Life satisfaction

Life satisfaction is a person's overall evaluation of the collective experience of his or her life as a whole. Life satisfaction and happiness are different. Whereas happiness is a feeling and state of pleasure, life satisfaction is a state of contentment or discontentment. Life satisfaction involves how an individual measures his or her success, or the worth of the things he or she has done in life.

Life satisfaction is measured subjectively rather than objectively and usually involves a person's evaluation of his or her own personal health, education, income, fulfillment, and social condition. Personality plays a role in life satisfaction. Optimists will typically have greater life satisfaction than pessimists because life satisfaction is based on how a person perceives his or her life. A person's outlook and attitude can greatly influence his or her life satisfaction.

Background

In the 1960s, a popular book called Measuring Happiness: The Economics of Well-Being by Joachim Weimann, Andreas Knabe, and Ronnie Schöb was released. These researchers looked at the happiness-prosperity connection. In their research, they concluded that higher incomes do not necessarily equate with greater life satisfaction. Rather, money gives people more opportunities and freedom. Education, travel, accessibility to healthier eating options, and other opportunities are what the book concluded leads to life satisfaction.

Life satisfaction became a popular topic around this time, as philosophy and the meaning of life were becoming an area of interest for many Americans. As people started talking about and reflecting on their lives, their future, and meaningful work, the topic of achieving life satisfaction began to be studied by sociologists and researchers. Originally, some researchers thought life satisfaction could be measured objectively. Researchers thought they could use tools like the ones used to measure heart rate and blood pressure to objectively measure life satisfaction. Upon more careful evaluation, researchers realized there was not an objective way to measure life satisfaction. Researchers currently use tools such as interviews, surveys, and questionnaires to determine people's life satisfaction. It is difficult to measure, partially because people have such different perspectives and outlooks. No two people view a situation in the same way, or view their life experiences in the same way. People participating in the surveys and interviews may also use different levels of honesty when responding to surveys and questionnaires. These uncontrollable factors can change the data and make determining people's actual life satisfaction difficult.

Overview

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a life satisfaction test designed in 1985 by psychologists Ed Diener, Robert Emmons, Randy Larsen, and Sharon Griffin. The scale rates life satisfaction based on the results from a five-question quiz the researchers developed. Participants are asked to rank each of the following statements from one to seven, with seven being the strongest and one being the weakest. The questions on the SWLS include the following:

In most ways, my life is close to my ideal.

The conditions of my life are excellent.

I am satisfied with my life.

So far, I have gotten the important things I want in life.

If I could live life over, I would change almost nothing.

Possible scores on the SWLS range from five to thirty-five. Five to nine indicate a very low life satisfaction, while a score of ten to twenty are indicators of low life satisfaction, and scores between twenty and thirty-five indicate good to great life satisfaction. As mentioned earlier, since participants' answers are based on their own perspective of their situation, people living in similar conditions may have very different life satisfaction scores.

Martin Seligman also developed a test to measure a person's life satisfaction. His test is called PERMA, which stands for the aspects he uses to measure both happiness and life satisfaction. Seligman postulates there are five aspects that influence how one feels about his or her current state of well-being and the future: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments.

PERMA sees positive emotion, being optimistic about one's current state and the future, as being a critical aspect of life satisfaction. PERMA views a person's engagement in activities and in one's community as a positive contributor to life satisfaction. Community involvement promotes daily good feelings and provides a feeling of connectedness that increases life satisfaction. Relationships play a key role in life satisfaction. People who feel isolated, unloved, or lonely generally feel less satisfied with life. Fostering and having meaningful relationships increases feelings of life satisfaction. Almost all researchers agree that healthy, close relationships play a vital role in a person's overall life satisfaction. Meaningful work is also important. People who feel like their lives have purpose and that they are contributing to society in meaningful ways usually feel happier and more fulfilled and have greater life satisfaction. Setting goals and achieving goals also contributes to overall life satisfaction. People who feel like they can accomplish set goals or are actively working toward a goal feel as if they are in better control of their lives and have increased life satisfaction.

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported that the number one thing that equates with life satisfaction is autonomy. Autonomy is defined as self-directing and moral freedom. Autonomy is the ability for one to say and act as he or she wants. In effect, autonomy is independence. The World Values Survey (WVS), a questionnaire that aims to evaluate subjective well-being and life satisfaction of people around the world, noted a large increase between the 1981 and 2007 surveys. In this period, there was a dramatic increase of positive response to the question that asked participants to what extent they feel they have free choice (autonomy) over their lives.

Life satisfaction, like life, is always changing. Life satisfaction is something that can be improved over time. Proactive activities such as changing jobs, setting and achieving attainable goals, finding a hobby, and surrounding oneself with friends and loved ones are all factors that can increase a person's life satisfaction.

Bibliography

Diener, Ed, et al. "The Satisfaction with Life Scale." Journal of Personality Assessment, vol. 49, no. 1, 1985, pp. 71–75.

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Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban, and Roser, Max. "Happiness and Life Satisfaction." Our World in Data, Feb. 2024, ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"The PERMA Model: Your Scientific Theory of Happiness." Positive Psychology Program, 19 June 2015, positivepsychologyprogram.com/perma-model/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"The Surprising Science of Happiness." TED.com, Feb. 2004, www.ted.com/talks/dan‗gilbert‗asks‗why‗are‗we‗happy. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

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"Who Is Martin Seligman and What Does He Do?" Positive Psychology Program, 20 Sept. 2016, positivepsychologyprogram.com/who-is-martin-seligman/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

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