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Studies

Thoits & Hewitt (2001): study US 1986

Publication

Author(s):
Thoits, P.A.; Hewitt, L.N.
Title:
Volunteer Work and Well-Being.
Source:
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2001, Vol. 42, 115 - 131

Investigation

Public
25+ aged, general public, USA, 1986-1989
Sample
Probability multi-stage cluster sample
Respondents
N = 2867
Non Response
T1: 33% T2: 21%
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
At home

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

'How satisfied are you with your life in general?"
1  completely unsatisfied
2  very unsatisfied
3  unsatisfied
4  unsatisfied nor satisfied
5  satisfied
6  very satisfied
7  completely satisfied
Classification:
O-SLu-g-sq-v-7-a
Author's label:
T2 life satisfaction
Remarks:
Assessed at T2 only
Page in publication:
120
Error estimates:
Correlation with simmilar question at T2: r=+39 (p< .01)
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:
5.36 -
SD:
1.48 -
Full text:
Self report on single question:

Taken all together, how would you say things are these days?   Would you say that you are....?
3  very happy
2  pretty happy
1  not too happy
Classification:
O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa
Author's label:
T2 Happiness
Remarks:
Assessed at T2 only. Mean and SD provided by author
Error estimates:
Correlation with response to T1 question ' My life could be happier than it is now' r= .27 (p<.01)
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 3 On range 0-10
Mean:
2.16 -
SD:
0.63 -
Full text:
Self report on single question:

My life could be happier than it is now
1  strongly agree
2  somewhat agree
3  somewhat disagree
4  strongly disagree
Classification:
O-HL-u-sq-v-4-i
Author's label:
T1 happiness
Remarks:
Assessed at T1. Mean and SD provided by author
Error estimates:
Correlation with response to T2 question 'Taken all together, how happy would you say you are? r= .27 (p<.01)
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 4 On range 0-10
Mean:
2.13 -
SD:
0.95 -
Full text:
Self report on single question:

How satisfied are you with your life in general?
5  completely satisfied
4  very satisfied
3  somewhat satisfied
2  not very satisfied
1  not at all satisfied
Classification:
O-SLu-g-sq-v-5-f
Author's label:
T1 life satisfaction
Remarks:
Assessed at T1 only
Error estimates:
Correlation with simmilar question at T2: r=+.39 (p<.01)
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 5 On range 0-10
Mean:
3.75 -
SD:
0.94 -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Hours of volunteer work Voluntary work Church participation Participation in church
Attendance to meetings
Organizational participation Attendance to meetings Age Current age (in years) White Ethnic status in the USA Education Current employment status Family income Household income Employed Current employment status Children at home Children in the household
Living with children
Marriage Married state (compared to non-married states) Happiness 3 years ago Past happiness ( 1 to 10 years ago) Life satisfaction 3 years ago Past happiness ( 1 to 10 years ago)