The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Update 2003 Robert A Cummins Deakin University Richard Eckersl

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The 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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The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index

• Personal Wellbeing Index
• National Wellbeing Index

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The Australian Surveys

• Geographically representative sample
• N 2,000
• Telephone interview
• 1 April 2001
• 2 September 2001 (immediately following
  September 11)
• ------------
• 8 August 2003

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How satisfied are you with your ----?
Jones and Thurstone ,1955 11-point, end-defined
scale
Completely Dissatisfied
Completely Satisfied
Mixed
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All data are converted to a standardized range
from 0 - 100
Likert
SM
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How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?
Measuring Personal Wellbeing

• Standard of living
• Health
• Productivity
• Relationships
• Safety
• Community connectedness
• Future security

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Personal Wellbeing Index

• How satisfied are you with your ----------?

Ronny
Subjective wellbeing average domain
satisfaction
8
Frequency distribution for subjective wellbeing
0 10 20
30 40 50 60
70 80 90
100
Completely dissatisfied
Completelysatisfied
Population Mean
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Personal 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
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Satisfaction with Relationships
gtS2, 3, 4, 5
gtS1
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Satisfaction with Feeling Part of Your Community
gtS1
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Satisfaction with How Safe you Feel
gtS3, 4, 6
gtS2, 5
gtS1
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Satisfaction with Future Security
gtS4
gtS1
gtS2
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Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
Question How satisfied are you with .?
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National Wellbeing Index
gtS2
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Satisfaction with National Security
gtS4
gtS5
gtS6
gtS2
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Satisfaction with Government
gtS5, S6, S7, S8
gtS4
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Personal 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
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Subjective 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

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Personal 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
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Normative Range for Each Gender Group Derived
from the Survey Mean Scores (N8)
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PWI x Gender
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Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
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Why 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

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Survey 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
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Strength of happiness and Sadness in Relation to
Personal Events
Age trend NS
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Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
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Homeostasis could fail because---

• The homeostatic system has become weaker
• The challenges to homeostasis have become stronger

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If homeostasis becomes weaker-

• Decreased buffering capacity
• Decreased sense of control
• Increased tendency towards acquiescent responding

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Maybe 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

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What about the S11/Bali terrorist attacks?Does
this make you feel sadder than normal now

• If Yes

On a scale from 0 10, how strong would you
rate this sadness?
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recalling attacks with Sadness x Age (combined
surveys)
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Strength of recalled Sadness (combined surveys)
(Income and gender used as co-variates)
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Normative Range for each age group derived from
the survey mean scores (N8)
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Recall with Sadness vs PWI (combined surveys)
R .96

• 79
• 78
• 77
• 76
• 75
• 74
• 73

Recalling With sadness
PWI
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Personal Wellbeing Index
Strength Of Satisfaction (PWI)
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Conclusion
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.

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Conclusion
2. The age-related increase in subjective
wellbeing maybe an artifact of acquiescent
responding induced by major public events.