Can happiness change? [Elektronische Ressource] : the short- and long-term relationships between subjective well-being and external circumstances / vorgelegt von Maike Luhmann

Luhmannm

Sujets

• Psychologie

Informations

• Publié par: freie_universitat_berlin
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie
der Freien Universität Berlin



Can Happiness Change?
The Short- and Long-Term Relationships Between
Subjective Well-Being and External Circumstances


Dissertation
zurErlangungdesakademischenGrades
DoktorinderPhilosophie
(Dr.phil.)


vorgelegtvon
Dipl.Psych.MaikeLuhmann


Erstgutachter:Prof.Dr.MichaelEid
Zweitgutachter:Prof.Dr.RichardE.Lucas
DatumderDisputation:20.10.2010


Berlin,2010
Table of Contents 2
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 4
Abstract 5
1 Introduction 8
1.1 AShortHistoryoftheSetPointTheoryofSWB 10
1.2 EmpiricalEvidence 12
1.3 ThePresentDissertation 16
1.4 References 19
2 Stable and Transient Determinants of the Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being
and Income 22
2.1 OverviewofthePresentPaper 25
2.2 Method 26
2.3 Results 38
2.4 Discussion 45
2.5 References 48
2.6 AppendixtoChapter2 52
3 Subjective Well-Being and Adaptation to Life Events: A Meta-Analysis 57
3.1 SubjectiveWellBeing 61
3.2 LifeEvents 61
3.3 Adaptation 62
3.4 OverviewofthePresentMetaAnalysis 65
3.5 Method 66
3.6 Results 80
3.7 GeneralDiscussion 131
3.8 References 138
3.9 AppendixtoChapter3 160
4 Does it Really Feel the Same? Changes in Life Satisfaction Following Repeated Life
Events 209
4.1 ExplainingChangesintheImpactofanEvent 211
4.2 PreviousResearchonRepeatedLifeEvents 213
4.3 AimsofthePresentResearch 218
4.4 Method 219
4.5 Study1:RepeatedUnemployment 227 Table of Contents 3
4.6 Study2:RepeatedDivorces 236
4.7 Study3:RepeatedMarriages 242
4.8 GeneralDiscussion 246
4.9 References 249
5 General Discussion 254
5.1 Summary 256
5.2 TheoreticalImplications 259
5.3 MethodologicalImplications 266
5.4 PracticalImplications 272
5.5 ConclusionandDirectionsforFutureResearch 274
5.6 References 276
6 List of Tables 282
7 List of Figures 284
8 Appendix (In German Language) 285
8.1 ZusammenfassungindeutscherSprache 285
8.2 Lebenslauf 289
8.3 Erklärung 290


