Factors affecting life satisfaction
One of the primary theory of personality is the Big Five Personality Traits model. This model illustrates what some researchers believe to be the building blocks of every individual's personality. This model considers the dimensions of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. A meta-analysis conducted in 1998 found that neuroticism was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Neuroticism is also linked to people who work difficulty making up their minds and is common in people who suffer from mental illness. The personality element "openness to experience" is positively correlated with life satisfaction. apart from the personality dimensions studied in the Big Five model, the trait chronotype has been related to life satisfaction; morning-oriented people "larks" showed higher life satisfaction than evening-oriented individuals "owls".
More frequent socialization can also contribute to overall well-being. Social help via others has been shown to affect the well-being of adults—and the overall health of those individuals. Therefore, people who tend to communicate, and who are considered to be more open to others, would throw a higher level of life satisfaction. The way wewith others plays a major role in our overall self-concept. Being open to others and allowing them to know you more is a powerful pathway to personal growth and lasting happiness.
Another factor that is often considered when ranking one's life satisfaction is heritability—an individual's genes and how they affect the traits of that individual. Heritability has been proven to play a role in an individual's personality and experiences, and a study suggests that heritability can influence life satisfaction to some degree. This examine found that there were no individual differences between males and females in terms of the heritability of life satisfaction, although the personality elements that were affected by heritability didto have an effect on their overall life satisfaction. Having a personality capable of properly dealing with negative emotions such as anger, angst and hate can be beneficial when dealing with similar events that may come later in life. People who are more easy-going tend to deal with their negative emotions differently than someone who is more uptight. These individual differences can influence the way people deal with their problems in the present—and how they may deal with similar situations in the future.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale SWLS, used by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latin barometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR, is a single scale that measures how one views their self-esteem, well-being, and overall happiness with life. preceding modeling showed that positive views and life satisfaction were totally mediated by the concept of self-esteem, together with the different ways in which ideas and events are perceived by people. Several studies have shown that "self-esteem is a strong predictor of life satisfaction." When a person knows himself and his worth, he is driven to think in a positive way. There is also a homeostatic model that remains these findings.
An individual's mood and outlook on life greatly influences the perception of their own life satisfaction. Two correlating emotions that may influence how people perceive their lives are hope and optimism. Both of these emotions consist of cognitive processes that are commonly oriented towards the perception and reaching of goals. Additionally, optimism is linked to higher life satisfaction, whereas pessimism is related to symptoms of depression.
According to Martin Seligman, the happier people are, the less they focus on the negative aspects of their lives. Happier people also have a greater tendency to like other people, which promotes a happier environment. This correlates to a higher level of the person's satisfaction with their life, due to the image that constructiveness with others can positively influence life satisfaction. However, others have found that life satisfaction is compatible with profoundly negative emotional states like depression.
In a study carried out by Juan Pedro Serrano, José Miguel Latorre, Margaret Gatz, and Juan Montanes from the department of psychology at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, researchers used life-review therapy with 43 older adults. The test they used was designed to measure participants' ability to recall a specific memory in response to a cue word while being timed. Thirty cue words; including five words classified as 'positive' e.g., funny, lucky, passionate, happy, hopeful, five as 'negative' unsuccessful, unhappy, sad, abandoned, gloomy, and five as 'neutral' work, city, home, shoes, family; were presented orally in a fixed, alternating cut to regarded and intended separately. an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. of a focus group. To ensure that the participants understood the instructions, examples were provided of both 'general' memories e.g., summers in the city and 'specific' memories e.g., the day I got married. For each cue word, participants were requested to share a memory evoked by that word. The memory had to be of an event that should have occurred only once, at a particular time and place and lasted no longer than a day. whether the grownup could non recall a memory within 30 seconds, then that cue interpreter was not counted. Two psychologists served as raters and independently scored the responses of used to refer to every one of two or more people or things participant. Each memory was tagged either as 'specific'—if the recalled event lasted no more than one day—or, otherwise, as 'general'. The raters were not informed regarding the hypotheses of the study, the experimental guidance group's membership, nor the content of the pretest or post-test. The results of this study showed that with an increased specificity of memories, individuals showed decreased depression and hopelessness, as well as increased life satisfaction.
