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An Assessment of Life Satisfaction Responses on Recent Statistics Canada Surveys

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Abstract

Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey (GSS) and Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) offer a valuable opportunity to examine the stability of life satisfaction responses and their correlates from year to year within a consistent analytical framework. Capitalizing on the strengths of these surveys, this paper addresses two questions. First, how much variability is observed from year to year and across surveys in the distribution of life satisfaction responses and what accounts for it? Second, how much variability is observed in the direction and magnitude of the correlation between life satisfaction and a consistent set of socioeconomic characteristics? The study shows that the mean level of life satisfaction reported varies from year to year in the GSS but remains stable in the CCHS. This pattern in variability is associated with survey content preceding the life satisfaction question. In contrast, the direction and magnitude of the relationships between life satisfaction and common socioeconomic characteristics is generally consistent between the two surveys and over time.

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Notes

  1. For example, recommendation number 10 of the Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (Stiglitz et al. 2009) states the following: "Measures of both objective and subjective well-being provide key information about people’s quality of life. Statistical offices should incorporate questions to capture people’s life evaluations, hedonic experiences and priorities in their own survey." Similarly, the World Happiness Report (Helliwell et al. 2012) presents data on subjective well-being for more than 150 countries and recommends more general collection by national statistical agencies.

  2. The 2009 GSS was also fielded in the territories; however, those respondents are not included in the analysis for this study.

  3. Some years are exceptions. The 2007 GSS collected information from respondents aged 45 or older, and 618 of the 23,404 interviews were conducted by proxy.

  4. Because the 2007 GSS sample was restricted to respondents aged 45 or older, data from that year are not included in most of the analysis in this study.

  5. For example, in 2002, respondents were asked: "Are you very satisfied, satisfied, dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with your life in general?".

  6. Except for the fact that the wording "right now" was omitted from the question in the 2011 GSS.

  7. Prior to 2009, life satisfaction in CCHS was measured on a five-point scale.

  8. In the GSS data it is the number of children aged 17 or younger. In the CCHS data it is the number of children aged 18 or younger.

  9. Labour force activity is measured as main activity during a reference week in all surveys except the 2003 and 2006 GSS where it is determined based on respondent’s main activity in the previous 12 months.

  10. In the GSS for the years from 2003 to 2008, household income information is available only in broad categories, precluding the option of calculating the real annual income of households. Broad categories of nominal household income are included in regressions nonetheless as control variables. The results are not qualitatively different when this set of variables is excluded from the models.

  11. Measures of the quality of one’s relationships with friends and family as well as levels of trust and feelings of belonging are well documented covariates of life satisfaction. We do not study these correlations in this paper since the required variables are not available in all of the surveys considered. Rather, it is a priority to study the comparability of estimated relationships between life satisfaction and a smaller set of covariates available and measured consistently across all ten surveys.

  12. As mentioned earlier, the 2007 GSS interviewed exclusively individuals aged 45 or older.

  13. Barrington-Leigh (2010, 2013) reported on the consistency of coefficients estimated using the 2003 and 2008 GSS samples.

  14. That is, the coefficient is negative in cases where married individuals became separated or widowed, and is positive in cases where unmarried individuals became married.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, 100 Tunney’s Pasture Driveway, RHC 24, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0T6, Canada

    Aneta Bonikowska, Feng Hou & Grant Schellenberg

  2. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada

    John F. Helliwell & Grant Schellenberg

  3. Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, 997-1873 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    John F. Helliwell

Authors
  1. Aneta Bonikowska
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  2. John F. Helliwell
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  3. Feng Hou
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  4. Grant Schellenberg
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Correspondence to Aneta Bonikowska.

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Bonikowska, A., Helliwell, J.F., Hou, F. et al. An Assessment of Life Satisfaction Responses on Recent Statistics Canada Surveys. Soc Indic Res 118, 617–643 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0437-1

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