print

Studies

Howell et al. (2006): study MY 2003

Publication

Author(s):
Howell, C.J.; Howell, R.T.; Schwabe, K.A.
Title:
Does Wealth Enhance Life Satisfaction for People Who Are Materially Deprived? Exploring the Association among the 'Orang Asli' of Peninsular Malaysia.
Source:
Social Indicators Research, 2006, Vol. 76, 499 - 524

Investigation

Public
Heads of households, Malaysia, 2003
Sample
Probability systematic sample
Respondents
N = 307
Non Response
4,6%
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Structured interview

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on five questions:

A  I am very content with my life
B  I am living my life to the fullest
C  Nothing is currently lacking in my life
D  When I examine my life as a whole, I feel I am not meeting my aspirations*
E  I feel dissatisfied because I'm not doing everything that I want to be doing in my life*

Rating:
1  strongly disagree
.
.
7  strongly agree
* reversed keyed item

Name: Contentment with life assessment Scale (CLAS)
Classification:
C-Sum-u-mq-n-7-b
Author's label:
Life Satisfaction
Remarks:
Transalation of the SWLS from English to Malay created  problems for respondents in understanding. The fifth item on the SWLS was awkwardly worded (if you could change your life, would you change it? Eventually only the first four items were used to construct a  single 4-item factor, which explained 48% of the variance in the 4 items. This factor, with a 1-7-scale instead of a 1-5-scale, was used as a measure for life satisfaction.
Page in publication:
509
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:
3.80 -
SD:
1.17 -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding wealth composite index; possessions&savings Total wealth Log of savings Savings Material wealth Specific possessions Age of respondent Current age (in years) Education level respondent Level of school-education Family Size; number of household members. Number of persons in household Recent household illness Days ill