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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

Dates:

Date	Event
August 2009	Published

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

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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