Journal
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Volume 145, Issue -, Pages 115-119Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.09.020
Keywords
Happiness; Mortality; Life expectancy; Survival; Longevity; GSS-NDI
Funding
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [R24HD066613]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This is the first study to our knowledge to examine the relationship between happiness and longevity among a nationally representative sample of adults. We use the recently-released General Social Survey-National Death Index dataset and Cox proportional hazards models to reveal that overall happiness is related to longer lives among U.S. adults. Indeed, compared to very happy people, the risk of death over the follow-up period is 6% (95% Cl 1.01-1.11) higher among individuals who are pretty happy and 14% (95% Cl 1.06-1.22) higher among those who are not happy, net of marital status, socioeconomic status, census division, and religious attendance. This study provides support for happiness as a stand-alone indicator of well-being that should be used more widely in social science and health research. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available