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Major life events affect our wellbeing. However the comparative impact of different events, which often co-occur, has not been systematically evaluated, or studies assumed that the impacts are equivalent in both amplitude and duration, that different wellbeing domains are equally affected, and that individuals exhibit hedonic adaptation. We evaluat...
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... The set-point theory (Costa & McCrae, 1980;Headey, 2006;Headey & Wearing, 1989) explains that critical LEs can increase or decrease SWL for a short period of time after which SWL returns to the previous level or 'set-point'. However, some critical LEs (e.g., unemployment) can have long-term effects on SWL (Anusic et al., 2014a;Clark et al., 2008;Kettlewell et al., 2020;Richter et al., 2020). ...
There are considerable interindividual differences in adjustment processes in satisfaction with life (SWL) following critical life events. We focused on a collective life event, the German reunification in 1989/90, which prompted fundamental changes in the political, social, and economic conditions to investigate the heterogeneity of short- and long-term trajectories of SWL and their association with sociodemographic factors and internal migration. Using data (short-term: 1990–1994, long-term: 1990–2019) from the German Socioeconomic Panel (N = 5548), we applied growth mixture modelling with categorical time for short-term and continuous (quadratic) time for long-term trajectories. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations of the trajectories with internal migration (West German (reference)/East German non-migrants, East-West/West-East migrants), baseline characteristics (sex, age, education, marital status, employment status, household income) and changes (becoming not employed, becoming divorced/separated, change in household income). The best models indicated four classes both long- and short-term, with the majority showing high stable SWL (86.7% (short-term) vs. 62.3% (long-term)); other classes were ‘improvement’ (2.5%, vs. 16.4%), ‘decline-improvement’ (5.2% vs. 9.4%), and ‘decline’ (5.6% vs. 11.9%). For short-term trajectories, East German non-migrants and East-West migrants were more likely to show unstable trajectories. Long-term, both East German non-migrants and East-West migrants had higher odds of increasing SWL, whereas West-East migrants had higher chances for decline-improvement. Differential associations with baseline sociodemographic characteristics and changes thereof were found. The study highlights distinct SWL trajectories following the collective event of German reunification. These trajectories vary based on short- versus long-term perspectives, sociodemographic background, and internal migration patterns.
... Major life events (i.e., events that are clearly timed, disrupt one's everyday routine, and are personally significant) can cause changes in people's SWB (Luhmann et al., 2021;Luhmann et al., 2012;Yap et al., 2014). On average, people decrease in their SWB after experiencing negative events such as a separation or a job loss, and then recover in the months and years after the event occurred (e.g., Denissen et al., 2019;Kettlewell et al., 2020;Lucas, 2005Lucas, , 2007b. However, people react differently to major life events (Luhmann et al., 2021;Reitz, Luhmann, et al., 2022;Yap et al., 2014). ...
Negative life events can lead to lasting changes in subjective well-being (SWB). However, people change differently in their SWB after negative life events, and our understanding of factors explaining these individual differences is still limited—possibly because research so far has neglected to investigate differences in the characteristics of the experienced events (e.g., perceived impact, causes of the event). To address this gap, we examined whether perceived event characteristics and objective-descriptive characteristics of negative life events can explain individual differences in changes in SWB. We used data from a longitudinal study in which the SWB of participants (N = 1,068) who had recently experienced a negative life event was assessed at five measurement occasions over 6 months. Perceived event characteristics and objective-descriptive event characteristics were significantly related to each other. Furthermore, both kinds of event characteristics were associated with individual differences in changes in SWB. Finally, specification curve analyses illustrated that several analytical decisions (e.g., the examined SWB component) influenced the association between an event characteristic and changes in SWB. Results from these specification curve analyses can be accessed via a ShinyApp (https://life-event-research.shinyapps.io/EventCharacteristics/). Our findings provide insights into possible causes of the event perception and show that both perceived event characteristics and objective-descriptive event characteristics can help to better understand individual differences in the reaction to major life events. However, as effects seem to depend on several analytical decisions, future research is needed to identify the important characteristics of life events for different events and outcomes.
... Examples of environmental influences on wellbeing are positive and negative life events. Life events, including the death or illness of a close one, marriage, having children, and getting fired affect wellbeing, but the effects depend on specific event and individuals (innate) differ in their reactivity to them (Kettlewell et al., 2020;Luhmann, Hofmann, Eid, & Lucas, 2012). Bivariate twin models have also shown that wellbeing and life events partly share genetic influences (Wootton, Davis, Mottershaw, Wang, & Haworth, 2017). ...
