Bradburn & Caplovitz (1965): study US Illinois 1962 /1
Publication
- Author(s):
- Bradburn, N.M.; Caplovitz, D.
- Title:
- Reports on Happiness. A Pilot Study of Behavior Related to Mental Health.
- Source:
- Aldine Publishing Company, 1965, Chicago, USA
Investigation
- Public
- Adults, general public, 2 towns, prosperous and depressed, Illinois, USA, 1962/3 - 1962/10
- Sample
- Respondents
- N = 547
- Non Response
- ?
- Assessment
-
Interview: face-to-face
Structured interview
Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings
- 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:
- Happiness
- Error estimates:
- Reliability: Retest after 8 months: r = +.48
- Observed distribution
- Frequencies
- 1: 17%, 2: 59%, 3: 24% (total 100%)
- Summary Statistics
- On original range 1 - 3 On range 0-10
- Mean:
- 2.07 6.88
- SD:
- 0.64 1.65
- Full text:
-
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) - Classification:
- A-BB-cw-mq-v-4-e
- Author's label:
- Affect Balance
- Remarks:
- Affect balance : 13% more positive than negative affects, 32% as many positive and negative affects, 37% more negative than positive affects
- Error estimates:
- Reliability: Equivalence (on the basis of the responses of the males who were personally interviewed; N = 393): - positive items : r ranging from +.26 to +.47 - negative items : r ranging from +.31 to +.54 - positive x negative items : r ranging from -.19 to +.11 - positive affect score x negative affect score : r = .07 (ns) Validity: