print

Correlational findings

Study Thoits & Hewitt (2001): study US 1986

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

Correlate

Authors's Label
Happiness 3 years ago
Our Classification
Distribution
T1: M = 2,13, Sd = 0,95. T2: M = 1,84, SD = 0,63
Note that scales are not identical!
Operationalization
Selfreport of happiness at:

T1: My life could be happier than it is now
1  strongly agree
2  somewhat agree
3  somewhat disagree
4  stronly disagree

T2: Taking 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

T1-T2 difference 3 years

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa b = +.04 p < .000 T1 happiness (4-step) by T2 happiness (3-step)
B controled for T2 social integration