Geluk als onderwerp van wetenschappelijk onderzoek

Samenvatting

An attempt at suggesting empirical research on human happiness is made analyzing 17 publications. Most studies try to find correlates of avowed happiness; several are suggested: (1) individual characteristics: physical health, worries, aspirations, expectations, some personality characteristics (sociability, neuroticism, personality-equilibrium), (2) factors relevant for the position of the individual in his social environment: ss, level of education, income, marital status, employment, age, integration in the social environment (social participation and role adjustment), and (3) environmental factors: size of the town of residence, economic depression, and warfare in the environment. Most studies were not recent and were based on primitive methods of research. Little effort was taken to account for the correlates found by more basic factors. Two publications reveal more fundamental findings. N. M. Bradburn and D. Caplovitz (Reports on happiness, Chicago, ill: 1965) propose the balance-concept; happiness correlates with a balance of positive and negative feelings, which vary independently of each other and are related with different factors. I. Gadourek (Riskante gewoonten en zorg voor eigen welzijn, Risk taking and attention to personal welfare, Groningen: 1963) showed happiness is only partly determined by environmental factors. Modified AA