3GTiN, people doing citizen science scored lower at engaging with nature through their senses, and feeling calm or joyful, but higher for feeling that they made a difference. The combined activity engaged the pathways to nature connectedness at least as strongly as the highest scoring of citizen science or 3GTiN individually. This shows the potential to intentionally design citizen science to enhance the pathways to nature connectedness. Nature‐based citizen science is more than just a way to gather environmental data: it benefits well‐being and nature connectedness of participants, and (when in combination with noticing nature activities) pro‐nature conservation behaviours. It adds to the range of activities already proven to enhanced human–nature interactions and nature connectedness. Public policy needs to develop a ‘one health’ approach to people's engagement with nature, supporting communities to both notice and monitor everyday biodiversity, recognising that human and nature's well‐being is interdependent. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
One of the ideological foundations of the modern welfare states is the belief that people can be made happier by providing them with better living conditions. This belief is challenged by the theory that happiness is a fixed 'trait', rather than a variable 'state'. This theory figures both at the individual level and at the societal level. The individual level variant depicts happiness as an aspect of personal character; rooted in inborn temperament or acquired disposition. The societal variant sees happiness as a matter of national character; embedded in shared values and beliefs. Both variants imply that a better society makes no happier people. Happiness can be regarded as a trait if it meets three criteria: (1) temporal stability, (2) cross-situational consistency, and (3) inner causation. This paper checks whether that is, indeed, the case. The theory that happiness is a personal-character-trait is tested in a (meta) analysis of longitudinal studies. The results are: (1) Happiness is quite stable on the short term, but not in the long run, neither relatively nor absoloutely. (2) Happiness is not insensitive to fortune or adversity. (3) Happiness is not entirely built-in: its genetic basis is at best modest and psychological factors explain only part of its variance. The theory that happiness is a national-character-trait is tested in an analysis of differences in average happiness between nations. The results point in the same direction: (1) Though generally fairly stable over the last decades, nation-happiness has changed profoundly in some cases, both absolutely and relatively. (2) Average happiness in nations is clearly not independant of living conditions. The better the conditions in a country, the happier its citizens. (3) The differences cannot be explained by a collective outlook on life. It is concluded that happiness is no immutable trait. There is thus still sense in striving for greater happiness for a greater number.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed to assess satisfaction with the respondent’s life as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose. Normative data are presented for the scale, which shows good convergent validity with other scales and with other types of assessments of subjective well-being. Life satisfaction as assessed by the SWLS shows a degree of temporal stability (e.g., 54 for 4 years), yet the SWLS has shown sufficient sensitivity to be potentially valuable to detect change in life satisfaction during the course of clinical intervention. Further, the scale shows discriminant validity from emotional well-being measures. The SWLS is recommended as a complement to scales that focus on psychopathology or emotional well-being because it assesses an individuals’ conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life by using the person’s own criteria.
Predictions about level and dispersion of happiness in nations are derived from three theories of happiness: comparison-theory, folklore-theory and livability-theory. The predictions are tested on two cross national data-sets: a comparative survey among university students in 38 nations in 1985 and a collection of comparable general population surveys in 28 nations around 1980. Most predictions of comparison-theory and folklore-theory are defied by the data. The predictions of livability-theory are all confirmed.
Proposes a short version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) that contains only 21 statements denoting the highest degree of clinical depression, as compared to the original BDI (BDI-O), which consists of 21 item groups with each group containing 4 options. The author recruited a sample of 203 male and female volunteers (between the ages of 18 and 32 yrs) and introduced items of the short version in 2 response forms: Likert (L) and Yes/No (Y/N) format. The author also used 2 depression subscales derived from the Symptom Check List-90 and the Hopkins Symptom Check List. Results showed that the BDI-O had relatively lesser skew and kurtosis. However, the
M/SD ratio was well balanced in the BDI-L and not in the original and BDI-Y/N versions. Cronbach's α, correlations with 4 other scales, and loadings onto 2 separate factors of depression were high in both BDI-O and BDI-L--although they were higher in the BDI-L, which also had improved factorial structure. The proposed short BDI-L version contains only one fourth of the BDI-O without deleting any of its symptom indicators and, therefore, the author concludes that the short BDI-L version contributes well to enhancing the BDI cost-effectiveness, especially in empirical research projects containing loaded test batteries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (1) agency (goal-directed determination) and (2) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies with college students and patients demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test–retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated.
A flood of new studies explores people's subjective well-being (SWB) Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class Better clues to well-being come from knowing about a person's traits, close relationships, work experiences, culture, and religiosity We present the elements of an appraisal-based theory of happiness that recognizes the importance of adaptation, cultural world-view, and personal goals