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Studies

Lehman et al. (1987): study US 1983

Publication

Author(s):
Lehman, D.R.; Williams, A.F.; Wortman, C.B.
Title:
Long-Term Effects of Losing a Spouse or Child in a Motor Vehicle Crash.
Source:
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987, Vol. 52, 218 - 231

Investigation

Public
Bereaved and controls, USA, 1983
Sample
Non-probability purposive sample
Respondents
N = 78
Non Response
0
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

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:
Bradburn Affects Balance
Page in publication:
222
Full text:
Self report on open question:

Describe how your life is going, in general at the present time

Responses rated negative/ positive taking into account intensity of positive and negative mentions as well as the ratio of positive to negative mentions.
1  negative
2
3
4
5  positive
Classification:
O-V-c-oq-n-5-a
Author's label:
General State of Life
Page in publication:
222
Error estimates:
interrater reliability .77
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 5 On range 0-10
Mean:
2.08 -
SD:
- -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Loss of spouse in traffic accident