Individual differences in changes in subjective well-being: The role of event characteristics after negative life events.

Abstract

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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).