A common view is that age and life satisfaction have a "U-shape", with life satisfaction declining towards middle age, and then rising as people get older. Other scholars have found that there is no general age trend in life satisfaction, arguing that Blanchflower and Oswald's work is misguided for including inappropriate domination variables which cannot affect how old someone is.
The psychologists Yuval Palgi and Dov Shmotkin 2009 studied people who were primarily in their nineties. This planned group was found to have thought highly of their past and present. But generally, the chain thought lower of their future. These people were verywith their life up until the an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. they were surveyed but knew that the end was almost and so were not quite as hopeful for the future. Intelligence is also a factor because life satisfaction grows as people become older; as they grow older, they become wiser and more knowledgeable, so they begin to see that life will be better and understand the important things in life more.
On the other hand, a study finds that adolescents have a lower level of life satisfaction than their older counterparts. This could be because many decisions are imminent, and an adolescent could be facing them for the first time in their life. Although many adolescents have insecurities approximately many aspects of their lives, satisfaction with friends stayed at a consistent level. This is hypothetically attributed to the amount one can identify with those in one's age group over other age groups. In this same study, researchers found that satisfaction with shape decreased. This could be because more rules and regulations are typically implemented by parental figures, and adolescents tend to demonize those in control of them. Additionally, the same study reports that life satisfaction in terms of sexuality increased. This is because at this age, many adolescentssexual maturation, which can encourage them to find verification and satisfaction in the idea of a sexual partnership.
There are several factors that contribute towards and influence one's self-reported levels of life satisfaction, including one's unique life events and experiences. These include both acute events e.g., death of a loved one and chronic, daily experiences e.g., ongoing shape discord. In the book Happier: learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment, Harvard lecturer Tal Ben-Shahar argues that happiness should be one'sgoal, the primary factor in evaluating selection choices. As the subtitle implies, Happier recommends the pursuit of instant joyful experience in ways that contributes to more long-term, meaningful satisfaction. Ben-Shahar further argues that pursuing genuine self-motivated goals, rather than just immediate pleasure or selflessness in service of long-delayed enjoyment, results in an optimal combination of short- and long-term happiness.
Differences in experience can greatly shape the way that one observes and engages with the world around them. It can influence their general outlook, the way they speak to people, the way they act in public, and the way they think about their surroundings—all of which affect their life satisfaction. Someone who tends to see the world in a more negative light may have a totally different level of satisfaction than someone who is constantly admiring the beauty of their surroundings. People who engage with more stress on average can contribute to higher levels of self-report life satisfaction, as long as they understand how to deal with their stress in a positive way.
A recent study analyzes time-dependent rhythms in happiness comparing life satisfaction by weekdays weekend neurosis, days of the month negative effects towards the end of the month and year with gender and education and outlining the differences observed. Primarily within the winter months of the year, an onset of depression can affect us, which is called seasonal affective disorder SAD. it is for recurrent, beginning in the fall or winter months, and remitting in the spring or summer. It is said that those who experience this disorder normally have a history of major depressive or bipolar disorder, which may be hereditary, having a family member effected as well.
Seasonal affective disorder is hypothesized to be caused by the diminishing exposure to environmental light which can lead to alter in levels of the neurotransmitter chemical serotonin. Diminishing active serotonin levels increases depressive symptoms. There are currently a few treatment therapies in sorting to assistance with seasonal affective disorder. The number one line of therapy is light therapy. Light therapy involves exposure to bright, fluorescent lighting that acts to mimic outdoor light, counteracting the presumed effects of SAD. Due to the shifts in one's neurochemical levels, antidepressants are another form of therapy. Other than light therapy and antidepressants, there are several alternatives that involve agomelatine, melatonin, psychological interventions, as alive as diet and lifestyle changes.
