Study Feather & O'Brien (1986): study AU 1980
- Public:
- School-leavers, Australia, followed 2 years,1980-1982
- Sample:
- Respondents:
- N = 5446
- Non Response:
- T2: 25%, T3: 34%
- Assessment:
-
Questionnaire: paper
Mailed orr administered in the schools.
Correlate
- Authors's label
- Unemployment.
- Our Classification
-
-
- Operationalization
- 0 Employed at T2/T3.
1 Unemployed at T2/T3
Observed Relation with Happiness
happiness at T2 Mt'= 6.61 Mt'= 6.16 -.45
Interaction employment x time (nonsignificant):
happ. T1 to T2 +.08 -.30 -.38
T1 and T3 happiness by T3 employment(sample A):
T3-empl. T3 unempl. difference
happiness at T3 Mt'= 6.50 Mt'= 5.80 -.70
Interaction employment x time ( p<01 ):
happ. T1 to T3 -.10 -.56 -.46
T2 and T3 happiness by T3 employment(sample A+B):
T3-empl. T3 unempl. difference
happiness at T3 Mt'= 6.43 Mt'= 5.60 -.83
Interaction employment x time ( p< 01):
happ. T2 to T3 +.16 -.33 -.49
Significance assessed by variance-analysis, also involving employment.
The original depression score is ranging from
4 to 28. Mt' is standardized into a happpiness score (0-10 and reversed)
Possible testing effects checked by comparing three sub-samples:
- sample A: selected at T1, tested at T1, T2, T3
- sample B: selected at T1, tested at T2 and T3
- sample C: selected at T1, tested at T3 only
At T3 happiness appeared lower in sample A than in sample B, but there is little evidence for systematic testing effects.