Money, Age and Happiness: Association of Subjective Wellbeing with Socio-Demographic Variables

Abstract

The relationship between happiness and socio-demographic variables (age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational level) was examinated, this with a Latin American sample and its association with Subjective wellbeing given the controversial empirical evidence of their relationship. We surveyed a total of 520 people (300 women and 220 men) between the ages of 18 and 29 with an average of 21.26 years and a standard deviation of 2.47 to answer the subjective happiness scale. The happiness variable was categorized, and the subjects were reorganized in happy and non-happy groups. From the use of main component analysis and logistic regressions, the main results show that variables which best characterize the happiness levels are age and socioeconomic status. Specifically, the results indicate that higher age within the sample, predicts lower levels of happiness. On the other side, at a higher socioeconomic level, people are happier. In addition, there are no differences between genders.