‘Paradoxical’ decline? Another look at the relative reduction in female happiness

► This paper uses novel data to present new evidence on trends in female SWB. ► Men and women experienced similar decreases in SWB over time. ► This finding stands in contrast to that in Stevenson and Wolfers (2009). ► I discuss reasons for the widespread decline in SWB over the past several decades...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic psychology 2011-10, Vol.32 (5), p.773-788
Main Author: Herbst, Chris M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Attitude surveys
Biological and medical sciences
Economic security
Financial systems
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender differences
Happiness
Mental health
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social sciences
Studies
Subjective well-being trends
Well-being
Women
Women's health
Women's studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:► This paper uses novel data to present new evidence on trends in female SWB. ► Men and women experienced similar decreases in SWB over time. ► This finding stands in contrast to that in Stevenson and Wolfers (2009). ► I discuss reasons for the widespread decline in SWB over the past several decades. In a provocative paper, Stevenson and Wolfers (2009) provide evidence that women over the last several decades experienced an absolute and relative decline in happiness. The current paper draws upon novel data from the DDB Needham Life Style Survey to take another look at the evolution of women’s subjective well-being. In contrast to Stevenson and Wolfers, I find that men and women between 1985 and 2005 experienced similar decreases in life satisfaction. Furthermore, both sexes witnessed comparable slippages in self-confidence, growing regrets about the past, and declines in virtually every measure of self-reported physical and mental health. The data also show that men’s well-being in recent years has begun to fall more rapidly than that for women. In the final section of the paper, I present some initial evidence that the steady erosion in social and civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and financial security could be partially responsible for the widespread decline in subjective well-being over the past few decades.
ISSN:0167-4870
1872-7719
DOI:10.1016/j.joep.2011.07.001