Cross-National Comparison of Age and Period Effects on Levels of Subjective Well-Being in Australia and Switzerland During Volatile Economic Times (2001–2016)

Abstract

Subjective well-being is one of the most frequently used indicators in comparative and social indicators research. Although there is a plethora of research examining the associations between levels of subjective well-being and individual factors such as age, gender, education, health, marital status and employment status, less is known about period effects. In this paper, we seek to examine whether levels of subjective well-being of various age cohorts vary across four time points in Australia and Switzerland. We draw on data collected by the Swiss Household Panel and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia projects between 2001 and 2016 to compare trends within and between these two countries across time. These data allow us to examine the effects of different institutional settings and economic conditions on levels of subjective well-being. Our analysis shows, firstly, for both countries a similar age effect with a nonlinear U-shaped relationship between age and subjective well-being. Secondly, we find consistently lower levels of subjective well-being in Australia for the cohort born between 1961 and 1965 whereas no such period effect could be observed for Switzerland. Thirdly, while marital status, age and being unemployed have similar effects on levels of subjective well-being in both countries, patterns in the effects of other indicators differ. For example, after controlling for sex, age, household income, marital status, employment status and health, education is positively associated with subjective well-being in Switzerland but negatively associated with subjective well-being in Australia.