Happiness From Treating the Weekend Like a Vacation

Americans are time-poor. They work long hours and leave paid vacation days unused. An analysis of over 200,000 U.S. workers reveals that not prioritizing vacation is linked to lower happiness. Many people, however, do not feel they can take vacation due to financial and temporal constraints. How mig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychological & personality science 2021-04, Vol.12 (3), p.346-356
Main Authors: West, Colin, Mogilner, Cassie, DeVoe, Sanford E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Happiness
Money
Negative emotions
Positive emotions
Prioritizing
Vacations
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Summary:Americans are time-poor. They work long hours and leave paid vacation days unused. An analysis of over 200,000 U.S. workers reveals that not prioritizing vacation is linked to lower happiness. Many people, however, do not feel they can take vacation due to financial and temporal constraints. How might people enjoy the emotional benefits of vacation without taking additional time off or spending additional money? Three preregistered experiments tested the effect of simply treating the weekend “like a vacation” (vs. “like a regular weekend”) on subsequent happiness—measured as more positive affect, less negative affect, and greater satisfaction when back at work on Monday. Although unable to definitively rule out the role of demand characteristics, the study results suggest that treating the weekend like a vacation can increase happiness, and exploratory analyses show support for the underlying role of increased attention to the present moment.
ISSN:1948-5506
1948-5514
DOI:10.1177/1948550620916080