Abstract
This study uses longitudinal panel data and short-term retest data from the same respondents in the German Socio-economic Panel to estimate the contribution of state and trait variance to the reliable variance in judgments of life satisfaction and domain satisfaction. The key finding is that state and trait variance contribute approximately equally to the reliable variance in well being measures. Most of the occasion specific variance is random measurement error, although occasion-specific variation in state variance makes a reliable contribution for some measures. Moreover, the study shows high similarity in life satisfaction and average domain satisfaction for the stable trait component (r = .97), indicating that these two measures are influenced by the same stable dispositions. In contrast, state variance of the two measures is distinct, although still highly correlated (r = .77). Error variances of the two measures are only weakly correlated, indicating that most of the error component is indeed due to random measurement error.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrews, F. M., & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators of well-being. New York: Plenum.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Conley, J. J. (1984). The hierarchy of consistency: A review and model of longitudinal findings on adult individual differences in intelligence, personality and self-opinion. Personality and Individual Differences, 5(1), 11–25. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(84)90133-8.
Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R., & Zonderman, A. B. (1987). Environmental and dispositional influences on well-being: Longitudinal follow-up of an American national sample. The British Journal of Psychology, 78, 299–306.
Deaton, A. (2008). Income, health, and well-being around the world: Evidence from the Gallup world poll. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(2), 53–72. doi:10.1257/jep.22.2.53.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.542.
Ehrhardt, J. J., Saris, W. E., & Veenhoven, R. (2000). Stability of life-satisfaction over time: Analysis of change in ranks in a national population. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(2), 177–205. doi:10.1023/A:1010084410679.
Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2004). Global judgments of subjective well-being: Situational variability and long-term stability. Social Indicators Research, 65(3), 245–277. doi:10.1023/B:SOCI.0000003801.89195.bc.
Frick, J. R., Goebel, J., Schechtman, E., Wagner, G. G., & Yitzhaki, S. (2006). Using analysis of Gini (ANOGI) for detecting whether two subsamples represent the same universe—The German socio-economic panel study (SOEP) experience. Sociological Methods & Research, 34(4), 427–468. doi:10.1177/0049124105283109.
Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 158–164. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.1.158.
Headey, B., Veenhoven, R., & Wearing, A. (1991). Top-down versus bottom-up theories of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 24(1), 81–100. doi:10.1007/BF00292652.
Heise, D. R. (1969). Separating reliability and stability in test–retest correlation. American Sociological Review, 34(1), 93–101. doi:10.2307/2092790.
Kenny, D. A., & Zautra, A. (1995). The trait state error model for multiwave data. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(1), 52–59. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.63.1.52.
Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2007). How stable is happiness? Using the STARTS model to estimate the stability of life satisfaction. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1091–1098.
Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7(3), 186–189. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00355.x.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2007). Mplus user’s guide (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Nes, R. B., Roysamb, E., Tambs, K., Harris, J. R., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2006). Subjective well-being: Genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change. Psychological Medicine, 36(7), 1033–1042. doi:10.1017/S0033291706007409.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5(2), 164–172. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.164.
Saris, W. E., Van Wijk, T., & Scherpenzeel, A. (1998). Validity and reliability of subjective social indicators—the effect of different measures of association. Social Indicators Research, 45(1–3), 173–199. doi:10.1023/A:1006993730546.
Scherpenzeel, A. C., & Saris, W. E. (1997). The validity and reliability of survey questions—a meta-analysis of MTMM studies. Sociological Methods & Research, 25(3), 341–383. doi:10.1177/0049124197025003004.
Schilling, O. (2006). Development of life satisfaction in old age: Another view on the “Paradox’’. Social Indicators Research, 75(2), 241–271. doi:10.1007/s11205-004-5297-2.
Schimmack, U., & Lucas, R. E. (2007a). Environmental influences on well-being: A dyadic latent panel analysis of spousal similarity (submitted).
Schimmack, U., & Lucas, R. E. (2007b). Marriage matters: Spousal similarity in life satisfaction. Journal of Applied Social Science Studies, 127, 105–111.
Schimmack, U., & Oishi, S. (2005). The influence of chronically and temporarily accessible information on life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(3), 395–406. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.395.
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1996). Measurement error in psychological research: Lessons from 26 research scenarios. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 199–223. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.1.2.199.
Schmidt, F. L., Le, H., & Ilies, R. (2003). Beyond alpha: An empirical examination of the effects of different sources of measurement error on reliability estimates for measures of individual-differences constructs. Psychological Methods, 8(2), 206–224. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.8.2.206.
Schwarz, N., & Strack, F. (1999). Reports of subjective well-being: Judgmental processes and their methodological implications. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 61–84). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Stones, M. J., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Tuuko, H., & Kozma, A. (1995). Happiness has traitlike and statelike properties: A reply to Veenhoven. Social Indicators Research, 36(2), 129–144. doi:10.1007/BF01079722.
Stubbe, J. H., Posthuma, D., Boomsma, D. I., & De Geus, E. J. C. (2005). Heritability of life satisfaction in adults: A twin-family study. Psychological Medicine, 35(11), 1581–1588. doi:10.1017/S0033291705005374.
Suh, E., Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1996). Events and subjective well-being: Only recent events matter. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(5), 1091–1102. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.5.1091.
Veenhoven, R. (1994). Is happiness a trait? Tests of the theory that a better society does not make people any happier. Social Indicators Research, 32(2), 101–160. doi:10.1007/BF01078732.
Veenhoven, R. (1998). Two state-trait discussions on happiness—a reply to Stones et al. Social Indicators Research, 43(3), 211–225. doi:10.1023/A:1006867109976.
Veenhoven, R., & Hagerty, M. (2006). Rising happiness in nations 1946–2004: A reply to Easterlin. Social Indicators Research, 79(3), 421–436. doi:10.1007/s11205-005-5074-x.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schimmack, U., Krause, P., Wagner, G.G. et al. Stability and Change of Well Being: An Experimentally Enhanced Latent State-Trait-Error Analysis. Soc Indic Res 95, 19–31 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9443-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9443-8