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Testing Happiness Hypothesis among the Elderly
A growing strand of economic literature focuses its attention on the relationship between happiness levels and various individual and socioeconomic variables. Recent studies analyze the impact of income, marital status, health, educational levels and other socioeconomic variables on satisfaction with life. A large majority of these studies limit their attention to industrialized countries. In our work, we analyze data for a group of individuals living in a Latin American country (Uruguay) with age 60 or older. We use a rich data set that allows us to test different happiness hypothesis employing four methodological approaches. We find that older people in Uruguay have a tendency to report themselves happy when they are married, when they have higher standards of health and when they earn higher levels of income or they feel their income is suitable for their standard of living. On the contrary, they report lower levels of happiness when they live alone and when their nutrition is insufficient. We also find that education has no clear impact on happiness. We think that our study is an initial contribution to the study of those factors that can explain happiness among the elderly in Latin American countries. Future work will focus on enhanced empirical analysis and in extending our study to other countries.
Testing Happiness Hypotheses Among the Elderly
Cuadernos de Economía, 2008
We use a rich data set that allows us to test different happiness hypotheses employing four methodological approaches. We find that older people in Uruguay have a tendency to report themselves happy when they are married, when they have higher standards of health and when they earn higher levels of income or they consider that their income is suitable for their standard of living. On the contrary, they report lower levels of happiness when they live alone and when their nutrition is insufficient. We also find that education has no clear impact on happiness. We think that our study is a contribution to the study of those factors that can explain happiness among the elderly in Latin American countries. Future work will focus on enhanced empirical analysis and in extending our study to other countries.
Subjective Well-Being among the Elderly in the Southern Cone: Health, Income and Family
2009
The happiness literature provides evidence on various factors, other than money, that do seem to contribute to individual happiness. As one explores the produced “happiness economics” literature, it is direct to understand the difficulty to find proper information on developing countries reality. In our analysis we investigate the relationship between income, family composition, health and religion over subjective wellbeing in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay). Specifically, we analyze data from the SABE survey a study conducted among people who are 60 years old or over, in various Latin American countries. Main obtained results show a positive correlation between higher levels of income and health, being married and the frequent religion practice and higher levels of subjective well-being. On the contrary, malnutrition has a negative impact on happiness indicators. In order to add robustness to our results and to deal with endogeneity issues, this paper uses differen...
Helping to Unravel the Dynamics of Happiness among the Elderly in the Southern Cone
2010
La literatura económica sobre "felicidad" provee evidencia de que, además del dinero, parecen existir otros factores que contribuyen a la felicidad individual. Cuando se explora la literatura socioeconómica sobre felicidad, se entiende fácilmente la dificultad de encontrar información apropiada sobre la realidad de países en vías de desarrollo. En nuestro análisis investigamos la relación entre el bienestar subjetivo y el ingreso, la estructura familiar, la salud y la religión en el Cono Sur de América Latina (Argentina, Chile y Uruguay). Específicamente, analizamos datos provenientes de la encuesta SABE -un estudio desarrollado entre las personas que tiene al menos 60 años de edad en varios países de América Latina. Los resultados principales que obtuvimos muestran una correlación positiva entre el bienestar subjetivo que declaran las personas y su nivel de ingreso, su salud, su estado marital (estar casado/a) y la práctica frecuente de la religión. Por el contrario, la mala nutrición se relaciona negativamente con los indicadores de felicidad. Con el fin de buscar resultados estadísticamente robustos, usamos diferentes indicadores de felicidad y modelos de estimación alternativos. América Latina -y en particular el Cono Sur-ha experimentado un proceso de envejecimiento de la población desde mediados de los años '50: esta realidad hace extremadamente útil intentar comprender los posibles factores detrás del bienestar subjetivo que declaran tener las personas mayores. Esta investigación y sus resultados sugieren líneas a explorar en este sentido.
Is Happiness Linked to Subjective Life Expectancy? A Study of Chilean Senior Citizens
Mathematics
The main goal of this research is to determine the link between happiness and individual subjective life expectancy (SLE) among Chilean senior citizens. We use data from the 2015 edition of the Chilean Social Protection Survey. Our sample consists of 1298 seniors: 700 aged 65–74, 421 aged 75–84, and 177 aged 85 and older. We provide a novel methodological approach that allows us to measure the relative contribution of happiness to SLE, by combining the Shapley–Owen–Shorrocks decomposition with contrasts of marginal linear predictions of the equality of the means by groups. Results reveal that happiness is the most important determinant of seniors’ SLE, and the effect is stronger the older the people are. Addressing varying levels of happiness is important because both happiness and unhappiness have a significant impact. In an ageing population, social agents should consider that these variables (happiness and SLE) are related to engagement in healthy lifestyles. If prevention progra...
