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Unemployment Alters the Set Point for Life Satisfaction

Lucas, Richard E., Clark, Andrew E., Georgellis, Yannis, Diener, Ed (2004) Unemployment Alters the Set Point for Life Satisfaction. Psychological Science, 15 (1). pp. 8-13. ISSN 0956-7976. (doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01501002.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:41053)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.0150100...

Abstract

According to set-point theories of subjective well-being, people react to events but then return to baseline levels of happiness and satisfaction over time. We tested this idea by examining reaction and adaptation to unemployment in a 15-year longitudinal study of more than 24,000 individuals living in Germany. In accordance with set-point theories, individuals reacted strongly to unemployment and then shifted back toward their baseline levels of life satisfaction. However, on average, individuals did not completely return to their former levels of satisfaction, even after they became reemployed. Furthermore, contrary to expectations from adaptation theories, people who had experienced unemployment in the past did not react any less negatively to a new bout of unemployment than did people who had not been previously unemployed. These results suggest that although life satisfaction is moderately stable over time, life events can have a strong influence on long-term levels of subjective well-being.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01501002.x
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Department of Leadership and Management
Depositing User: Yannis Georgellis
Date Deposited: 09 May 2014 00:54 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:16 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/41053 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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