Ormel (1980): study NL 1970

Publication

Author(s):

Ormel, J.

Title:

Moeite met Leven of een Moeilijk Leven. (Difficulties with Living or a Difficult Life).

Source:

Konstapel, 1980, Groningen, Netherlands

Investigation

Public

15-60 aged, general public, followed 12 month, The Netherlands, 1967-77

Sample

Respondents

N = 296

Non Response

18%

Assessment

Interview: face-to-face
Structured interview

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:

Self report on 8 questions:

" In the past few weeks did you ever feel.....?"
A  Pleased about having accomplished something
B  Upset because someone criticized you
C  Proud because someone complimented you one something you had done
D That things are going your way
E So restless you couldn't sit long in a chair
F  Unhappy or depressed
G  Particularly interested in something
H  Lonely and remote from other people

Response options:
0  not at all
1  sometimes
2  often
3  very often

Scoring: a = 0..........d  = 3

Summation:
Positive Affect Score (PAS): summed scores on A, C, D, G
Negative Affect Score (NAS): summed scores on B, E, F, H
Affect Balance Score (ABS): PAS minus NAS

Name: Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale (shortened variant)

Classification:

A-BB-cw-mq-v-4-c

Author's label:

Affect balance

Error estimates:

T2: _ =.59, T3: _=.63

Observed distribution

Summary Statistics

On original range 0 - 12 On range 0-10

Mean:

22.90 6.50

SD:

- -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Male sex Sex: male (vs female) Level of education Earlier educational level
Level of school-education Income Earlier level of income
Current income level (unspecified) Urban living Rural dwelling (vs urban)
Earlier rural residence Community size Community size
Earlier community size Unemployment Earlier unemployment
Current employment status Living alone Living alone or not
Lived alone earlier Complaints about mental health Earlier mental health
Number of mental complaints Positive affects Recent happiness (< 1 year ago) Past happiness Past happiness ( 1 to 10 years ago) Change in happiness Change happiness over life time Change in burdens in the last year (lowering) Change in burden of life events Neuroticism Earlier psycho-somatic complaints
Earlier neuroticism Self esteem Earlier self-confidence
Earlier self-image Intimacy between partners Characteristics of earlier marriage-relationship(s)
Intimacy with spouse Adequacy of coping Earlier coping
Coping-success rating by others Interpreting symptoms as illness Earlier health-behavior
Conceptions of illness and healing
Interprets symptoms as illness Taking action on symptoms of illness Current medical consumption Readiness to consult a doctor Trust in medical professionals
Use of medical services Denial of illness Denial of illness
Earlier denial of illness Traumatic childhood experiences Burden of earlier life-events Unhappy childhood In specific periods in the past Life-Quality Burden of earlier life-events
Summed life-events: weighted in context
Effects of individual happiness Earlier community size Earlier residence
Earlier community size Dissatisfaction with society Earlier anomy
Current anomy
Satisfaction with moral climate Internal control Earlier inner-control
Inner locus of control Tolerance degree Earlier openness
Open Closed attitude Response tendencies
Earlier openness
Open Inclination to answer positively Response tendencies
Earlier tendency to agree
Approval seeking Negative affects Earlier mood-pattern
Later mood-pattern Psycho-social burdens Life-stress inventories
Actual earlier problems (observed by follow-up)
Amount of problems perceived Complaints about physical health Earlier physical health
Later physical health
Number of health complaints Received social support Earlier support received
Amount of current support received Chronological age Current age (in years)
Recent happiness (< 1 year ago)