Sex differences in positive well-being: A consideration of emotional style and marital status.

Abstract

This article reviews all published studies reporting tests for sex differences inwell-being. Women were found to report greater happiness and life satisfaction than men. This sex difference was explained in terms of men's and women's ocial roles: The female (vs. male) gender role specifies greater emo-tional responsiveness. Furthermore, past role-related xperiences provide women with appropriate skills and attitudes. Women's (vs. men's) greater well-being was also found to hold for married but not unmarried Ss: For both sexes the married state (vs. unmarried) was associated with favorable well-being, but the favorable outcomes proved stronger for women than men. Given that most Ss were married, the overall sex difference in well-being can be attributed toSs ' marital status. These findings were discussed in the context of prior research on sex differences innegative well-being. Research on subjective social indicators has demonstrated that one's objective life circumstances donot necessarily corre-spond to one's personal experience of well-being. The fact, then, that men and women in our society differ in terms of a variety of biological, personality, and situational factors may or may not result in sex differences in subjective quality of life.

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   Diener, Ed, Suh, Eunkook M., Lucas, Richard E., Smith, Heidi L. · 1999 · Psychological Bulletin
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3. The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being.
   DeNeve, Kristina M., Cooper, Harris · 1998 · Psychological Bulletin
4. Models of the self: Self-construals and gender.
   Susan E. Cross, Laura Madson · 1997 · Psychological Bulletin
5. Who Is Happy?
   Myers, David G., Diener, Ed · 1995 · Psychological Science

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