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Correlational findings

Study McKinley Runyan (1980): study US 1932

Public
Highschool pupils, Oakland, USA, 1932, followed from age 12 to 38, 1959
Sample
Respondents
N = 91
Non Response
Assessment
Multiple assesment methods
Lengthy, tests and school photographs. Participants were asked to rate the level of satisfaction in each year of their past life on a graph with values ranging from 1 (low) to 9 (high) and to write in the events and conditions associated with these ratings ("We would like for you to think over your life and then rate each year as to whether it was a high or a low point in your life, i.e., your overall feeling, not necessarily financial success or health, etc., but generally speaking feeling of well-being however determined".)

Correlate

Authors's Label
Defense mechanism of denial.
Our Classification
Distribution
1: N=41
2: N=40
Operationalization
1. Low
2. High
Rating on the basis of Kroeber-Haan conceptualisation of coping and defense (Haan 1963). Average of rating by interviewer who spend about 12 hours with the subject and a judge who rated the transcripts. Assesed at T2.

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-HL-cy-sq-lg-9-a DM = - ns No significant difference in current happiness (T2).

Significant differences in recalled happiness at earlier ages. High deniers recall more happiness (both males an females).