The relationship of sociodemographic variables with subjective well-being in Hungary

Abstract

Theoretical background: Subjective well-being is the psychological construct of happiness in the common sense. A related concept is psychological well-being, global well-being, flourishing, and positivity. Several tests have been constructed to measure all of these. Aim: To investigate how and to what extent the level of the essence of the different indicators measuring subjective well-being is determined in contemporary Hungary by basic sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, education, occupation, marital status, number of children, subjective financial situation and the size of the municipality (place of residence) of the respondent. The essence of the different indicators of subjective well-being was measured by a single common indicator, the so-called essential well-being. Methods: In each of four online cross-sectional questionnaire surveys repeated annually between 2019 and 2022, individuals (n = 11686) completed a 73-item questionnaire with demographic and physical and mental health questions, along with items from the following self-completion questionnaires: Global Well- Being Questionnaire (GWBQ), Brief Psychological Immune Questionnaire (Brief PIQ), Diener's Flourishing Scale (DFS), Huppert's Flourishing Questionnaire (HFQ), Caprara's Positivity Scale (POS). A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using the total scores of the GWBQ, DFS, POS, and four specific questions (general psychological state, current happiness level, proportion of positive experiences, item 10 on overall happiness of the HFQ), which are considered as measures of subjective well-being, to capture the common essence of the different measures of subjective well-being. We then related the first principal component of the PCA representing this common essence (essential well-being) to the demographic variables listed above. In doing so, we conducted correlation and regression analyses as well as analyses of variance. Results: Sociodemographic variables together explain nearly 18% of the variance in essential well-being. Within this, well-being shows a clear positive relationship with financial situation, education, and number of children. Well-being is usually higher for women than for men. This gender effect is most pronounced between the ages of 25 and 50 and disappears at retirement age after 65. The level of well-being among people living alone increases with age over 25, while there is no clear age effect for those in a relationship. In terms of marital status, those in a marital relationship are the happiest and those living alone have the lowest level of well-being. By occupation, high levels of well-being are found among entrepreneurs, public employees, and civil servants. The lowest levels of well-being are among the unemployed and homeless, and relatively low levels are among students. Among those who consider themselves the poorest, pensioners are the happiest. The type of municipality defined by population size does not have a significant independent effect on well-being. Conclusion: Sociodemographic variables have a significant impact on subjective well-being.