Study Powdthavee (2008): study GB 1997
- Public:
- 16-65 aged Great-Britain, followed 6 years, 1997-2003
- Sample:
- Respondents:
- N = 54424
- Non Response:
- n.a.
- Assessment:
- Interview: face-to-face
Correlate
- Authors's label
- Change in Meeting friends and relatives
- Our Classification
-
-
- Operationalization
- T1-T2 change in selfreport on single question:
How often do you meet friends or relatives who are not living with you, whether here at your home or elsewhere?
1 never or less often than once a month
2 once or twice a month
3 once or twice a week
4 on most days
Change in social network from T1 to T2
a Remain the same
b Increased in frequency
c Reduced in frequency
Observed Relation with Happiness
Average change SD N
in happiness
1 to 1: -.02 1,43 346
2 to 2: -.03 1,15 1.565
3 to 3: -.03 1,14 10.153
4 to 4: -.04 1,25 13.248
Average change SD N
in happiness
1 to 2: +.03 1,35 316
1 to 3: +.06 1,34 326
1 to 4: +.01 1,50 234
2 to 3: -.03 1,21 1.739
2 to 4: +.01 1,26 894
3 to 4: +.00 1,20 5374
Average change SD N
in happiness
2 to 1: -.05 1,30 322
3 to 1: -.11 1,43 332
3 to 2: -.05 1,16 2.008
4 to 1: -.26 1,33 246
4 to 2: -.05 1,29 949
4 to 3: -.04 1,21 5.675
B's are estimated by means of fixed effects estimators instead of OLS.
B's controlled for:
- frequency of talking to neighbours
- gender
- age
- real household income
- marital status
- employment status
- look after home
- health status
- education level
- household size
- home ownership
- days spent in hospital
- number of children
Adittional control variables about quality of accommodation and neighbourhood do not make a difference:
- shortage of space
- noise from neighbours
- street noise
- not enough lights
- lack of adequate heating
- condensation
- leaky roof
- damp wall, floors, etc.
- rot windows, floors, etc
- pollution/environmental problems
- vandalism or crime
- average district income
Fixed effect estimators differ significantly from OLS estimators denoting a positive inborn personality bias on the observed relationship between frequency of social contacts, income and life satisfaction