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Studies

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:

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Living in a period of national crisis Climate of change
Change in involvement with war
Trend average happiness in cities/regions
Happiness Recent happiness (< 1 year ago) Affect Balance Recent happiness (< 1 year ago)