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Studies

Ruvolo (1998): study US Detroit 1987

Publication

Author(s):
Ruvolo, A.P.
Title:
Marital Well-Being and General Happiness of Newlywed Couples: Relationships across Time.
Source:
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1998, Vol. 15, 470 - 489

Investigation

Public
Newly wed couples, USA, followed one year 1987-1988
Survey name
Unnamed study
Sample
Probability systematic sample
Respondents
N = 634
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
In the first wave of study, they were interviewed seprately face to face. In the second wave, it is interviewd via telephone.

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:
Taking all together, how happy would you say you are these days?
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

10 step version of the rating scale
3 very happy
2 pretty happy
1 not too happy
Labels on this 10 step version not reported
Classification:
O-HL-c-sq-n-10-f
Author's label:
General Happiness
Remarks:
Assessed at T1 shortly after marriage and T2 one year later
T1: wives M= 3.56, sd= ,5, Husband M= 3,49, SD=,54
T2: Wives, M= 3,52, sd= ,56, Husband, M= 3,51, SD= ,52
Page in publication:
476
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 10 On range 0-10
Mean:
3.59 2.88
SD:
0.52 0.58

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Same time perception of mariage as happy