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Studies

Snider (1980): study CA 1976

Publication

Author(s):
Snider, E.L.
Title:
Explaining Life Satisfaction: It's the Elderly's Attitudes that Count.
Source:
Social Science Quarterly, 1980, Vol. 61, 253 - 263

Investigation

Public
65+ aged, retired whites, Edmonton, Canada, 1976
Sample
Probability systematic sample
Respondents
N = 428
Non Response
10%
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

"On the whole, how satisfied would you say you are with your life.....?"
1  not very satisfied
2  fairly satisfied
3  very satisfied
Classification:
O-SLu-g-sq-v-3-a
Author's label:
Life satisfaction
Error estimates:
Validity: Zero-order correlations with related phenomena at 01 level of significance, including 'accomplishing life goals' (+.27), 'to relive life exactly' (+.13), 'life happiness compared with others with the same age' (+.27), 'present happiness' (+.54)
Observed distribution
Frequencies
1: 7.2%,   2: 47.4%,   3: 45.1%   (total 99.7%)
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 3 On range 0-10
Mean:
2.40 6.90
SD:
0.60 -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Chronic health problem Self-perceived chronic illness Self-rated health Global health self-rating Functional health Current functional health Number of kin in city Contacts with relatives
Social contacts in vicinity
Number of friends in city Social contacts in vicinity Formal organization participation Membership of voluntary organizations Sufficiency kin and non-familial contact Satisfaction with amount of personal contacts Activity sufficiency Perceived over/under activity
Fit between actual and desired time-use
Frequency meetings attendance Attendance to meetings Frequency kin contact Contacts with relatives Frequency friend contact Current contacts with friends Monthly income Current income level (unspecified) Socio-economic index Social prestige of occupation Educational level Level of school-education Income sufficiency Subjective poverty Adjustment to retirement Attitudes to retirement Age Age difference among elderly Male sex Sexe: male (vs female) Marital status Married state (compared to non-married states) Percieved age-graded comparison Subjective age (how old one feels) Lonely Feeling lonely (vs not) Accomplishing lifegoals O-SL by C-RG Willingness to relive life exactly the same Wished other life Life happiness compared to others on the same age Perceived difference with own happiness Present happiness O-HL by O-SL Joint effects Adjustment to old-age inventories