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Correlational findings

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
Remarks
Due to a small number of respondents Less often than once a month is considered as Never T1=average 1997-2000, T2=2002 T
Distribution
Range= a-d:1-4 M=3,31 SD(within)=0.54

Frequencies in %:
          All     Men   Women  Age<=30 Age>30
1:       2        3        2            1               3
2:      11     12        9            6             13
3:      40     42       39          31            44  
4:      47     43       50          62            40
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

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e DM = - NO CHANGE IN MEETINGS

        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
O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e DM = + INCREASE IN MEETINGS

        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
O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e DM = -- DECREASE IN MEETINGS

        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
O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e b = +.12 p < .01 2 once or twice a month (vs. 1) O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e b = +.14 p < .01 3 once or twice a week (vs. 1) O-SLW-u-sq-n-7-e b = +.17 p < .01 4 on most days (vs. 1)

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