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The U-shape without controls: a response to Glenn

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Blanchflower, David G. and Oswald, Andrew J. . (2009) The U-shape without controls: a response to Glenn. Social Science & Medicine, Vol.69 (No.4). pp. 486-488. ISSN 0277-9536

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.022 ...

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of results reported in our article “Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?” (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2008). It provides new evidence that well-being follows a curve through life. We use data on half a million randomly sampled individuals across eight major European nations. Importantly, we show that in this set of countries there is a U-shape even in unadjusted data, that is, without the inclusion of control variables. But we also advise against a focus on elementary bivariate associations.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Happiness -- Testing, Well-being -- Age factors, Mental health, Life cycle, Human, Aging -- Psychological aspects
Journal or Publication Title:	Social Science & Medicine
Publisher:	Elsevvier
ISSN:	0277-9536
Official Date:	August 2009
Volume:	Vol.69
Number:	No.4
Page Range:	pp. 486-488
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.022
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Version or Related Resource:	Written as a response to: Glenn, N. (2009). Is the apparent U-shape of well-being over the life course a results of inappropriate use of control variables? A commentary on Blanchflower and Oswald (66:8, 2008, 1733–1749). Social Science & Medicine, 69(4), 481–485.
References:	Blanchflower, 2009 D.G. Blanchflower, International evidence on well-being. In: Alan B. Krueger, Editor, National time accounting and subjective well-being, NBER and University of Chicago Press, Chicago (2009). Blanchflower and Oswald, 2004 D.G. Blanchflower and A.J. Oswald, Well-being over time in Britain and the USA, Journal of Public Economics 88 (2004), pp. 1359–1386. Blanchflower and Oswald, 2008 D.G. Blanchflower and A.J. Oswald, Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?, Social Science & Medicine 66 (2008), pp. 1733–1749. Easterlin, 2006 R. Easterlin, Life cycle happiness and its sources. Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography, Journal of Economic Psychology 27 (2006), pp. 463–482. Glenn, (2009) Glenn, N. (2009). Is the apparent U-shape of well-being over the life course a results of inappropriate use of control variables? A commentary on Blanchflower and Oswald (66:8, 2008, 1733–1749). Social Science & Medicine, 69(4), 481–485. Van Landeghem, 2008 Van Landeghem, B. (2008). Human well-being over the life cycle: Longitudinal evidence from a 20-year panel, University of Leuven, unpublished paper.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2413