Distributional findings | World Database of Happiness

Study Andrews & Withey (1976): study US 1973 /1

Full text:: Self report on single question:

How do you feel about your life as a whole.....?
7  delighted
6  pleased
5  mostly satisfied
4  mixed
3  mostly dissatisfied
2  unhappy
1  terrible

Name: Andrews & Withey's `Delighted-Terrible Scale'  (original version)
Classification:: O-DT-u-sq-v-7-a
Author's label:: Life1 (+ Life2 and Life4) (G1-G2-G4)
Page in publication:: 66
Error estimates:: Reliability: repeat-reliability (correlation between scores on same questions asked twice during the interview) between Life1 and Life2: r=+.60 repeat-reliability between Life1 and Life3: r=+.60 repeat-reliability between Life2 and Life3: r=+.60 Validity:
Observed distribution
Frequencies: 1: 0%, 2: 3%, 3: 3%, 4: 10%, 5: 36%, 6: 40%, 7: 8% (total 100%)
Summary Statistics: On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:: 5.31 7.18
SD:: 1.06 1.76

Full text:: Self report on single question, asked twice in interview:

How do you feel about your life as a whole......?
7  delighted
6  pleased
5  mostly satisfied
4  mixed
3  mostly dissatisfied
2  unhappy
1  terrible

Summation: arithmetic mean

Name: Andrews & Withey's "Delighted-Terrible Scale" (original version)
Also known as Lehman's 'Global life satisfaction'
Classification:: O-DT-u-sqt-v-7-a
Author's label:: Life3 (G3)
Page in publication:: 66

Full text:: Self report on single question:

Which (of the faces) best described how you feel about your life as a whole?
7  completely happy
6
5
4  neither happy nor unhappy
3
2
1  completely unhappy
Classification:: M-AO-u-sq-f-7-a
Author's label:: Faces (G5)
Page in publication:: 66
Observed distribution
Frequencies: 1: 0%, 2: 2%, 3: 1%, 4: 4%, 5: 27%, 6: 46%, 7: 20% (total 100%)
Summary Statistics: On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:: 5.74 7.90
SD:: 0.99 -

Full text:: Self report on single question:

"Here is a picture of a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder is the worst life you might reasonably expect to have. At the top is the best life you might expect to have. Of course, life from week to week falls somewhere in between. Where was your life most of the time during the past year?"
[ 9 ] best life you might expect to have
[ 8 ]
[ 7 ]
[ 6 ]
[ 5 ]
[ 4 ]
[ 3 ]
[ 2 ]
[ 1 ]  worst life you might expect to have

  Name: Cantril's self anchoring ladder rating (modified version)
Classification:: C-BW-cy-sq-l-9-a
Author's label:: Ladder (G6)
Page in publication:: 66
Observed distribution
Frequencies: 1: 1%, 2: 2%, 3: 3%, 4: 4%, 5: 18%, 6: 29%, 7: 29%, 8: 10%, 9: 4% (total 100%)
Summary Statistics: On original range 1 - 9 On range 0-10
Mean:: 6.13 6.40
SD:: 1.50 -

Full text:: Self report on single question:

"Here are some circles that we can imagine represent the lives of different people. Circle eight has all pluses in it, to represent a person who has all the good things in his life. Circle zero has all minuses in it, to represent a person who has all the bad things in his life. Other circles are in between. Which circle do you think comes closest to matching your life?"
(circles not reproduced here )
8  + + + + + + + +
7  + + + + + + + -
6  + + + + + +  - -
5  + + + + +  -  - -
4 + + + +  -  -  - -
3  + + +  -  -  -  - -
2  + +  -  -  -  -  - -
2  +  -  -  -  -  -  - -
0   -  -  -  -  -  -  - -

Name: Andrews & Withey's 'Circles Scale'
Classification:: O-GBB-u-sq-c-9-a
Author's label:: Circles: whole life (G7)
Page in publication:: 66
Observed distribution
Frequencies: 1: 0%, 2: 1%, 3: 0%, 4: 2%, 5: 10%, 6: 25%, 7: 35%, 8: 24%, 9: 3% (total 100%)
Summary Statistics: On original range 0 - 8 On range 0-10
Mean:: 5.74 7.20
SD:: 1.18 -

Full text:: Self report on single question:

Taken all together, how would you say things are these days?   Would you say that you are....?
3  very happy
2  pretty happy
1  not too happy
Classification:: O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa
Author's label:: Three-point happiness (G31)
Page in publication:: 68

Full text:: Self report on single question:

How do you feel how happy you are.....?
7  delighted
6  pleased
5  mostly satisfied
4  mixed (about equally satisfied and dissatisfied)
3  mostly
2  unhappy
1  terrible
Classification:: O-HV-u-sq-v-7-b
Author's label:: Seven-point happiness (G32)
Page in publication:: 68

Full text:: Self report on 10 questions:

During the past few weeks, did you ever feel ....?  (yes/no)
A   Particularly excited or interested in something?
B   So restless that you couldn't sit long in a chair?
C   Proud because someone complimented you on something
     you had done?
D   Very lonely or remote from other people?
E   Pleased about having accomplished something?
F   Bored?
G   On top of the world?
H   Depressed or very unhappy?
I    That things were going your way?
J    Upset because someone criticized you?

Answer options and scoring:
yes = 1
no  = 0
Summation:
-Positive Affect Score (PAS): A+C+E+G+I
-Negative Affect Score (NAS): B+D+F+H+J
-Affect Balance Score (ABS): PAS minus NAS
Possible range: -5 to +5

Name: Bradburn's 'Affect Balance Scale' (standard version)
Classification:: A-BB-cm-mq-v-2-a
Author's label:: Affect balance (G37)
Page in publication:: 68

Full text:: Self report on single question

Think back over what your life has been like during the past ten weeks. It may help to try to remember some of the specific things that happened to you, or which you did during this period. Your answers should add up to ten weeks.
For what part of that time did you feel about your life as a whole?
- delighted
- pleased
- mostly satisfied
- mixed
- about equally satisfied and dissatisfied
- mostly dissatisfied
- unhappy
- terrible

Measure: number of weeks felt unhappy
Classification:: M-TH-cm-sq-th%-10-a
Author's label:: Weeks delighted(G18)
Remarks:: Findings based on this measure are not reported in this publication.
Page in publication:: 67