Brickman et al. (1978): study US 1977

Publication

Author(s):

Brickman, P.; Coates, D.; Janoff-Bulman, R.

Title:

Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?

Source:

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987, Vol. 36, 917 - 927

Investigation

Public:

Lottery winners, paralyzed accident victims, and controls, Illinois USA, 1977

Sample:

Respondents:

N = 73

Non Response:

45.5%

Assessment:

Interview: face-to-face
Structured, interview also by phone

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:

Selfreport on single question:

"How happy are you now (not at this moment, but at this stage of life) .....?"
0  not at all
1
2
3
4
5  very much
   
(originally rated on horizontal line scale)

Classification:

O-HL-c-sq-n-6-c

Author's label:

Happiness

Remarks:

Lottery winners:   M = 4,00; Ms = 8,00
Accident victims: M = 2,96; Ms = 5,92
Controls:              M = 3,82; Ms = 7,64

Observed distribution

Frequencies

1: 0%,   2: 0%,   3: 0%,   4: 0%,   5: 0%,   6: 0%

Summary Statistics

On original range 0 - 5 On range 0-10

Mean:

3.59 7.18

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Having won a major lottery Specific current life-events
Lottery winning Being an accident victim Specific current life-events
Physical handicap
Victim of accident