Acknowledgements 4
Acknowledgements
MyfirstandforemostappreciationgoestomyadvisorMichaelEid.Throughoutthepastthreeyears,
hewasaconstantsourceofsupport,inspiration,motivation,andpositivemood.Withhisoptimism,he
mademefeelthateverythingispossible,evenfinishingametaanalysis.
IalsowouldliketothankRichardE.Lucaswhoseresearchhasinspiredthetopicofthisdissertation.
InMarch2009,IspentfourextremelyproductiveweeksathislabatMichiganStateUniversity,andI
amveryhappythatheagreedtoreviewthisdissertation.
WithoutthehelpofHenrietteHunoldandTanjaKutscher,thisdissertationprobablywouldneverhave
been finished. Their reliability and enduring support, especially for the metaanalysis, was extremely
valuableandmadethewholeprojectmanageable.IalsowouldliketoacknowledgePolaWeissandEva
Fondelwhohelpedintheliteraturesearchforthemetaanalysis.
IcannotrememberasingledaywhenIhadtobringmyselftogoingtowork.Thisismainlyduetomy
fabulouscolleagues(andfriends)at thedepartment.Writingis somucheasierifitisinterruptedby
consumingcaffeinateddrinksandloadsofchocolate,cake,andicecreamwiththeseguys.Myspecial
thanksgotoClaudiaCrayen,NatalieMallach,ChristianGeiser,andTobiasKochwhoreadpartsofthis
dissertationandgavemevaluablefeedback.
Andfinally,IwouldliketothankmyhusbandWilhelmHofmann.Fromtheveryfirstday,hisconfi
denceandemotionalsupport,butalsohisexpertise,keptmypersonalandworkrelatedsubjectivewell
beingataconstanthigh.Thankyouforalwaysbeingthere.
Abstract 5
Abstract
Subjectivewellbeing(SWB)isabroadconstructconsistingofpeoples’affectiveandcognitiveevalua
tionsoftheirlives(Diener,1984).Animportanttheoreticalmodelisthesetpointmodelaccordingto
whichSWBfluctuatesaroundastablesetpointthatisdeterminedbyheritablefactorssuchaspersonal
ity (e. g., Brickman, Coates, & JanoffBulman, 1978; Headey & Wearing, 1989; Lykken & Tellegen,
1996).Accordingtothismodel,externallifecircumstancesplayaminorroleindeterminingindividuals’
levelofSWB,presumablybecausepeopleadaptquicklyandinevitablytoanychangesinlifecircum
stances.Recentresearch,however,indicatesthattherelevanceofexternalfactorsforSWBmighthave
beenunderestimatedbythistheory(Diener,Lucas,&Scollon,2006).Forinstance,specificmajorlife
eventssuchasbereavementorunemploymenthavebeenshowntoleadtolastingdecreasesinSWB
(Lucas,Clark,Georgellis,&Diener,2003,2004).Thisraisesthequestionwhichexternallifecircum
stancescanleadtoshortorlongtermchangesinSWB.
Inthepresentdissertation,theshortandlongtermrelationsbetweenSWBandincome(Chapter2),
single life events (Chapter 3), and repeated life events (Chapter 4) are examined. These external
circumstanceshaveincommonthattheireffectsonSWBwereforalongtimethoughttobealmost
negligible (e. g., Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Myers & Diener, 1995). However, previous
empiricalstudieswereoftenmisinterpreted.Forinstance,thecorrelationbetweenincomeandSWBis
typicallyaroundr=.20whichmaynotbealargeeffectcomparedtootherrelationshipsinpsychology,
butitnonethelesshaspracticalsignificance(Lucas&Schimmack,2009).
InChapter2,astudyispresentedthatexaminedwhetherthecorrelationbetweenincomeandSWBis
mainly due to stable individual differences or to occasionspecific influences. Two components of
SWB,affectiveandcognitivewellbeing,wereanalyzedinseparatemodels.Theassociationbetween
affectivewellbeingandincomewasmodeledwithinasamplefromtheBritishHouseholdPanelStudy
(BHPS;N=37,041);andtheassociationbetweencognitivewellbeingandincomewasmodeledwithin
asamplefromtheBHPS(N=31,871)aswellaswithinasamplefromtheSOEP(N=43,565).To
separatestableandoccasionspecificinfluences,bivariatelatentstatetrait(LST)modelswereappliedto
theselongitudinaldatasets.Withthesemodels,itwaspossibleto(a)estimatethecorrelationamongthe
stable factors that reflect stable individual differences, (b) to estimate the correlation among the
occasionspecific factors that reflect transient fluctuations, and (c) to estimate the relative impact of
stable and occasionspecific influences on the bivariate association between income and SWB. The
study presented in this dissertation is the first to apply bivariate LST models to the relationship
betweenSWBandincome.Acrossthethreesamples,thecorrelationsbetweenthestabledeterminants
were moderate and the correlations between transient determinants were weak. Stable factors
accountedfor60to90%ofthetotalobservedcovariancebetweenincomeandSWB.Insum,theseAbstract 6
findingsindicatethattherelationbetweenincomeandSWBisprimarilydrivenbydispositionalfactors
thatneedtobeexaminedinmoredetailinfutureresearch.
TheadaptationhypothesisiscentraltothesetpointtheoryofSWB.Thishypothesisstatesthatpeople
adaptquicklytoanychangesinlifecircumstances.Previousauthorsestimatedthatadaptationiscom
plete after only a coupleof months (Suh, Diener, & Fujita, 1996). In Chapter 3, the adaptation hy
pothesis was tested metaanalytically. For this purpose, longitudinal data from 247 publications (396
samples, 992 effect sizes, N = 82,893) on five family events (marriage, divorce, bereavement, child
birth, health problems of spouse) and five work events (unemployment, reemployment, retirement,
other occupational transitions, relocation/migration) were aggregated. For each event, three central
research questions were answered: (1) What is the initial hedonic impact of the event on SWB? (2)
Whatistheaveragerateandshapeofadaptationovertime?(3)Dotheinitialhedonicimpactandthe
rateofadaptationdifferforaffectivewellbeingandcognitivewellbeing?Thefindingsindicatedthat
people adapt to most of these events, but adaptation takes longer than previously assumed and the
eventsdifferintheirspecificeffects.Inaddition,differentialeffectsforaffectiveandcognitivewell
beingwerefound:Affectivewellbeingwasusuallymorepositivethancognitivewellbeing,suggesting
thatadaptationmightbefasterforaffectivewellbeing.
IncontrasttoChapter3whichfocusedonsingleoccasionsoflifeevents,thestudyreportedinChapter
4investigatedwhetherlifeeventsaffectindividualsdifferentiallywhentheyareexperiencedrepeatedly.
Specifically,theeffectsofrepeatedunemployment,repeateddivorces,andrepeatedmarriagesonlife
satisfactionwereexamined.ThedatacamefromtheSOEPthatwasalsousedinChapter2.Thesample
sizeswereN=3,350forunemployment,N=921fordivorce,andN=1,950formarriage.Toanalyze
intraindividualeffectsandinterindividualdifferencessimultaneously,multilevelmodelswereemployed.
Forunemployment,asensitizationpatternwasfoundwhichmeansthatlifesatisfactiondecreaseswith
eachnewunemploymentexperience.Fordivorce,itwasfoundthatmeanlifesatisfactionwassignifi
cantlyhigherattheseconddivorcethanithadbeenatthefirstdivorce,whichcorrespondstoanadap
tation pattern. Finally, no differential effects of repeated marriages were found. In addition to these
meaneffects,severalmoderatorvariablesthatmightexplaininterindividualdifferenceswereanalyzed.
Theeffectsofthesevariablesweremostpronouncedforneuroticism,extraversion,andgender.For
instance,womenwereonaveragemoresatisfiedthanmeninthecontextofrepeatedunemployment
andinthecontextofrepeateddivorces.Insum,thesefindingsshowedthatrepeatedoccasionsofthe
sameeventcanhaveverydifferenteffectsonlifesatisfaction.
Acrossallstudies,thecentralfindingswere:(1)Externalcircumstancesaffectcognitivewellbein