Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Health-related determinants of happiness in Korean adults

  • Orginal Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

Happiness has been associated with a range of favorable health outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between happiness and health behaviors, stress, and environmental aspects of exercise in a Korean national representative sample.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted using multiple-stratified random sampling on the Korea Census of 2005. In October 2009, investigators conducted 15-min face-to-face interviews with 1,530 South Korean volunteers aged between 30 and 69 years. The questionnaire included questions about sociodemographic factors, perceived stress, smoking, drinking, healthy diet, exercise, exercise environment, and happiness levels.

Results

The multivariate analysis revealed that middle-aged participants were less likely to be happy than younger and older participants, and higher happiness was associated with being part of a couple, higher income, lower stress, healthy diet, exercise, and certain exercise environments (e.g., mountain trails).

Conclusions

Besides individual-level sociodemographic conditions, such as income or psychological status, community-level conditions, such as environment, should be considered when national and community public welfare policy is established.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blanchflower DG, Oswald AJ (2008) Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle? Soc Sci Med 66(8):1733–1749

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blazer DG, Hybels CF (2004) What symptoms of depression predict mortality in community-dwelling elders? J Am Geriatr Soc 52(12):2052–2056

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brereton F, Clinch P, Ferreira S (2008) Happiness, geography and the environment. Ecol Econ 65:386–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dear K, Henderson S, Korten A (2002) Well-being in Australia–findings from the national survey of mental health and well-being. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 37(11):503–509

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Di Tella R, MacCulloch R (2008) Gross national happiness as an answer to the Easterlin paradox? J Dev Econ 86:22–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener E (2000) Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. Am Psychol 55(1):34–43

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Diener E (2009) Subjective well-being. In: Diener E (ed) The science of well-being. Springer, Netherlands

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson BL (2004) The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 359(1449):1367–1378

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson BL, Mancuso RA, Branigan C, Tugade MM (2000) The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motiv Emot 24(4):237–258

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg DP, Hillier VF (1979) A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychol Med 9(1):139–145

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg DP, Gater R, Sartorius N, Ustun TB, Piccinelli M, Gureye O (1997) The validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health care. Psychol Med 27(1):191–197

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gowdy J (2005) Toward a new welfare foundation for sustainability. Ecol Econ 53:211–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant N, Wardle J, Steptoe A (2009) The relationship between life satisfaction and health behavior: a cross-cultural analysis of young adults. Int J Behav Med 16(3):259–268

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grasser G, Van Dyck D, Titze S, Stronegger W (2013) Objectively measured walkability and active transport and weight-related outcomes in adults: a systematic review. Int J Public Health 58(4):615–625

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holly H, Schiffrin SKN (2010) Stressed and Happy? Investigating the relationship beween happiness and perceived stress. J Happiness Stud 11:33–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jang S (1994) Standardization of stress measurement scale. J Wonju Medical Colledge 7:21–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Jang S (2000) Stress. In the Korean society for preventive medicine. In collecting Health-related Statistical Data and Assessment Standardization. Gyechuk Munwhasa Publishing, Seoul

  • Kassel JD, Stroud LR, Paronis CA (2003) Smoking, stress, and negative affect: correlation, causation, and context across stages of smoking. Psychol Bull 129(2):270–304

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kawada T, Kuratomi Y, Kanai T (2009) Lifestyle determinants of depressive feeling and a feeling of unhappiness among workers: a study in Japan. Work 33(3):255–260

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koivumaa-Honkanen H, Honkanen R, Viinamaki H, Heikkila K, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M (2000) Self-reported life satisfaction and 20-year mortality in healthy Finnish adults. Am J Epidemiol 152(10):983–991

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kostka T, Jachimowicz V (2010) Relationship of quality of life to dispositional optimism, health locus of control and self-efficacy in older subjects living in different environments. Qual Life Res 19(3):351–361

