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Happiness Measures

Characteristics

Code:
A-BB-cw-mq-v-4-e
Focus:
Affect: Balance (Bradburn's index) (A-BB)
Time frame:
last week (cw)
Mode:
multiple questions (mq)
Scale Type:
verbal scale (v)
Scale Range:
4

Description

Self report on 9 questions:

We are interested in the way people are feeling these days. The following list describes some of the ways people feel at different times. Please indicate how often you felt each way during the last week.

How often last week did you feel .....?
A  On the top of the world
B  Very lonely or remote from other people
C  Particularly excited or interested in something
D  Depressed or very unhappy
E   Pleased about having accomplished something
F   Bored
G  Proud because someone complimented you on something  
     you had done
H  So restless you couldn't sit long in a chair
I    Vaguely uneasy about something without knowing why

Answer options:
0  not at all
1  once
2  several times
3  often

Summation:
Positive Affect Score (PAS): summed scores on A, C, E, G
Negative Affect Score (NAS): summed scores on B, D, F, H, I
Affect Balance Score (ABS):  PAS minus NAS

Possible range:  -15 tot +12

Name: Bradburn's `Affect Balance Scale' (modified version)

List of Studies Using this Measure

Study Population N Mean
Standard Deviation
Bankoff (1981): study US 1979 Widowed women in grief, USA, 198? N = 447
Bradburn & Caplovitz (1965): study US Illinois 1962 /1 Adults, general public, 2 towns, prosperous and depressed, Illinois, USA, 1962/3 - 1962/10 N = 547
Bradburn & Caplovitz (1965): study US Illinois 1962 Adult, general public, 4 towns, varying in economic prosperity, Illinois, USA, 1962 N = 2006
Huff-Fox (1977): study US 1970 Older white middle-class women, USA, 1970 N = 212
Mean
= 3.138
Lehman et al. (1987): study US 1983 Bereaved and controls, USA, 1983 N = 78
Lehman et al. (1987): study US 1983 /1 Bereaved and controls, USA, 1983 N = 82