Life Satisfaction Set Point: Stability and Change.
Abstract
Using data from 17 years of a large and nationally representative panel study from Germany, the authors examined whether there is a set point for life satisfaction (LS)--stability across time, even though it can be perturbed for short periods by life events. The authors found that 24% of respondents changed significantly in LS from the first 5 years to the last 5 years and that stability declined as the period between measurements increased. Average LS in the first 5 years correlated .51 with the 5-year average of LS during the last 5 years. Height, weight, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and personality traits were all more stable than LS, whereas income was about as stable as LS. Almost 9% of the sample changed an average of 3 or more points on a 10-point scale from the first 5 to last 5 years of the study.
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There are stable and reliable patterns in happiness, even over the course of many years.
“The general consensus, however, is that there are stable and reliable patterns in happiness, even over the course of many years (Fujita and Diener, 2005).”
From Measuring Subjective Wellbeing: Recommendations on Measures for use by National Governments (2012) · cites this paper as Fujita and Diener, 2005
Cites
The satisfaction with life scale
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 · Cited by 31,768 · see citing works
Self-citationUnemployment Alters the Set Point for Life Satisfaction
Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01501002.x · Cited by 1,260 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Another event that appears capable of moving people’s LS downward is unemployment (Lucas et al., 2004).”
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The satisfaction with life scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (2008) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760701756946 · Cited by 2,396 · see citing works
Self-citationSubjective well-being and adaptation to life events: A meta-analysis.
Luhmann, M., Hofmann, W., Eid, M., & Lucas, R. E. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025948 · Cited by 1,410 · see citing works
Predicting psychological and subjective well-being from personality: A meta-analysis
Anglim, J., Horwood, S., Smillie, L. D., Marrero, R. J., & Wood, J. K. (2020) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000226 · Cited by 855 · see citing works
Charles, N. E., Strong, S. J., Burns, L. C., Bullerjahn, M. R., & Serafine, K. M. (2021) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113706 · Cited by 459 · see citing works
How Can Measures of Subjective Well-Being Be Used to Inform Public Policy?
Dolan, P., & White, M. P. (2007) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00030.x · Cited by 416 · see citing works
Measuring Subjective Wellbeing: Recommendations on Measures for use by National Governments
DOLAN, P., & METCALFE, R. (2012) · Journal of Social Policy · doi:10.1017/s0047279411000833 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
Bartels, M. (2015) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1007/s10519-015-9713-y · Cited by 293 · see citing works
“84 for a period of 2 weeks to 1 month (Fujita and Diener 2005; Krueger and Schkade 2008).”
BackgroundExploring perceived stress among students in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic
Aslan, I., Ochnik, D., & Çınar, O. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17238961 · Cited by 255 · see citing works
Lindsay, E. K., Chin, B., Greco, C. M., Young, S., Brown, K. W., Wright, A. G. C., Smyth, J. M., Burkett, D., & Creswell, J. D. (2018) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000134 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
“Despite these challenges to increasing positive emotions, longitudinal evidence suggests that a subset of people do report increases in happiness (including positive emotional experience) over time (Fujita & Diener, 2005).”
The How, Why, What, When, and Who of Happiness
Layous, K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2014) · Positive Emotion · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926725.003.0025 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
The properties and antecedents of hedonic decline
Galak, J., & Redden, J. P. (2018) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011542 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Feller, S., Teucher, B., Kaaks, R., Boeing, H., & Vigl, M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073462 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fujita, F., & Diener, E.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University South Bend (US)
- ORCID
- Diener, Ed
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 88
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 158-164
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2151060465
- Cited by
- 821
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 34.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IUScholarWorks (Indiana University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- life satisfaction, set point, temporal stability, life events, personality traits, body mass index, blood pressure, income, subjective well-being, longitudinal change
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Blood Pressure, Body Height, Body Weight, Female, Germany, Humans, Income, Life Change Events, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Personality Assessment, Quality of Life, Time Factors, Body Mass Index
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