Surveying happiness in China: comparing measures of subjective well-being

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to investigate (1) whether subjective well-being (SWB) measures in surveys on China are interchangeable and (2) whether these measures work together as a construct. To accomplish these tasks, we examine SWB measures 1990–2016 for basic statistics, correlations between pairs of happiness terms within the same surveys, and test the internal consistency of five variables in the Blessed Happiness survey. Findings indicate that while the terms are not interchangeable, they work together to create a reasonably reliable construct.