Study Thoits & Hewitt (2001): study US 1986

Public

25+ aged, general public, USA, 1986-1989

Sample

Respondents

N = 2867

Non Response

T1: 33% T2: 21%

Assessment

Interview: face-to-face
At home

Correlate

Authors's Label

Happiness 3 years ago

Our Classification

Distribution

T1: M = 2,13, Sd = 0,95. T2: M = 1,84, SD = 0,63
Note that scales are not identical!

Operationalization

Selfreport of happiness at:

T1: My life could be happier than it is now
1  strongly agree
2  somewhat agree
3  somewhat disagree
4  stronly disagree

T2: Taking all together, how would you say things are these days? Would you say you are .....?
3   very happy
2   pretty happy
1   not too happy

T1-T2 difference 3 years

Observed Relation with Happiness