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Yea-saying and mood-of-the-day effects in self-reported quality of life

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Abstract

This paper focuses on some of the complications that may arise from errors of measurement in quality of life (QOL) scales based on self-report. It is argued that systematic errors as well as random errors (specifically in the shape of mood-of-the-day effects) will tend to suppress, mask or “wash out” statistical associations between “objective”, sociologically relevant, indicators of well-being and self-reported quality of life. Results from a Norwegian sample of middle-aged and old participants in a health screening operation (N=610) are reported. The findings indicate that response acquiescence (“yea-saying”) may be a source of systematic error even in balanced QOL-scales, and that this bias may lead one to underestimate QOL among the well-educated and overestimate it among older respondents. Utilizing over-time data we are able to show that self-reported QOL appears particularly vulnerable to mood-of-the-day effects among younger females. Implications for sociological research on subjective well-being are pointed out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1111 Blindern, 0317, Oslo 3, Norway

    Torbjørn Moum

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  1. Torbjørn Moum
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An earlier version of this paper was presented in a session on quality of life measurement at the eleventh world congress of sociology, New Delhi, August 1986. The study on which this paper is based has been supported by the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities. I am grateful to Bruce Heady, Alex Michalos, Kristian Tambs and Arne Mastekaasa for comments to the original version.

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Moum, T. Yea-saying and mood-of-the-day effects in self-reported quality of life. Soc Indic Res 20, 117–139 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302458

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