Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T21:31:14.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social and psychological correlates of happiness in 17 European countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Anne M Doherty  and
Brendan D Kelly
Anne M Doherty*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, Co Meath, Ireland
Brendan D Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 62/63 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland
*
*Correspondence E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives:

Happiness has been associated with a number of individual and societal factors, but much of the individual-to-individual variation in happiness remains unexplained. The purpose of this paper is to examine a broad range of social and psychological correlates of self-rated happiness in Europe.

Methods:

We used data from the European Social Survey to determine levels of happiness in individuals (n = 30,816) from 17 European countries and to identify associations between happiness and age, gender, family relationships, satisfaction with income, employment status, community trust, satisfaction with health, satisfaction with democracy, religious belief and country of residence.

Results:

Self-rated happiness varies significantly between European countries, with individuals in Denmark reporting the highest levels of happiness and individuals in Bulgaria reporting the lowest levels. On multi-variable analysis, happiness is positively correlated with younger age, satisfaction with household income, being employed, high community trust and religious belief. Overall, these factors account for 22.5% of the individual-to-individual variation in happiness in Europe.

Conclusions:

For the individual, this study highlights possible associations between happiness and the individual's attitudes towards various aspects of their personal, household and societal circumstances. For social policy-makers, this study suggests the potential usefulness of civic measures to increase community trust and social capital. Further studies of the inter-relationships between individual and community-level variables would assist in further explaining the variance in happiness between individuals and countries.

Keywords

HappinessMental healthPsychologyPsychiatryEurope
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 130 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.World Health Organisation. Constitution of the World Health Organization. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1948.Google Scholar
2.McMahon, D.The Pursuit of Happiness: A History from the Greeks to the Present. London: Allen Lane, 2006.Google Scholar
3.Schoch, R.The Secrets of Happiness: Three Thousand years of Searching for the Good Life. London: Profile Books, 2006.Google Scholar
4.Haidt, J.The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science. New York: Basic Books, 2006.Google Scholar
5.Easterlin, R.Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. Econ J 2001; 111: 465–84.Google Scholar
6.Blanchflower, DG, Oswald, AJ.Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle? Soc Sci Med 2008; 66:1733–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Layard, R.Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. London: Allen Lane, 2005.Google Scholar
8.Lykken, D.Happiness New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1999.Google Scholar
9.Plomin, R, DeFries, J.McClearn, G, McGuffin, P.Behavioural Genetics. New York: Worth Publishers, 2001.Google Scholar
10.Amato, P, Loomis, L, Booth, A.Parental divorce, marital conflict and offspring well-being during early adulthood. Social Forces 1995; 73: 895–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Moreira-Almeida, A, Neto, FL, Koenig, HG.Religiousness and mental health: a review. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria 2006; 28: 242–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Jowell, R.Central Co-ordinating Team. European Social Survey 2006/2007. Technical Report. London: Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University, 2007.Google Scholar
13.Brereton, F, Clinch, JP, Ferreira, S.Happiness, geography and the environment. Ecol Econ 2008; 65: 386–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Deci, EL, Ryan, RM.Hedonia, eudaemonia and well-being: an introduction. J Happiness Studies 2008; 9:1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Ryff, CD, Singer, BH.Know thyself and become what you are: a eudaemonic approach to psychological well-being. J Happiness Studies 2008; 9: 13–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Kahneman, D, Diener, E, Schwarz, N. (eds). Well-Being: The Foundation of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999.Google Scholar
17.Peiró, A.Happiness, satisfaction and socio-economic conditions: some international evidence. J Socio-Econ 2006; 35: 348–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Putnam, R, Feldstein, L, Cohen, D.Better Together: Restoring the American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.Google Scholar
19.Von dem Knesebeck, O, Dragano, N, Siegrist, J. Social capital and self-rated health inGoogle Scholar
21. European countries. GMS Psychosocial Medicine 2005; Doc02. (available at: www.egms.de/en/journals/psm/2005-2/psm000011.shtml).Google Scholar