Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T16:28:32.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subjective Well-being in Later Life: 20 Years after the Butterworths Monograph Series on Individual and Population Aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2011

Michael Stones ,
Albert Kozma ,
Kevin McNeil  and
Sarah Worobetz
Michael Stones*
Affiliation:
Lakehead University
Albert Kozma
Affiliation:
Charlottetown PEI
Kevin McNeil
Affiliation:
Saint John Regional Hospital
Sarah Worobetz
Affiliation:
Lakehead University
*
*Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to / La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Michael Stones, Ph.D. Dept. of Psychology Lakehead University 955 Oliver Road Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1(mstones@lakeheadu.ca)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses developments in theory and research on happiness two decades after publication of Psychological Well-Being in Later Life (Butterworths, 1991) by Albert Kozma, Michael Stones, and Kevin McNeil. Major empirical advances include new knowledge about contributions to happiness resulting from genetically related effects and personality. Personality traits have stronger relationships with happiness than was apparent 20 years ago and contribute to covariance between happiness and some of its predictors. Evolving emphases in research include the ways in which genetically related effects influence how people shape, and react to, their environment.

Résumé

Cet article examine l’évolution de la théorie et la recherche sur le bonheur deux décennies après la publication du Psychological Well-Being in Later Life (Butterworths, 1991) par Albert Kozma, Michael Stones, et Kevin McNeil. Les avancements empiriques majeurs comprennent de nouvelles connaissances au sujet des contributions au bonheur résultants d’effets liés génétiquement et leur personnalité. Les traits de personnalité exercent des relations plus fortes avec le bonheur que ne l’était il ya 20 ans et de contribuent à la covariance entre le bonheur et certains ses prédicteurs. Accents de recherche en évolution comprennent les façons dont les effets qui sont génétiquement liés influencent la manière dont on forme et réagit à son environnement.

Keywords

bonheurpersonnalitébien-êtresanté mentale génétiquehappinesspersonalitywell-beinggenetic mental health
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 467 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2011

