Describe Myers and Diener findings (8)

• para 1: Age & gender

  Myers and Diener (1995) found that happiness is not strongly related to age or gender. Inglehart’s (1990) survey of 170,000 people from 16 countries showed all age groups reported similar life satisfaction. Gender also showed minimal effect, with 80% of both men and women reporting being ‘fairly satisfied’ with life.
• Para 2: Race & culture

  Cultural factors showed greater variation. People in individualist cultures reported higher subjective well-being (SWB) than those in collectivist cultures, likely because personal happiness is more valued. Additionally, African-Americans reported more happiness than European-Americans, and country-level differences were large – only 10% of Portuguese participants reported being happy versus 40% in the Netherlands.
• Para 3: money

  Money was not strongly linked to happiness. Although more Americans saw financial success as essential by 1993 (Astin et al.), Diener et al. (1993) found only a modest correlation (+0.12) between income and happiness. However, in poorer countries, money did have a stronger effect on SWB, showing it matters more when basic needs are unmet.
• Para 4: Happy people, relationships, work, religion

  Happy individuals typically had certain traits, including high self-esteem, optimism, a sense of control, and extraversion. they also tended to have strong social connections - married people and those with close friends were generally happier (Lee et Al. 1991; Burt, 1986). Work satisfaction and being absorbed in meaningful tasks, known as ’flow’ (Csikszentmihayli), also contributed to happiness. lastly religious people reported greater happiness, especially those with strong spiritual commitment (Gallup, 1984; Witter et Al., 1985)