Background
Wellbeing is relatively stable over the life span. However, individuals differ in this stability and change. One explanation for these differences could be the influence of different genetic or environmental factors on wellbeing over time.
Methods
To investigate causes of stability and change of wellbeing across the lifespan, we used cohort-sequential data on wellbeing from twins and their siblings of the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) (total N = 46.885, 56% females). We organized wellbeing data in multiple age groups, from childhood (age 5), to adolescence, up to old age (age 61+). Applying a longitudinal genetic simplex model, we investigated the phenotypic stability of wellbeing and continuity and change in genetic and environmental influences.
Results
Wellbeing peaked in childhood, decreased during adolescence, and stabilized during adulthood. In childhood and adolescence, around 40% of the individual differences was explained by genetic effects. The heritability decreased toward old adulthood (35–24%) and the contribution of unique environmental effects increased to 76%. Environmental innovation was found at every age, whereas genetic innovation was only observed during adolescence (10–18 years). In childhood and adulthood, the absence of genetic innovation indicates a stable underlying set of genes influencing wellbeing during these life phases.
Conclusion
These findings provide insights into the stability and change of wellbeing and the genetic and environmental influences across the lifespan. Genetic effects were mostly stable, except in adolescence, whereas the environmental innovation at every age suggests that changing environmental factors are a source of changes in individual differences in wellbeing over time.
... Individuals' well-being is significantly impacted by the continuous affective fluctuations experienced as a result of micro-daily events (Junça-Silva and Caetano 2011). It is crucial to recognize that well-being is highly contingent upon the unique experiences of each individual (Ke lewell et al. 2020). Nevertheless, the majority of research has primarily focused on subjective well-being. ...
Background: The present research relied on the affective events theory to develop a framework explaining how daily micro-events trigger affective reactions that, in turn, influence quality-of-life indicators (i.e., psychological well-being and COVID-19 stress). We further delineated theoretical arguments for curiosity as a boundary condition that moderated this relation and proposed the dark triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) as a threatening factor. Methods: We conducted two studies to test the model. Study one analyzed the moderated mediation model regarding COVID-19 stress (n = 241), and study two (n = 653) analyzed the model regarding psychological well-being as the outcome. Results: Study one demonstrated that daily hassles increased COVID-19 stress via a negative effect, but this was not contingent on the levels of curiosity and the dark triad traits. However, the mediating path of positive affect between daily uplifts and COVID-19 stress was conditional upon the levels of curiosity and the dark triad traits (Machiavellianism and psychopathy), such that when individuals scored high on curiosity and dark traits, the indirect effect became stronger. The results showed that narcissism did not moderate the moderated mediation relationship. Study two showed that daily uplifts boosted psychological well-being through positive affect, and this relation was dependent on curiosity and on the three dark traits, such that it became weaker as curiosity decreased and the dark triad traits increased. We also found that daily hassles, by triggering negative affect, decreased psychological well-being, in particular for those who scored lower on curiosity and higher on psychopathy and narcissism (but not for Machiavellianism). Conclusions: Overall, COVID-19 stress seems to be more responsive to daily hassles than to daily uplifts. Nevertheless, when daily uplifts are factored in, they foster a sense of well-being that helps reduce COVID-19-related stress, especially in individuals who are naturally curious and exhibit high levels of Machiavellian and psychopathic traits. Conversely, psychological well-being appears to be more influenced by situational factors, as it is affected by both types of daily micro-events. We discuss the implications of both studies in light of the affective events theory.
... To our knowledge, only one study on life satisfaction attempted to jointly model all events available in a dataset. Kettlewell et al. (2020) used Australian panel data to estimate effects of 22 life events on life satisfaction and affect comparing results from individual and combined event models. The trajectories of life satisfaction-controlling for the occurrence of other life events-differed slightly from those of the individual event models. ...
... Such a procedure leads to the second problem, however, because control for subsequent events can additionally introduce spurious associations via collider bias (Elwert & Winship, 2014;Rohrer, 2018;Wysocki et al., 2022). For example, Kettlewell et al. (2020) reported that "the unconditional positive effect of pregnancy on cognitive well-being was all but reversed once concurrent events (childbirth) were accounted for" (p. 5). ...
