Abstract
Data from 690 persons in three adult age groups were used to evaluate the generality of a componential model of happiness (Kozma et al., 1990). The model postulates that long- and short-term affective states combine in an additive manner to produce current happiness. The short-term components should be more susceptible to environmental manipulation than the long-term ones and should change more readily with an appropriate experimental manipulation. Subscales of the Memorial University Mood Scale (MUMS) were used to assess short-term affect while the experience subscales of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH) and Diener's Long-term Satisfaction Scale were used to measure long-term affect. Overall current happiness was assessed by a seven-point avowed happiness rating scale. The Velten mood induction procedure was used to manipulate current affective state. In five of six comparisons, changes on short-term components were significantly greater than on long-term components. Age differences in reactivity to mood induction emerged only when a negative induction procedure was followed by a positive one. Under these conditions, the youngest cohort responded more consistently than the oldest cohort. An additive model, based on long- and short-term affect, age, and sex produced the best explanation for current happiness.
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The data reported here represent wave 1 of a five-year longitudinal study on the Components of Happiness supported by SSHRCC Grant 410-88-0773.
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Kozma, A., Di Fazio, R., Stones, M.J. et al. Long- and short-term affective states in happiness: Age and sex comparisons. Soc Indic Res 27, 293–309 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00303851
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00303851