Abstract
Purpose: To examine the effect of health comparisons on affective (AWB) and cognitive well-being (CWB) in older adults longitudinally.Methods: Data were derived from the third and fourth wave of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) which is a population-based prospective cohort study of community-dwelling subjects in Germany aged 40 and above (with 8,277 observations in fixed effects regressions). Health comparisons were assessed by the question “How would you rate your health compared with other people your age” (Much better; somewhat better; the same; somewhat worse, much worse). While AWB was quantified by using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), CWB was assessed by using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Fixed effects regressions were used to analyze the effect of health comparisons on AWB and CWB.Results: While positive health comparisons only slightly increased CWB (total sample), negative health comparisons markedly decreased CWB (total sample and women), and negative affects (women). Neither positive nor negative health comparisons affected positive affects.Conclusions: Our findings stress the importance of negative health comparisons for CWB and negative affects in women. Comparison effects are asymmetric and in most cases upwards. Consequently, designing interventions to avoid upwards health comparisons might be a fruitful approach in order to maintain AWB and CWB.
Highlights
In 1974, Richard Easterlin published a widely cited and famous study about the relation between subjective well-being and monetary growth
This paradox is often explained by the assumption that subjective well-being (SWB) is Health Comparisons and Subjective Well-Being affected by income in relative terms rather than in absolute terms
Most of the previous studies in industrialized countries found that individuals have a markedly lower SWB when their income is lower than the income of a reference group
Summary
In 1974, Richard Easterlin published a widely cited and famous study about the relation between subjective well-being and monetary growth. In industrialized countries increases in income over time do not increase SWB in the long run This paradox is often explained by the assumption that SWB is Health Comparisons and Subjective Well-Being affected by income in relative terms rather than in absolute terms. This means that the perception of individual income might be mainly affected by the income in comparison to other individuals (reference group, e.g., individuals of the same age cohort)—the “comparison income.”. Some of these studies found that the effect of upwards comparisons is more pronounced in men This idea of asymmetric effects was introduced by Duesenberry (1949). They found that you are angrier about losing $100 than you are satisfied about gaining $100. Baumeister et al (2001) concludes that bad events are more powerful than good events
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