Title: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Update 2003 Robert A Cummins Deakin University Richard Eckersl
1The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Update
2003Robert A Cummins (Deakin University)Richard
Eckersley (Australian National University)Sing
Kai Lo (University of Sydney)Melanie Davern
(Deakin University)Bruce Hunter (Deakin
University)Erik Okerstrom (Australian Unity)
5th Australian Conference on Quality of Life
Proceedings, Melanie Davern (Ed.), Deakin
University, Melbourne, December 2003
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2The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
- Personal Wellbeing Index
- National Wellbeing Index
3The Australian Surveys
- Geographically representative sample
- N 2,000
- Telephone interview
- 1 April 2001
- 2 September 2001 (immediately following
September 11) - ------------
- 8 August 2003
4How satisfied are you with your ----?
Jones and Thurstone ,1955 11-point, end-defined
scale
Completely Dissatisfied
Completely Satisfied
Mixed
5All data are converted to a standardized range
from 0 - 100
Likert
SM
6How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?
Measuring Personal Wellbeing
- Standard of living
- Health
- Productivity
- Relationships
- Safety
- Community connectedness
- Future security
7Personal Wellbeing Index
- How satisfied are you with your ----------?
Ronny
Subjective wellbeing average domain
satisfaction
8Frequency distribution for subjective wellbeing
0 10 20
30 40 50 60
70 80 90
100
Completely dissatisfied
Completelysatisfied
Population Mean
9Personal Wellbeing Index
Scores above this line are significantly
greater than S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line are significantly
greater than S1
- September Bali Pre-Iraq Post-Iraq 11 Bomb
ing War War S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 April Septe
mber March August November March June August 2001
2001 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003
Major Events Preceding Survey
Survey Date
10Satisfaction with Relationships
gtS2, 3, 4, 5
gtS1
11Satisfaction with Feeling Part of Your Community
gtS1
12Satisfaction with How Safe you Feel
gtS3, 4, 6
gtS2, 5
gtS1
13Satisfaction with Future Security
gtS4
gtS1
gtS2
14Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
Question How satisfied are you with .?
15National Wellbeing Index
gtS2
16Satisfaction with National Security
gtS4
gtS5
gtS6
gtS2
17Satisfaction with Government
gtS5, S6, S7, S8
gtS4
18Personal Wellbeing Index
Scores above this line are significantly
greater than S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line are significantly
greater than S1
- September Bali Pre-Iraq Post-Iraq 11 Bomb
ing War War S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 April Septe
mber March August November March June August 2001
2001 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003
Major Events Preceding Survey
Survey Date
19Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis
- Like the internal management of body temperature
and blood pressure - Our sense of satisfaction with our lives is also
internally managed and held constant
20Personal Wellbeing Index
Scores above this line are significantly
greater than S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line are significantly
higher than S1
- September Bali Pre-Iraq Post-Iraq 11 Bomb
ing War War S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 April Septe
mber March August November March June August 2001
2001 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003
Major Events Preceding Survey
Survey Date
21Normative Range for Each Gender Group Derived
from the Survey Mean Scores (N8)
22PWI x Gender
23Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
24Why does SWB rise with age?
- Cohort effect (survival of the happiest)
- Externally driven (life improves after 55y)
- Internally driven
- (a) Change in strength of response
- (b) Genetically determined rise in set-point
- (c) Homeostasis becomes weaker
25Survey 1 (pre-September 11)
76
75
74
Strength Of Satisfaction (PWI)
73
72
71
70
18-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
66-75
76
Age
26Strength of happiness and Sadness in Relation to
Personal Events
Age trend NS
27Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
28Homeostasis could fail because---
- The homeostatic system has become weaker
- The challenges to homeostasis have become stronger
29If homeostasis becomes weaker-
- Decreased buffering capacity
- Decreased sense of control
- Increased tendency towards acquiescent responding
30Maybe increased acquiescence causes increased
wellbeing
- Does Sept 11 make you sad? YES
- How sad does Sept 11 make you feel?Lots
- How satisfied do you feel with your life? Lots
31What about the S11/Bali terrorist attacks?Does
this make you feel sadder than normal now
On a scale from 0 10, how strong would you
rate this sadness?
32 recalling attacks with Sadness x Age (combined
surveys)
33Strength of recalled Sadness (combined surveys)
(Income and gender used as co-variates)
34Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
35 Recall with Sadness vs PWI (combined surveys)
R .96
Recalling With sadness
PWI
36Personal Wellbeing Index
Strength Of Satisfaction (PWI)
37Conclusion
1. The pattern of change in SWB across surveys is
age-dependent
- Young people (18-55 years) show no systematic
influence of major international events on their
personal wellbeing - (b) Older people (56y) show an increased SWB
that may reflect enhanced social acquiescence.
38Conclusion
2. The age-related increase in subjective
wellbeing maybe an artifact of acquiescent
responding induced by major public events.