... To gauge the extent to which the effects of life events confound each other, and whether overcontrol bias could cause issues depending on the model specification, we contrasted models in which each event is considered individually with models that control for either all other life events or only the preceding life events. In the first combined event model, we adopted a total control strategy and included other life events as control variables regardless of when they occurred (similar to Kettlewell et al., 2020). In the second combined event model, we adopted a control strategy that aimed to strike a balance between two types of confounding: First, to reduce undercontrol bias, we controlled for preceding life events, and second, to reduce the risk of overcontrol bias, we refrained from Note. ...
How do life events affect life satisfaction? Previous studies focused on a single event or separate analyses of several events. However, life events are often grouped non-randomly over the lifespan, occur in close succession, and are causally linked, raising the question of how to best analyze them jointly. Here, we used representative German data (SOEP; N = 40,121 individuals; n = 41,402 event occurrences) to contrast three fixed-effects model specifications: First, individual event models in which other events were ignored, which are thus prone to undercontrol bias; second, combined event models which controlled for all events, including subsequent ones, which may induce overcontrol bias; and third, our favored combined models that only controlled for preceding events. In this preferred model, the events of new partner, cohabitation, marriage, and childbirth had positive effects on life satisfaction, while separation, unemployment, and death of partner or child had negative effects. Model specification made little difference for employment- and bereavement-related events. However, for events related to romantic relationships and childbearing, small but consistent differences arose between models. Thus, when estimating effects of new partners, separation, cohabitation, marriage, and childbirth, care should be taken to include appropriate controls (and omit inappropriate ones) to minimize bias.
... It is true that major financial loss negatively impacted the well-being of the event businesses (Kettlewell et al., 2020). However, organising an event during a pandemic also posed numerous risks and raised a slew of difficulties. ...
... There were also a few informants who admitted that their company was heading towards bankruptcy because they were unable to pay their current debts, and their available assets were used to pay the outstanding amount or a portion of their liabilities. Not to mention, the financial loss faced by organisers produced the largest negative impact on the client (Kettlewell et al., 2020). Some confessed that their businesses had gone bankrupt after facing huge losses that were impossible to recover from. ...
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of COVID-19 on Malaysian entertainment events by examining the risk assessments, responses and control measures taken by event organisers. Utilising a qualitative method, in-depth interviews were conducted with seven informants-organisers who actively organised entertainment events before the COVID-19 pandemic. From the coding analysis using the Atlas.ti software, four major themes emerged: event cancellation and postponement, financial loss, unemployment and unsatisfactory virtual events. However, there is a limitation in the context of previous literature, especially in the creative industry. The findings are relevant to event managers, who can use the insights as a reference for their business growth and consolidation.
... We did not include major life events in our model because they can act as mediators that result from age and affect the response variable (i.e., MHI-5 scores) (47). We also did not include other potential mediators of the effect of age on mental ill-health such as health status, relationship status, employment status, household income, or region. ...
Given the observed deterioration in mental health among Australians over the past decade, this study investigates to what extent this differs in people born in different decades—i.e., possible birth cohort differences in the mental health of Australians. Using 20 y of data from a large, nationally representative panel survey ( N = 27,572), we find strong evidence that cohort effects are driving the increase in population-level mental ill-health. Deteriorating mental health is particularly pronounced among people born in the 1990s and seen to a lesser extent among the 1980s cohort. There is little evidence that mental health is worsening with age for people born prior to the 1980s. The findings from this study highlight that it is the poorer mental health of Millennials that is driving the apparent deterioration in population-level mental health. Understanding the context and changes in society that have differentially affected younger people may inform efforts to ameliorate this trend and prevent it continuing for emerging cohorts.
... According to Diener (2000), subjective well-being has three characteristic elements: its subjective nature, which is based on the person's own experience; its global dimension, as it includes an assessment or judgment of all aspects of one's life; and the necessary inclusion of positive measures, as its nature goes beyond the mere absence of negative factors. In this regard, several studies have shown the importance of examining life events in their impact on well-being (Kettlewell et al., 2020). ...
Introducción: La satisfacción con la vida ha demostrado ser un indicador importante de bienestar físico y mental en las personas, y puede verse afectada por eventos vitales tales como la pérdida de un ser querido. Por consiguiente, el presente estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar la relación entre un conjunto de variables sociodemográficas y la satisfacción con la vida en población mexicana que perdió un ser querido durante la pandemia por COVID-19. Método: Se realizó un estudio de tipo transversal, en el cual se aplicó la Escala de satisfacción con la vida a una muestra total de 4875 participantes de México. Resultados: Los hallazgos confirmaron que, a mayor edad, tener un trabajo y educación superior se asociaron con una mayor satisfacción con la vida. Por otra parte, el uso de medicación psiquiátrica y un mayor tiempo transcurrido desde la pérdida se relacionaron con menor satisfacción con la vida. Conclusiones: El estudio respalda la necesidad de construir redes de apoyo entre la población y los servicios de salud mental, con especial énfasis en algunas subpoblaciones de mayor vulnerabilidad.