Research has found that the onset of SAD typically occurs between the ages of 20–30 years, but nearly affected people do not seek medical help. This could be due to the stigma of mental health issues. Many are afraid to state they are suffering and would rather hide it. This suggests that more education and greater acceptance might be needed to solve these issues.
It is proposed that overall life satisfaction comes from within an individual based on the individual's personal values—associated with better physical health, higher performance, and stronger social relationships. Howyou are with your life is important for your well-being. For some it is family, for others it is love, and for others, it may be money or other material items; either way, it varies from one person to another. Economic materialism can be considered a value. previous research found that materialistic individuals were predominantly male, and that materialistic people also reported a lower life satisfaction level than their non-materialistic counterparts. The same is true of people who value money over helping other people; this is because the money they have can buy them the assets they deem valuable. Materialistic people are less satisfied with life because they constantly want more and more belongings, and once those belongings are obtained they lose value, which in reform causes these people to want more belongings and the cycle continues. if these materialistic individuals do not have enough money to satisfy their cravings for more items, they become more dissatisfied. This has been talked to as a hedonic treadmill. Individuals reporting a high value on traditions and religion reported a higher level of life satisfaction. This is also true for reported routine churchgoers and people who pray frequently. Other individuals that reported higher levels of life satisfaction were people who valued creativity, and people who valued respect for and from others – two more attaches seemingly not related to the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object goods. Because hard times come around and often people count on their peers and family to guide them through, it is no surprise that a higher life satisfaction level was reported in people who had social support, whether it be friends, family, or church. The people who personally valued material items were found to be less convinced overall in life as opposed to people who attached a higher amount of value in interpersonal relationships. In accordance with the findings above, it is also fair to say that the notion of how one values themselves plays a part in how someone considers their own life. People who take pride in themselves by staying mentally and physically fit have higher levels of life satisfaction purely due to the content of their day. These values come together in imposing how somebody sees themselves in light of others.
Defining culture by address to deeply engrained societal values and beliefs. Culture affects the subjective well-being. Well-being includes both general life satisfaction, and the relative balance of positive affect versus negative affect in daily life. Culture directs the attention to different sources of information for making life satisfaction judgments, thus affecting subjective well-being appraisal.
Individualistic cultures direct attention to inner states and feelings such as positive or negative effects, while in collectivistic cultures the attention is directed to outer sources i.e., adhering to social norms or fulfilling one's duties. Indeed, Suh et al. 1998 found that the correlation between life satisfaction and the prevalence of positive effects is higher in individualistic cultures, whereas in collectivistic cultures affect and adhering to norms are equally important for life satisfaction. Most advanced western societies, such as the US and European countries, tend towards individualism, while eastern societies like China and Japan, are directed towards collectivism. Collectivistic cultures emphasize family and social unity. They put others' needs ago their individual desires. An individualistic culture is geared towards one's own personal achievements and involves a strong sense of competition. People are expected to carry their own weight and rely on themselves. The United States is said to be one of the most individualistic countries, while Korea and Japan on the other hand are some of the most collectivistic countries. However, both have their flaws. An individualistic approach can lead to loneliness, while those in a collectivist culture may be prone to having a fear of rejection see also social control for more.
A contributing influence to life satisfaction is that of family life and household circumstances. Family life satisfaction is a pertinent topic as everyone's family influences them in some way and most strive to have high levels of satisfaction in life as well as within their own family. Family life satisfaction has been shown in studies to be enhanced by the ability of family members to jointly realize their family-related values in behavior. It is important to examine family life satisfaction from any members of the family from a "perceived" perspective and an "ideal" perspective. Greater life satisfaction within a family increases through communication and understanding each members' attitudes and perceptions. The family can make a significant contribution to an individual's life satisfaction.
In an article by Carolyn S. Henry, adolescent life satisfaction has very different origins from the life satisfaction of adults. An adolescent's life satisfaction is heavily influenced by their family's dynamics and characteristics. Family bonding, family flexibility, and parental support are any huge factors in the adolescent's life satisfaction. The more bonding, flexibility, and support there is within a family the higher the adolescent's life satisfaction. Results of this study also revealed that adolescents living in a single-parent family home had significantly lower life satisfaction than that of adolescents in a two-parent home. An adolescent's age is extremely important in terms of life satisfaction coming from their family.
The family also relates to life satisfaction in a very different way: a woman's decision to have children or not. An article by Carole K. Holahan, reveals that childless women have much higher life satisfaction than women with children. Women who consciously decided not to have children overall had very high life satisfaction. It was found that most of the life satisfaction came from careers instead of children. On the other hand, women who did have children had high life satisfaction which depended on the reasons and decision-making for having children. These are just generalizations and life satisfaction comes from many different sources which are unique and different for every person. Life satisfaction can shift throughout time from events, situations, family and friend implications, and many different things that all must be taken into consideration. Furthermore, a 2011 survey reported in Psychology Today under the title "Meet the Least Happy People in America," identifies women in their early forties, unmarried and childless, in a professionals such as lawyers and surveyors position doctor, lawyer, etc. as the most unhappy out of all people surveyed. We can thus conclude that there are conflicting reports on the issue and the opportunity of people falsely reporting high levels of life satisfaction while in reality they might have low levels of life satisfaction. Long-term life satisfaction is also crucial, but is often neglected the people who description high levels of life satisfaction at a precondition moment might report much different levels of life satisfaction in ten or twenty years.
On the other hand, life satisfaction is also affected by parenthood and couples introducing children into their relationships. Research done by McLanahan & Adams 1987 lets evidence that adults with children can be less happy due to less life satisfaction, less marital satisfaction, more anxiety, and more depression.
Marriage has a correlation with life satisfaction, but causality is still under debate. Many studies do not consider whether self-selection could be a factor affecting the relationship between marriage and life satisfaction. In other words, it could be that happier individuals are more likely to marry, painting a different picture of the effects of marriage. Myers said, "happy people may be more appealing marriage partners. Because they are more good-natured, more outgoing, and more focused on others, they broadly are socially attractive." Indeed, there is evidence tothat peopleinto marriage. In addition, even if there is such a causation effect, social exclusion and stigma able by single individuals may be those responsible for higher levels of life satisfaction among married couples, rather than marriage itself. Yet, numerous studies have shown that most couples were no more satisfied with life than they were previously, before marriage. Taking culture into effect, people in collective societies are often in arranged marriages, but are reportedly very happy in these situations. The individuals learn to love each other throughout the course of their marriage.
A satisfying career is an important component of life satisfaction. Doing something meaningful in a productive capacity contributes to one's feeling of life satisfaction. This notion of accomplishment is related to a person's drive. The need for accomplishment is an essential part of becoming a fully functional person, and when someone feels accomplished in their career status they are more likely to be optimistic about their life and future; thus news that updates your information their life satisfaction.
Research has shown that career satisfaction and life satisfaction are uniquely correlated with each other and that as career satisfaction increases, so does life satisfaction. In a longitudinal study completed at the Department of Psychology and Sports Science at Universitaet Erlangen-Neurnberg, they followed 1200 individuals who graduated with master's degrees at different German Universities. Participants were precondition a survey after theirexam in 1999, and then received further surveys in the years 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2011. The results of this study concluded that there is a correlation between career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Specifically the researchers found that "a person with high life satisfaction will also experience his or her career and work more positively than a person with lower life satisfaction."
Internationally, the salary one earns is important–income levels show a moderate correlation with individual evaluations of life satisfaction. However, in developed nations, the connecion is weak and disappears for the most part when individuals earn enough money to meet basic needs. In a study done by Kahneman & Deaton 2010 it was found that annual income correlated with well-being only to apoint which was ~$75,000. Incomes greater than $75,000 had a weak correlation. Kahneman & Deaton 2010; Diener et al., 2010; Myers and Diener, 1995.