Michalos (1983): study CA Ontario 1982

Publication

Author(s):

Michalos, A.C.

Title:

Satisfaction and Happiness in a Rural Northern Resource Community.

Source:

Social Indicators Research, 1983, Vol. 13, 225 - 252

Investigation

Public:

18+ aged, general public, rural community, North Ontario, Canada, 1982

Sample:

Respondents:

N = 598

Non Response:

8%

Assessment:

Questionnaire: paper
In most cases filled out by subjects themselves

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:

Selfreport on single question:

How do you feel about your life as a whole right now.....?
7  delightful
6  very satisfying
5  satisfying
4  mixed
3  dissatisfying
2  very dissatisfying
1  terrible
No opinion

Name: Andrews & Withey's  `Delighted-Terrible Scale' ( modified version)

Classification:

O-DT-c-sq-v-7-aa

Author's label:

Life satisfaction

Observed distribution

Frequencies

1: 0%,   2: 0%,   3: 0%,   4: 0%,   5: 0%,   6: 0%,   7: 0%

Summary Statistics

On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10

Mean:

5.09 6.81

Full text:

Selfreport on single question:

Considering your life as a whole, would you describe it as....:?
1  very unhappy
2
|   unhappy
3
4  an even mixture of unhappiness and happiness
5
|  happy
6
7  very happy
no opinion

Classification:

O-HL-u-sq-v-7-a

Author's label:

General Happiness

Observed distribution

Frequencies

1: 0%,   2: 0%,   3: 0%,   4: 0%,   5: 0%,   6: 0%,   7: 0%

Summary Statistics

On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10

Mean:

5.28 7.13

Full text:

Selfreport on single question:

"Some people have certain goals or aspirations for various aspects of their lives. They aim for a particular sort of home, income, family lifestyle, and so on. Compared to your general aims and goals, how would you say that your life measures up to it.....?"
1  not at all
2   fairly
3   poorly
4   half as well as your goal
5   fairly
6   well
7  matches your goal

Classification:

C-RG-u-sq-v-7-b

Author's label:

Goal achievement

Observed distribution

Frequencies

1: 0%,   2: 0%,   3: 0%,   4: 0%,   5: 0%,   6: 0%,   7: 0%

Summary Statistics

On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10

Mean:

5.24 7.07

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Satisfaction with health Satisfaction with health Satisfaction with financial security Satisfaction with financial security Satisfaction with family relations Satisfaction with family-life Satisfaction with paid employment Satisfaction with work-as-a-whole Satisfaction with friendships Satisfaction with friends Satisfaction with housing Satisfaction with housing Satisfaction with area you live in Attitudes to local environment Satisfaction with recreation activity Satisfaction with leisure activities Satisfaction with religion Satisfaction with religion Self esteem Evaluation of self-as-a-whole Satisfaction with transportation Satisfaction with local transport Satisfaction with government services Attitudes to state-services Male sex Sex (male vs female) Chronological age Current age (in years) Formal education Level of school-education Language spoken Ethnic status in Canada Work status Current employment status Marital status Married state (compared to non-married states) Time in area Time since last move Joint effect Socio-demographic + life-appraisals Life compared with best previous experience Life compared with earlier situation Life compared with that of average folks Life compared with situation of others Goal achievement O-DT by C-RG
O-HL by C-RG Five year expectation Current hope Joint comparisons Summed comparisons