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

Abbott, R.A., Ploubidis, G.B., Huppert, F.A., Kuh, D., Wadsworth, M.E.J., & Croudace, T.J. (2006). Psychometric evaluation and predictive validity of Ryff’s psychological wellbeing items in a UK cohort sample of women. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 4, 76. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-4-76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, T. (1982). The stability and validity of quality of life measures. Social Indicators Research, 10, 113–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, M., & Boomsma, D.I. (2009). Born to be happy? The etiology of subjective well-being. Behavior Genetics, 39, 605–615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bohlmeijer, E., Roemer, M., Cuijpers, P., & Smit, F. (2007). The effects of reminiscence on psychological well-being in order adults: A meta-analysis. Aging & Mental Health, 11(3), 291–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohlmeijer, E., Smit, F., & Cuijpers, P. (2003). Effects of reminiscence and life review on late-life depression: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(12), 1088–1094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradburn, N.M. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago, IL: Aldine.Google Scholar
Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 917–927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caprara, G.V., Fagnani, C., Alessandri, G., Steca, P., Gigantesco, A., Sforza, L.L.C., et al. . (2009). Human optimal functioning: The genetics of positive orientation towards self, life, and the future. Behavior Genetics, 39, 277–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlo, G., Okun, M.A., Knight, G., & de Guzman, M.R. (2005). The interplay of traits and motives on volunteering: agreeableness, extraversion and prosocial motivation. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1293–1305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, K., & Zika, S. (1992). Stability and change in subjective well-being over short time periods. Social Indicators Research, 26(2), 101–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clyburn, D.L., Stones, M.J., Hadjistavropoulos, T., & Tuokko, H. (2000). Disturbing behavior in Alzheimers disease and its relationship to caregiver distress. Journal of Gerontology, 55B, S2–S13.Google Scholar
Cohen, N.L., Ross, E.C., Bagby, R.M., Farvolden, P., & Kennedy, S.H. (2004). The 5-factor model of personality and antidepressant medication compliance. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49, 106–113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, P.T., McCrae, R.R., & Zonderman, A. (1987). Environmental and dispositional influences on well-being: Longitudinal follow-up of an American national sample. British Journal of Psychology, 78, 299–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, E., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Pickering, A., & Weiss, A. (2011). Five into one doesn’t go: A critique of the general factor of personality. In Chamorro-Premuzic, T., von Stumm, S., & Furnham, A. (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of individual differences (pp. 134–163). Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Heady, B. (2006). Happiness: Revising set point theory and dynamic equilibrium theory to account for long term change. Berlin, Germany: DIW Berlin. Retrieved March 21, 2010, fromhttp://www.diw.de/documents/publicationen/73/77545/dp753.pdf.Google Scholar
Johnson, W., McGue, M., & Krueger, R.F. (2005). Personality stability in late adulthood: A behavioral genetic analysis. Journal of Personality, 73, 523–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W. (1902). Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Longmans Green.Google Scholar
Kafka, G.J., & Kozma, A. (2002). The construct validity of Ryff’s scales of psychological well-being (SPWB) and their relationship to measures of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 57, 171–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kashdan, T.B., Biswas-Diener, R., & King, L.A. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: The costs of distinguishing between hedonics and eudaimonia. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 219–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasser, V.M., & Ryan, R.M. (1999). The relation of psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness to health, vitality, well-being and mortality in a nursing home. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 935–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keyes, C.L., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. (2002). Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 1007–1022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kozma, A., di Fazio, R., Stones, M.J., & Hannah, T.E. (1992). Long- and short-term affective states in happiness: Age and sex comparisons. Social Indicators Research, 4, 293–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozma, A., Stone, S., & Stones, M.J. (1999). Stability in components and predictors of subjective well-being (SWB): Implications for SWB structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 152–161.Google Scholar
Kozma, A., Stone, S., Stones, M.J., Hannah, T.E., & McNeil, K. (1990). Long-and short-term affective states in happiness. Social Indicators Research, 22, 119–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozma, A., & Stones, M.J. (1980). The measurement of happiness: Development of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Happiness Scale (MUNSH). Journal of Gerontology, 35, 906–912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kozma, A., & Stones, M.J. (1983). Predictors of Happiness. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 626–628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kozma, A., & Stones, M.J. (1985). Social desirability and the measurement of psychological well-being in elderly persons: Comment. Journal of Gerontology, 40(1), 127–128.Google Scholar
Kozma, A., & Stones, M.J. (1987). Social desirability in measures of subjective well-being: A systematic evaluation. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 56–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kozma, A., & Stones, M.J. (1988). Social desirability in measures of subjective well-being: Age comparisons. Social Indicators Research, 20, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozma, A., Stones, M.J., & McNeil, K. (1991). Psychological well-being in later life. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Lance, C.E., Mallard, A.G., & Michalos, A.C. (1995). Tests of the causal directions of global-life facet satisfaction relationships. Social Indicators Research, 34, 69–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, R.E., & Diener, E. (2009). Personality and subjective well-being. In Diener, E. (Ed.), The collected works of Ed Diener (pp. 75–102). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7(3), 186–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L.A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K.M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyubomirsky, S., Sousa, L., & Dickerhoof, R. (2006). The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life’s triumphs and defeats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 692–708.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNeil, J.K., Stones, M.J., Kozma, A., & Andres, D. (1994). Age differences in mood: Structure, mean level, and diurnal variation. Canadian Journal on Aging, 13, 201–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalos, A.C. (1980). Satisfaction and happiness. Social Indicators Research, 8, 358–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalos, A.C. (1985). Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT). Social Indicators Research, 16, 347–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Møller, V., & Saris, W. (2001). The relationship between subjective well-being and domain satisfactions in South Africa. Social Indicators Research, 55(1), 97–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musek, J. (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1213–1233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, D.G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6(1), 10–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nes, R.B., Røysamb, E., Tambs, K., Harris, J.R., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2006). Subjective well-being: genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change. Psychological Medicine, 36, 1033–1042.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Strengths of character and well being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 603–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rattenbury, C., & Stones, M.J. (1989). A controlled evaluation of reminiscence and current-topics discussion groups in a nursing home context. The Gerontologist, 29, 768–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodrigues, A.E., Hall, J.H., & Fincham, F.D. (2009). What predicts divorce and relationship dissolution? In Fine, M., & Harvey, J. (Eds.), Handbook of divorce and relationship dissolution (pp. 201–222). Marwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rushton, J.P., Bons, T.A., Ando, J., Hur, Y.-M., Irwing, P., Vernon, P.A., et al. . (2009). A general factor of personality from multi-trait-multimethod data and cross-national twins. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 12, 356–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushton, J.P., Bons, T.A., & Hur, Y.-M. (2008). The genetics and evolution of the general factor of personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1173–1185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushton, J.P., & Irwing, P. (2011). The general factor of personality: Normal and abnormal. In Chamorro-Premuzic, T., von Stumm, S., & Furnham, A. (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of individual differences (pp. 134–163). Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Russell, J.A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1161–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, C. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it?. Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069–1081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnittker, J. (2008). Happiness and success: Genes, families, and the psychological effects of socioeconomic position and social support. American Journal of Sociology, 114(Suppl. 1), S233–S259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheldon, K.M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 73–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sin, N., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(5), 467–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steel, P., Schmidt, J., & Shultz, J. (2008). Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 134(1), 138–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stones, M.J., Hadjistravopoulos, T., Tuuko, H., & Kozma, A. (1995). Happiness has traitlike and statelike properties: A reply to Veenhoven. Social Indicators Research, 36, 129–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stones, M.J., & Kozma, A. (1985). Structural relationships among happiness scales: A second-order factorial study. Social Indicators Research, 17, 19–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stones, M.J., & Kozma, A. (1986a). Happiness and activities as propensities. Journal of Gerontology, 41, 85–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stones, M.J., & Kozma, A. (1986b). “Happy are they who are happy...”: A test between two causal models of relationships between happiness and its correlates. Experimental Aging Research, 12, 23–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stones, M.J., & Kozma, A. (1994). The relationship of affect intensity to happiness. Social Indicators Research, 31, 159–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stones, M.J., Rattenbury, C., & Kozma, A. (1995). Empirical findings on reminiscence. In Haight, B.K., & Webster, J. (Eds.), The art and science of reminiscing: Theory, research, methods, and applications (pp. 135–143). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Stubbe, J.H., Posthuma, D., Boomsma, D.I., & De Geus, E.J. (2005). Heritability of life satisfaction in adults: A twin-family study. Psychological Medicine, 35(11), 1581–1588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veenhoven, R., & Hagerty, M. (2006). Rising happiness in nations, 1946-2004. A reply to Easterlin. Social Indicators Research, 79, 421–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, A.S., Schwartz, S.J., Zamboanga, B.L., Ravert, R.D., Williams, M.K., Agocha, V.B., et al. . (2010). The Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being: Psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 41–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiss, A., Bates, T.C., & Luciano, M. (2008). Happiness is a personal(ity) thing: The genetics of personality and well-being in a representative sample. Psychological Science, 19, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed