Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Assessment of Happiness in Adults and Children

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Happiness in Children

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research ((BRIEFSWELLBEING))

  • 1830 Accesses

Abstract

There is no consensus on the single best practice to assess subjective well-being including happiness. As a result, researchers typically employ several measures. The most common approach is to use self-reports and other reports to estimate well-being, including happiness. These measures can be single or multi-item measures, and they usually correlate well. Additional methods include the Experience Sampling Method which typically uses some form of a pager to signal participants at random times throughout each day over a period of a week or two. When paged, the participants rate their current levels of well-being as well as some additional information (e.g., who they are with and what they are doing). Alternatively, the Day Reconstruction Method requires participants to systematically reconstruct from memory their previous day, reporting their activities and experiences. Because self-report and other report measures are vulnerable to response biases, positive psychologists are also attempting to develop implicit measures (i.e., disguised measures) and biological assays.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abdel-Khalek, A. M. (2006). Measuring happiness with a single-item scale. Social Behavior and Personality, 34, 139–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213–232.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Agnew, C. R., & Loving, T. J. (1998). The role of social desirability in self-reported condom use attitudes and intentions. AIDS and Behavior, 2, 229–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, I. M., & Tomenson, B. M. (1994). The efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in depression: A meta-analysis of studies against tricyclic antidepressants. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 8, 238–249.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, F. M., & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators of well-being. New York: Plenum Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, D. D., Potterat, J. J., Garrett, S. B., Muth, S. Q., Roberts, J. M., Jr, Kasprzyk, D., et al. (2000). Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97, 12385–12388.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Brunel, F. F., Tietje, B. C., & Greenwald, A. G. (2004). Is the implicit association test a valid and valuable measure of implicit consumer social cognition? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14, 385–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burris, C. T., & Jackson, L. M. (1999). Hate the sin/love the sinner, or love the hater? Intrinsic religion and responses to partner abuse. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 38, 160–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantril, H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen, L. L., & Cone, J. D. (1983). Social desirability and the measurement of psychological well-being in elderly persons. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 713–715.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, M., Holder, M. D., & O’Connor, B. (2011). Application of item response theory to measures of positive psychology. Philadelphia: Second World Congress on Positive Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Hunter, J. (2003). Happiness in everyday life: The uses of experience sampling. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 185–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, W. A., Preacher, K. J., & Banaji, M. R. (2001). Implicit attitude measures. Psychological Science, 12(2), 163–170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 197–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (1994). Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities. Social Indicators Research, 31, 103–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5(1), 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Pavot, W., & Gallagher, D. (1991). Response artefacts in the measurement of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 24, 35–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dockray, S., Grank, N., Ston, A. A., Kahneman, D., Wardlu, J., & Steptoe, A. (2010). A comparison of affect ratingsobtained with ecological momentary assessment and the day reconstruction method. Social Indicators Research, 99, 269–283.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A. L. (1957). The social desirability variable in personality assessment and research. New York: Dryden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, M. (1990). Happiness: Facts and myths. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flory, J. D., Manuck, S. B., Matthews, K. A., & Muldoon, M. F. (2004). Serotonergic function in the central nervous system is associated with daily ratings of positive mood. Psychiatry Research, 129, 11–19.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fordyce, M. W. (1988). A review of research on the happiness measures; a sixty second index of happiness and mental health. Social Indicators Research, 20, 355–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funder, D. C. (1991). Global traits: A neo-allportian approach to personality. Psychological Science, 2, 31–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon, C., Vitaro, F., & Tremblay, R. E. (1992). Parent-teacher agreement on kindergartners’ behavioral problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 1255–1261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harker, L., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions of positive emotions in women’s college yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life outcomes across adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 112–124.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harry, J. (1976). Evolving sources of happiness for men over the life cycle: A structural analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 289–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (1998). Positive moods derived from leisure and their relationship to happiness and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 523–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The oxford happiness questionnaire: A compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1071–1082.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, M. D., & Coleman, B. (2008). The contribution of temperament, popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 279–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, M. D., & Klassen, A. (2010). Temperament and happiness in children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 419–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, M. D., Coleman, B., & Wallace, J. M. (2010). Spirituality, religiousness, and happiness in children aged 8–12 years. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 131–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, M. D., Coleman, B., Singh, K. (in press). Temperament and happiness in children in India. Journal of Happiness Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holtgraves, T. (2004). Social desirability and self-reports: Testing models of socially desirable responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 161–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., Hoshino-Brown, E., & Correll, J. (2003). Secureand defensive high self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(5), 969–978.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Krueger, A., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method. Science, 306, 1776–1780.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Karp, J., Servin, L. A., Stack, D. M., & Schwartzman, A. E. (2004). An observational measure of children’s behavioural style: Evidence supporting a multi-method approach to studying temperament. Infant and Child Development, 13, 135–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kashdan, T. B. (2004). The assessment of subjective well-being (issues raised by the oxford happiness questionnaire). Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1225–1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D. (2004). The implicit life satisfaction measure. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7, 236–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kobayashi, C., & Greenwald, A. G. (2003). Implicit-explicit differences in self-enhancement for Americans and Japanese. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34(5), 522–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozma, A., & Stones, M. J. (1980). The measurement of happiness: Development of thememorial university of newfoundland scale of happiness (MUNSH). Journal of Gerontology, 35, 906–912.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kozma, A., & Stones, M. J. (1987). Social desirability in measures of subjective well-being: A systematic evaluation. Journal of Gerontology, 42(1), 56–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kozma, A., & Stones, M. J. (1988). Social desirability in measures of subjective well-being: Age comparisons. Social Indicators Research, 20, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latkin, C. A., Vlahov, D., & Anthony, J. C. (1993). Socially desirable responding and self-reported HIV infection risk behaviors among intravenous drug users. Addiction, 88, 517–525.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lepper, H. S. (1998). Use of other-reports to validate subjective well-being measures. Social Indicators Research, 44, 367–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, P. M., & Kirkpatrick, S. W. (1996). Schematic drawings of facial expression for emotion recognition and interpretation by preschool-aged children. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 122, 373–388.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, H. W., & Holmes, I. W. (1990). Multidimensional self-concepts: Construct validation of responses by children. American Educational Research Journal, 27, 89–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. R., Friedman, H. S., Tucker, J. S., Tomlinson-Keasey, C., Criqui, M. H., & Schwartz, J. E. (2002). A life course perspective on childhood cheerfulness and its relation to mortality risk. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1155–1165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehl, P. E., & Hathaway, S. R. (1946). The K factor as a suppressor variable in the minnesota multiphasic personality inventory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 30, 525–564.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mensch, B. S., & Kandel, D. B. (1988). Underreporting of substance use in a national longitudinal youth cohort: Individual and interviewer effects. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 52(1), 100–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milam, J., Slaughter, R., & McConnell, R. (2011). Dispostional optimism and hair cortisol among adolescents. Paper presented at the 2nd world congress on positive psychology. Philadelphia, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D. G. (1992). Love and marriage. In The pursuit of happiness: Who is happy and why (1st ed., pp. 155–176). New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D. G. (2000). The funds, friends, and faith of happy people. American Psychologist, 55, 56–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Mental Health. (2006). Depression. Retrieved 20 Dec 2006, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm#ptdep1.

