Subjective Well-Being Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience (2013) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 Subjective Well-Being and Policy
5 Subjective Well-Being and Policy
Pages 87-102
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 87... ...
An overarching question is whether selfreported ExWB metrics add analytic content above and beyond the existing dashboard of statistics -- e.g., those based on income and health data -- more traditionally used to measure well-being. In other words, to what extent do results of subjective well-being (SWB)
|
From page 88... ...
Diener and Chan (2010) argue that people's emotional states causally affect their health and longevity, concluding that the data are compelling, though "not beyond a reasonable doubt." From longitudinal prospective studies to experimental mood inductions where physiological outcomes are assessed, the data have shown strong associations indicating that high positive and low negative emotions are likely beneficial to health and longevity.
|
From page 89... ...
that SWB measures should be viewed as one set in the much broader array of indicators through which populations are monitored and policies informed.3 Statistics capturing trends in a population's health, poverty and income distribution, home production, and environmental degradation are all crucial, as are SWB measures, 2 Child custody and child care discussions raise the issue of whether the SWB of children should be tracked, an issue not addressed in this report. Pediatric SWB measures are being developed as part of the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System, which is designed to produce numeric values indicating patients' state of well-being or suffering and their ability or lack of ability to function.
|
From page 90... ...
They conclude that such revelations cast doubt on using measures of ExWB to provide an overall assessment of human well-being: "While it makes sense for SWB measures to paint a different picture than GDP, it is 4 Inreality, the national income accounts and the labor market statistics are also multi dimensional. Neither yields a single measure that fully summarizes their rich detail.
|
From page 91... ...
The link between positive emotions and health appears stronger than the link between negative emotions and health, but we do not know the extent to which high positive ExWB creates better health or the extent to which better health creates conditions for high positive ExWB. Clearly, both can be taking place.
|
From page 92... ...
work on the hedonic well-being of the unemployed shows that the longer the sadness associated with failed job searches is prolonged, the more likely they are to quit searching for jobs, ultimately affecting their global life satisfaction evaluations as well. Momentary feelings and experience drive some health behaviors -- eating and smoking habits, for instance -- while global memories drive other kinds of behavior, such as economic decision making.
|
From page 93... ...
While people with children tend to evaluate that aspect of their lives as highly important and meaningful, time spent with small children is often reported as the least enjoyable time of the day in time-use surveys (as any busy parent who has had to drop all else at work to take a sick child to the doctor can attest, although the experience hardly results in less love for the child) .6 Understanding this difference -- for example, that child rearing can cause quite intensive stress, even in the context of deep affection and it being a desirable aspect of life -- could help policy makers better understand the constraints faced by those individuals or cohorts without the means to cope with that stress, among other things.
|
From page 94... ...
The evidence suggests that life satisfaction correlates more strongly with external factors such as income and economic region, whereas ExWB measures correlate more strongly with personality. This difference raises questions about how people adapt (discussed in Chapter 4)
|
From page 95... ...
As emphasized throughout this report, the panel believes the most compelling case for SWB data is its potential to identify populations that are suffering and to help in the study of the sources of that suffering. On the positive-emotion side, there is promising research indicating that health benefits are associated with certain emotional states -- but the policy application is less obvious.
|
From page 96... ...
Richard Frank gave the panel a number of examples from the medical realm for which ExWB metrics are particularly well suited and provide added value.8 Self-reports of SWB are likely to add useful information in instances where medical interventions have a desired outcome that is something other than merely an increase in life expectancy, where reflections of successful treatment and support extend beyond signs and symptoms and into domains such as functioning and social integration, and where parties other than the patients are affected by treatment and symptoms (care givers, family members, and others)
|
From page 97... ...
. Terminally ill people often report high levels of purpose, which may translate into a higher reported life satisfaction than many would predict.
|
From page 98... ...
For evaluating policy changes in the delivery of benefits, simple end-of-day or global-yesterday measures may be adequate, although DRM and time-use assessments may be able to capture specific changes in ExWB while interacting with a child with special needs. It might also be possible to ascertain which activities that disability and attendance allowances support have particularly positive consequences for ExWB.
|
From page 99... ...
One policy issue such research would obviously inform is whether or not flexible labor market policies are associated with a lower level of positive ExWB in the population. Along these lines, there is a large literature on job satisfaction and the quality of working life, although much of this research has been done in conjunction with overall life satisfaction metrics.
|
From page 100... ...
. Data generated by surveys of neighborhood social capital, such as the American Housing Survey (conducted by the U.S.
|
From page 101... ...
Media and the general public have shown great interest, for example, in information about why some groups -- defined by various characteristics or by place -- seem happier than others. ONS has explicitly expressed, as part of its Measuring National Well-being Program, the goal of "an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics to help people understand
|
From page 102... ...
Constitution for the purpose of drawing political districts and also provides data used for all manner of federal programs -- is in its by-product of descriptive information about who Americans are as a society. In general, support of many of the U.S.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.