... Although there are many studies in the literature examining the relationship between life events and happiness [27][28][29][30] or coping strategies and happiness [24,25,[31][32][33][34][35], there are still some unexplained gaps in the way these coping strategies used together and life events effect coping strategies of individuals. ...
Young people have to cope with many negative life events and stress factors to maintain their happiness. Although there are studies on how they benefit from different coping strategies and their results, there is no study that profiles/groups young people according to negative life events and coping styles. From this point of view, the study aims to determine different life events classes and stress coping profiles in young people, and to examine the differences in happiness among the new groups created according to the discovered classes and profiles. Participants consisted of 1093 young people (M = 21.08) from different state universities in Turkey. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted, resulting in a 3 profile solution characterizing coping strategies: Positive-oriented (26.8%), slightly positive-oriented (50%), and negative-oriented (23.2%) coping strategy profiles . Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted, resulting in a 2 class solution characterizing negative life events: More negative (40.1%) and less negative (59.9%) life events classes. For the purpose of the study, the profiles created with the latent profile analysis and the latent class analysis were considered together and the participants were divided into 6 groups. These groups differed significantly in terms of happiness. The group with the highest level of happiness is the group with positive-oriented coping strategies and less negative life conditions ( μ = 4.35, p < .001), and the group with the lowest level of happiness is the group with negative-oriented coping strategies and more negative life conditions ( μ = 3.48, p < .001). However, the findings indicated that a positive-oriented coping strategy profile (the profile that scored high on positive coping strategies and low on negative coping strategies) offers the most promising route to happiness whether experienced negative life events are less or more.
... In the empirical literature, studies across the board found an immediate reduction in subjective wellbeing after a chronic disease onset. [8][9][10][11][12] Concerning the long-term effects, however, the empirical evidence is more mixed. Some studies reported that subjective wellbeing bounced back after a health shock, implying a return to pre-onset wellbeing in the long term. ...
... Some studies reported that subjective wellbeing bounced back after a health shock, implying a return to pre-onset wellbeing in the long term. 11,13 Other studies found very little wellbeing recovery, showing persistently lower wellbeing levels after the onset of a chronic disease. 8,10 A third stream of studies reported differential outcomes, where some groups achieved more favourable long-term wellbeing development than others. ...
... The finding that individual wellbeing was reduced immediately after the onset of a chronic illness is in line with previous literature. [10][11][12]14 In this study, the wellbeing drop was observed both for health and life satisfaction and held when controlling for demographic, socioeconomic and health-related variables. The immediate level effect was larger for health satisfaction than for life satisfaction. ...
Background
Experiencing the onset of a chronic disease is a serious health event impacting living conditions and wellbeing. Investigating wellbeing development and its predictors is crucial to understand how individuals adapt to chronic illnesses. This study (i) analyzed the impact of a chronic disease on wellbeing development, and (ii) explored spatial healthcare access as potential moderating factor.
Methods
Data were obtained from the German Socio-economic Panel, a nationally representative household survey. A prospective sample of 3847 individuals was identified for whom the onset of cancer, cardiopathy, diabetes or stroke was observed between 2008 and 2020. Mixed models using an interrupted time series approach were performed to identify immediate level changes and longitudinal trend changes in wellbeing (operationalized with health and life satisfaction) after disease onset. Further, spatial access to healthcare (operationalized by two-stage floating catchment area measures) as potential moderating factor was examined using interaction effects.
Results
Chronic disease onset had an immediate negative level impact on health and life satisfaction. For health satisfaction, a negative pre-onset wellbeing trend was offset (but not reversed). A small positive trend was observed for life satisfaction after disease onset. Spatial access to healthcare was not associated with the magnitude of wellbeing reduction at onset.
Conclusions
Health and life satisfaction levels drop with the onset of a chronic disease with no recovery trend for health and little recovery for life satisfaction, implying persistently lower wellbeing levels after a chronic illness onset. Spatial access to healthcare does not affect the wellbeing change after disease onset.