  • Nederhof, A. J. (1985). Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review. European Journal of Social Psychology, 15, 263–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2002). Math = me, me = female, therefore math ≠ me. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 44–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paulhus, D. L. (1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 598–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paulhus, D. L. (1991). Measurement and control of response bias. In J. P. Robinson & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 17–59). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Paulhus, D. L. (2002). Socially desirable responding: The evolution of a construct. In H. Braun, D. N. Jackson, & D. E. Wiley (Eds.), The role of constructs in psychological and educational measurement (pp. 67–88). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piers, E. V., & Herzberg, D. S. (2002). Manual for the Piers-Harris children’s self-concept scale (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Presser, S., & Stinson, L. (1998). Data collection mode and social desirability bias in self-reported religious attendance. American Sociological Review, 6(3), 137–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randall, D., & Fernandes, M. E. (1991). The social desirability response bias in ethics research. Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 805–817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebok, G., Riley, A., Forrest, C., Starfield, B., Green, B., Robertson, J., et al. (2001). Elementary school-aged children’s reports of their health: A cognitive interviewing style. Quality of Life Research, 10, 59–70.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandvik, E., Diener, E. A., & Seidlitz, L. (1993). Subjective well-being: The convergence and stability of self-report and non-self-report measures. Journal of Personality, 61, 317–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U. (2003). Affect measurement in experience sampling research. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 79–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shields, B. J., Cohen, D. M., Harbeck-Weber, C., Powers, J. D., & Smith, G. A. (2003). Pediatric pain measurement using a visual analogue scale: A comparison of two teaching methods. Clinical Pediatrics, 42, 227–234.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiner, R., & Caspi, A. (2003). Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development and consequences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 2–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada. (2005). The Daily: Divorces. Retrieved 20 Dec 2006, from http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050309/d050309b.htm.

  • Stull, D. E. (1988). A dyadic approach to predicting well-being later in life. Research of Aging, 10, 81–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, J. E., Rudman, L. A., & Greenwald, A. G. (2001). Using the implicit association test to investigate attitude-behaviour consistency for stigmatised behaviour. Cognition and Emotion, 15(2), 207–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swinyard, W. R., Kau, A., & Phua, H. (2001). Happiness, materialism, and religious experience in the US and Singapore. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, L., & Grace, R. C. (2008). Social desirability and sexual offenders: a review. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 20(1), 61–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urry, H. L., Nitschke, J. B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D. C., Dalton, K. M., Mueller, C. J., et al. (2004). Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science, 15, 367–372.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vaughn, B. E., Taraldson, B. J., Cuchton, L., & Egeland, B. (2002). The assessment of infant temperament: A critique of the carey infant temperamant questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 25, 98–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, S. S., & Schimmack, U. (2008). Validity of a happiness implicit association test as a measure of subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 490–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warnecke, R. B., Johnson, T. P., Cha’vez, N., Sudman, S., O’Rourke, D. P., Lacey, L., et al. (1997). Improving question wording in surveys of culturally diverse populations. Annals of Epidemiology, 7, 334–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, K. C., Becker, J. A., & Thompson, J. K. (1996). Body image dissatisfaction in preadolescent children. Journal of Applied and Developmental Psychology, 17, 85–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, R. M. R., & Bradley, M. T. (1998). Social withdrawal: Self-efficacy, happiness, and popularity in introverted and extroverted adolescents. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 14, 21–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zald, D. H., & Depue, R. A. (2001). Serotonergic functioning correlates with positive and negative affect in psychiatrically healthy males. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 71–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, University Way 3333, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Mark D. Holder

Authors
  1. Mark D. Holder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Holder, M.D. (2012). The Assessment of Happiness in Adults and Children. In: Happiness in Children. SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4414-1_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation