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Studies

Headey & Krause (1994): study AU 1981

Publication

Author(s):
Headey, B.; Krause, P.
Title:
Inequalities of Income, Health and Happiness: The Stratification Paradigm and Alternatives.
Source:
Paper presented at the 13th World Congress of Sociology, 1994, Bielefeld, Germany

Investigation

Public
18-65 aged, general public, Victoria, Australia, followed from 1981 to 1989
Sample
Probability simple random sample
Respondents
N = 502
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Face-to-face interviews at T1, T2, T3. Mailed questionnaire at T4

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question asked twice

'How do you feel about your life as a whole?'
1  terrible
2  very unhappy
3  unhappy
4  mostly dissatisfied
5  mixed feelings
6  mostly satisfied
7  pleased
8  very pleased
9  delighted
Classification:
O-DT-u-sqt-v-9-a
Error estimates:
Correlations of responses to this item at beginning and end of the interview: r=+.80

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Life satisfaction over time Recent happiness (< 1 year ago) Extraversion Extraverted Neuroticism Neurotic (f48) Favourable Events Sum of positive life-events Adverse Events Sum of negative life-events