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kubzansky LD, Thurston RC (2007) Emotional vitality and incident coronary heart disease: benefits of healthy psychological functioning. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64(12):1393–1401

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kye SY, Park K (2012) Psychosocial factors and health behavior among Korean adults: a cross-sectional study. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 13(1):49–56

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mikolajczak M, Quoidbach J, Vanootighem V, Lambert F, Lahaye M, Filee C, de Timary P (2010) Cortisol awakening response (CAR)’s flexibility leads to larger and more consistent associations with psychological factors than CAR magnitude. Psychoneuroendocrinology 35(5):752–757

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Molnar DS, Busseri MA, Perrier CP, Sadava SW (2009) A longitudinal examination of alcohol use and subjective well-being in an undergraduate sample. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 70(5):704–713

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moor I, Lampert T, Rathmann K, Kuntz B, Kolip P, Spallek J, Richter M (2014) Explaining educational inequalities in adolescent life satisfaction: do health behavior and gender matter? Int J Public Health 59(2):309–317

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell K, Wardle J, Dantzer C, Steptoe A (2006) Alcohol consumption and symptoms of depression in young adults from 20 countries. J Stud Alcohol 67(6):837–840

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2013) OECD Factbook 2013 Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics

  • Oshio T, Kobayashi M (2010) Income inequality, perceived happiness, and self-rated health: evidence from nationwide surveys in Japan. Soc Sci Med 70(9):1358–1366

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piqueras JA, Kuhne W, Vera-Villarroel P, van Straten A, Cuijpers P (2011) Happiness and health behaviours in Chilean college students: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Public Health 11:443. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-443

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schnohr P, Kristensen TS, Prescott E, Scharling H (2005) Stress and life dissatisfaction are inversely associated with jogging and other types of physical activity in leisure time–The Copenhagen City Heart Study. Scand J Med Sci Sports 15(2):107–112

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman MEP (2002) Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth R, Mishra V, Qian X (2008) The environment and well-being in urban China. Ecol Econ 68:547–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steptoe A, Tsuda A, Tanaka Y, Wardle J (2007) Depressive symptoms, socio-economic background, sense of control, and cultural factors in university students from 23 countries. Int J Behav Med 14(2):97–107

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stubbe JH, de Moor MH, Boomsma DI, de Geus EJ (2007) The association between exercise participation and well-being: a co-twin study. Prev Med 44(2):148–152

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Subramanian SV, Kim D, Kawachi I (2005) Covariation in the socioeconomic determinants of self rated health and happiness: a multivariate multilevel analysis of individuals and communities in the USA. J Epidemiol Community Health 59(8):664–669

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Suh E, Diener E, Fujita F (1996) Events and subjective well-being: only recent events matter. J Pers Soc Psychol 70(5):1091–1102

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Orpana HM, Morrison H, de Groh M, Dai S, Luo W (2012) Long-term association between leisure-time physical activity and changes in happiness: analysis of the Prospective National Population Health Survey. Am J Epidemiol 176(12):1095–1100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yiengprugsawan V, Somboonsook B, Seubsman SA, Sleigh AC (2012) Happiness, mental health, and socio-demographic associations among a national cohort of Thai adults. J Happiness Stud 13(6):1019–1029

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon HS, Kim HY, Patton LL, Chun JH, Bae KH, Lee MO (2013) Happiness, subjective and objective oral health status, and oral health behaviors among Korean elders. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. doi:10.1111/cdoe.12041

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by National Cancer Center Grant 1310260-2.

Conflict of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Information and Education Branch, National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea

    Su Yeon Kye

  2. Cancer Policy Branch, National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, 410-769, Republic of Korea

    Keeho Park

Authors
  1. Su Yeon Kye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Keeho Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keeho Park.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kye, S.Y., Park, K. Health-related determinants of happiness in Korean adults. Int J Public Health 59, 731–738 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-014-0588-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-014-0588-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation