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Studies

Veenhoven (1984): study ZZ EU 9 1975

Publication

Author(s):
Veenhoven, R.
Title:
Conditions of Happiness.
Source:
Kluwer Academic, 1984 (reprint), Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Investigation

Public
15+ aged, general public, EU 9 member states, Western Europe, 1975
Sample
Probability area sample
Respondents
N = 12996
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Structured interview

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single questions

Six equivalent questions on overall happiness. (Slightly different items used in the various nations)
Scores transformed to common range 1 - 3, by recoding;

A "Generally speaking, how happy would you say you are;
   would you say you are...?
   3  very happy
   2  fairly happy
   1  not too happy

B Taken all things together, how would you say things are   these days; would you say you are ...?
   3  very happy
   2  fairly happy
   1  not too happy

C Taken all together, would you say you are.....?
   3  very happy
   2  quite happy
   1  not very happy
   1  not at all happy

D Taken all together how would you say things are these days; would you say you are ...?
   3  very happy
   2  pretty happy
   1  not too happy

E In general, how happy would you say you are...?
   3  very happy
   2  fairly happy
   1  not very happy

F How happy do you feel as you live now? Please choose one item from this card that is closest to your feeling
   3  very happy
   3  fairly happy
   2  neither happy nor unhappy
   1  fairly unhappy
   1  very unhappy
Classification:
O-HV-*-sq-vt-3-a
Author's label:
Happiness
Full text:
Self report on single question:

"...... satisfaction with life ......"
(various slightly different questions)

rated on different scale
Classification:
O-SLV-*-sq-vt-3-a
Author's label:
Life satisfaction

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Suicide rates Suicide in nation GNP per capita GDP per capita in nation (raw) Inflation Inflation in nation Unemployment Unemployment in nation Social security Social security in nation Income inequality Income inequality in nation Coercion by government Political freedom in nation Freedom of press Freedom of press in nation Liberal democracy Parliamentary democracy in nation Degree of 'interest democracy' Interest democracy (interest-groups) in nation Political protest Political violence in nation Degree of internal war Civil war in nation Civic disorders Civil war in nation