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Correlational findings

Study Seidlitz & Diener (1993): study US 1988 /1

Public
Psychology students, selected for earlier happiness, USA, 198?
Sample
Respondents
N = 94
Non Response
28%
Assessment
Questionnaire: Paper & Pencil Interview (PAPI)
Questionnaire completed in class

Correlate

Authors's Label
Balance of recalled life-events (checklist)
Our Classification
Operationalization
Ss completed a checklist of 80 events, on which they marked those that had occurred in three time-periods ( past 3 years, past year or past month).
Half the events on the list were 'concrete' f.e.: got married or fell ill; the other half 'interpretative': f.e.: improved character or received support.

Half the events were positive; the other half negative

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a r = +.34 p < .001 Balance of concrete events
- positive contrete events only: r= +.28 (05)
- negative concrete events only: r= -.34 (01)
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a r = +.44 Balance of concrete events A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a Beta = +.36 ß controled for interpretation of events (checklist) and balance of free recalled events.
       
    
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a rpc = +.36 rpc controled for current mood
  
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a r = +.65 Balance of interpreted events A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a r = +.63 p < .001 Balance of interpretated events
- positive interpretated events: r= +.51 (001)
- negative interpretated events: r= - 40 (001)
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a rpc = +.59 rpc controled for current mood A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a Beta = +.51 ß controled for incidence of concrete events (checklist) and balance of free recalled events.
      
A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a r = + Amount of positive events:
- correlation with happiness among the happy
  - positive concrete events:       r = +.41
  - positive interpretative events: r = +.27
- correlation with happiness among the unhappy
  - positive concrete events:       r = +.25
  - positive interpretative events: r = +.28
A-AOL-g-mq-*-*-a r = - Amount of negative events:
- correlation with happiness among the happy
  - negative concrete events:       r = +.00
  - negative interpretative events: r = -.02
- correlation with happiness among the unhappy
  - negative concrete events:       r = -.32
  - negative interpretative events: r = -.50