Slide 1

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Update 2003 Robert A Cummins (Deakin University) Richard Eckersley (Australian National University) Sing Kai Lo (University of Sydney) Melanie Davern (Deakin University) Bruce Hunter (Deakin University) Erik Okerstrom (Australian Unity) NB. Please view via Notes page. You can then progress through the document using your mouse wheel, Page Down key, or the double-headed arrow to the right of this frame. 5 th Australian Conference on Quality of Life Proceedings, Melanie Davern (Ed.), Deakin University, Melbourne, December 2003

Slide 2

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Personal Wellbeing Index National Wellbeing Index

Slide 3

The Australian Surveys Geographically representative sample N = 2,000 Telephone interview #1:April 2001 #2:September 2001 (immediately following September 11) ------------ #8:August 2003

Slide 4

How satisfied are you with your ----? 012345688910 Completely Dissatisfied Completely Satisfied Mixed [Jones and Thurstone,1955] 11-point, end-defined scale

Slide 5

012345678910 0 2030405060708090100 %SM Likert All data are converted to a standardized range from 0 - 100

Slide 6

How satisfied are you with your life as a whole? ( S E V E N L I F E D O M A I N S ) Standard of living Health Productivity Relationships Safety Community connectedness Future security Measuring Personal Wellbeing

Slide 7

Personal Wellbeing Index How satisfied are you with your ----------? Standard of living Safety Health Productivity Relationships Community connectedness Future security RonnyRonny Subjective wellbeing = average domain satisfaction

Slide 8

Population Mean 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Frequency distribution for subjective wellbeing Completely dissatisfied Completely satisfied

Slide 9

Personal Wellbeing Index -SeptemberBaliPre-IraqPost-Iraq 11BombingWarWar S1S2S3S4S5S6S7S8 AprilSeptemberMarchAugustNovemberMarchJuneAugust 20012001200220022002200320032003 Major Events Preceding Survey Survey Date Scores above this line are significantly greater than S2, S4, S5 Scores above this line are significantly greater than S1

Slide 10

Satisfaction with Relationships >S2, 3, 4, 5 >S1

Slide 11

Satisfaction with Feeling Part of Your Community >S1

Slide 12

Satisfaction with How Safe you Feel >S3, 4, 6 >S2, 5 >S1

Slide 13

Satisfaction with Future Security >S4 >S1 >S2

Slide 14

Personal Wellbeing Index National Wellbeing Index Standard of living Economic situation Health State of environment Achievements in life Social conditions Personal relationships How Australia is governed How safe you feel Business Community connectedness National security Future security Question: How satisfied are you with .? Australian Unity Wellbeing Index

Slide 15

National Wellbeing Index >S2

Slide 16

Satisfaction with National Security >S4 >S5 >S6 >S2

Slide 17

Satisfaction with Government >S5, S6, S7, S8 >S4

Slide 18

Personal Wellbeing Index -SeptemberBaliPre-IraqPost-Iraq 11BombingWarWar S1S2S3S4S5S6S7S8 AprilSeptemberMarchAugustNovemberMarchJuneAugust 20012001200220022002200320032003 Major Events Preceding Survey Survey Date Scores above this line are significantly greater than S2, S4, S5 Scores above this line are significantly greater than S1

Slide 19

Like the internal management of body temperature and blood pressure Our sense of satisfaction with our lives is also internally managed and held constant Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis

Slide 20

Personal Wellbeing Index -SeptemberBaliPre-IraqPost-Iraq 11BombingWarWar S1S2S3S4S5S6S7S8 AprilSeptemberMarchAugustNovemberMarchJuneAugust 20012001200220022002200320032003 Major Events Preceding Survey Survey Date Scores above this line are significantly greater than S2, S4, S5 Scores above this line are significantly higher than S1

Slide 21

Normative Range for Each Gender Group Derived from the Survey Mean Scores (N=8)

Slide 22

PWI x Gender

Slide 23

Normative Range for each age group derived from the survey mean scores (N=8)

Slide 24

Why does SWB rise with age? Cohort effect (survival of the happiest) Externally driven (life improves after 55y) Internally driven (a) Change in strength of response (b) Genetically determined rise in set-point (c) Homeostasis becomes weaker

Slide 25

Survey 1 (pre-September 11) 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 18-2526-3536-4546-5556-6566-7576+ Age Strength Of Satisfaction (PWI)

Slide 26

Strength of happiness and Sadness in Relation to Personal Events Age trend = NS

Slide 27

Normative Range for each age group derived from the survey mean scores (N=8)

Slide 28

Homeostasis could fail because--- The homeostatic system has become weaker The challenges to homeostasis have become stronger

Slide 29

Decreased buffering capacity Decreased sense of control Increased tendency towards acquiescent responding If homeostasis becomes weaker-

Slide 30

Maybe increased acquiescence causes increased wellbeing Does Sept 11 make you sad? [YES] How sad does Sept 11 make you feel?[Lots] How satisfied do you feel with your life? [Lots]

Slide 31

What about the S11/Bali terrorist attacks? Does this make you feel sadder than normal now If Yes On a scale from 0 10, how strong would you rate this sadness?

Slide 32

% recalling attacks with Sadness x Age (combined surveys)

Slide 33

Strength of recalled Sadness (combined surveys) (Income and gender used as co-variates)

Slide 34

Normative Range for each age group derived from the survey mean scores (N=8)

Slide 35

% Recall with Sadness vs PWI (combined surveys) % Recalling With sadness 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 18-2526-3536-4546-5556-6566-7576+ Age % recall with sadness PWI R =.96 -79 -78 -77 -76 -75 -74 -73 PWI

Slide 36

Personal Wellbeing Index Strength Of Satisfaction (PWI)

Slide 37

Conclusion 1. The pattern of change in SWB across surveys is age-dependent (a)Young people (18-55 years) show no systematic influence of major international events on their personal wellbeing (b)Older people (56y+) show an increased SWB that may reflect enhanced social acquiescence.

Slide 38

Conclusion 2. The age-related increase in subjective wellbeing maybe an artifact of acquiescent responding induced by major public events.