Social Indicators Research, 2015
The interest to study the well-being in older adults notices the process of population aging that exists in different parts of the world, especially in developed and emerging countries such as Chile. In this research we explore the differences between gender in determinants of affective component of well-being, i.e. happiness in older adults, both women and men, living in rural areas in the Maule Region, Chile. A subjective happiness scale was applied across female (N = 241) and male (N = 144) older adults (age range 60-90). Statistical analysis included comparison of means for independent samples and multiple comparison tests. Ordered logit models were computed to examine the determinants of happiness. We find that satisfaction related to food, perception of health and functionality are significantly linked to individual happiness within both gender groups. An influential predictor of female's happiness is the frequency of having dinner with companion. An increased quantity of goods at home implied more happiness. A positive coefficient for age and a negative coefficient for age-squared seem to support the idea of an inverted U-shaped relationship between age and happiness in the female group with an inflection point at the age of 77.5 years. This research suggests that the design and formulation of public policies on rural older adults should consider subjective welfare
Happiness and health and food-related variables: Evidence for different age groups in Chile
Suma Psicológica, 2015
This study aimed to identify the factors determining the happiness in young and middleaged adults in Chile, including health and food-related factors, and their relationships between them. To achieve this objective, a survey was conducted on a total of 1163 people (from 20 to 65 years old), proportionally distributed in the cities over 100000 inhabitants in the central area of Chile. The main scales used were: Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), Health Related Quality of Life Index (HRQoL), and Satisfaction with Food-related Life (SWFL). In this study, the logistic ordinal regression models were estimated. The main finding was that people have more unhealthy days, poorer perception of their health, and are less satisfied with their food-related life, and are less happy in both age groups. Therefore, health-related factors and SWFL are strong predictors of happiness.
Money, Age and Happiness: Association of Subjective Wellbeing with Socio-Demographic Variables
The relationship between happiness and socio-demographic variables (age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational level) was examinated, this with a Latin American sample and its association with Subjective wellbeing given the controversial empirical evidence of their relationship. We surveyed a total of 520 people (300 women and 220 men) between the ages of 18 and 29 with an average of 21.26 years and a standard deviation of 2.47 to answer the subjective happiness scale. The happiness variable was categorized, and the subjects were reorganized in happy and non-happy groups. From the use of main component analysis and logistic regressions, the main results show that variables which best characterize the happiness levels are age and socioeconomic status. Specifically, the results indicate that higher age within the sample, predicts lower levels of happiness. On the other side, at a higher socioeconomic level, people are happier. In addition, there are no differences between genders.
Are healthier people happier? Evidence from Chile and Uruguay
Development in Practice, 2013
Based on data from the Latinobarómetro, this study analyses data on happiness to establish the probability that an individual is happy. The focus is put on self-reported health status as a key aspect in increasing levels of happiness. The probability of being happy is econometrically estimated by probit models for each country. Results show that the main relationship is between happiness and health status. Whether this is a causal effect or only a correlation, is not clear. This issue is explored by using propensity score matching methods. These show that good health status increases the probability of being satisfied with life by between 13 and 17 percentage points. In line with the literature, we find that the relationship between age and happiness is U-shaped, with happiness at its lowest point at the age of 48.2.
Global Journal of Health Science, 2020
This cross-sectional study aims to investigate and compare factors associated with happiness, subjective well-being, and life satisfaction in elderly people aged 80 and older in two different regions of Brazil. Face-to-face interviews were performed with 417 Brazilians aged 80 years and older, 179 from Northeast and 238 from the Southeast. The prevalence of feelings of happiness, subjective well-being, and overall life satisfaction were very similar for the older elderly in both regions. While in the Southeast, the predictive factors were literacy, higher income, and better economic situation, with many elderly people living alone; in the Northeast, the affective ties with more people seem to predominate, as well as having a more frequent and diverse support network, and practice leisure activities. Our findings support a view of social bonds and family support enables the older elderly people to feel more satisfied with life, performing activities that bring happiness and subjectiv...