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Happiness and Life Satisfaction in Malaysia

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Happiness Across Cultures

Part of the book series: Science Across Cultures: the History of Non-Western Science ((SACH,volume 6))

Abstract

Because of the rich ethnic, racial, religious, and linguistic diversity in Malaysia, a growing number of studies have investigated the subjective wellbeing of Malaysians. Also, the results from past studies suggest that Malaysians are, comparatively, a bit less happy than citizens in Western countries. We examined the average life satisfaction scores for Malaysians compared to Americans using the last wave of data from the World Values Survey (WVS) database. To better understand the predictors of happiness and life satisfaction we compared two regression models using the WVS data. These regression models demonstrate that for the most part, for Malaysia, increased health leads to increased happiness, while increased financial satisfaction leads to increased life satisfaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Ryan T. Howell, Wan Tien Chong & Colleen J. Howell

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Kurt Schwabe

Authors
  1. Ryan T. Howell
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  2. Wan Tien Chong
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  3. Colleen J. Howell
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  4. Kurt Schwabe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ryan T. Howell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hampshire College, West Street 893, Amherst, 01002, Massachusetts, USA

    Helaine Selin

  2. , Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Wai Tsui Crescent 10, Hong Kong, 2570 7110, Hong Kong SAR

    Gareth Davey

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Howell, R.T., Chong, W.T., Howell, C.J., Schwabe, K. (2012). Happiness and Life Satisfaction in Malaysia. In: Selin, H., Davey, G. (eds) Happiness Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: the History of Non-Western Science, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2700-7_4

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