Health and happiness: cross-sectional household surveys in Finland, Poland and Spain.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the associations between health and how people evaluate and experience their lives.


METHODS
We analysed data from nationally-representative household surveys originally conducted in 2011-2012 in Finland, Poland and Spain. These surveys provided information on 10 800 adults, for whom experienced well-being was measured using the Day Reconstruction Method and evaluative well-being was measured with the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Health status was assessed by questions in eight domains including mobility and self-care. We used multiple linear regression, structural equation models and multiple indicators/multiple causes models to explore factors associated with experienced and evaluative well-being.


RESULTS
The multiple indicator/multiple causes model conducted over the pooled sample showed that respondents with younger age (effect size, β = 0.19), with higher levels of education (β = -0.12), a history of depression (β = -0.17), poor health status (β = 0.29) or poor cognitive functioning (β = 0.09) reported worse experienced well-being. Additional factors associated with worse evaluative well-being were male sex (β = -0.03), not living with a partner (β = 0.07), and lower occupational (β = -0.07) or income levels (β = 0.08). Health status was the factor most strongly correlated with both experienced and evaluative well-being, even after controlling for a history of depression, age, income and other sociodemographic variables.


CONCLUSIONS
Health status is an important correlate of well-being. Therefore, strategies to improve population health would also improve people's well-being.
Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain .
Marta
M
Miret
Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain .
Francisco Félix
FF
Caballero
Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland .
Somnath
S
Chatterji
CIBERSAM, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain .
Beatriz
B
Olaya
Department of Medical Sociology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland .
Beata
B
Tobiasz-Adamczyk
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland .
Seppo
S
Koskinen
Fondazione IRCCS, Neurological Institute Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy .
Matilde
M
Leonardi
CIBERSAM, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain .
Josep Maria
JM
Haro
Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, CIBERSAM, C/ Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain .
José Luis
JL
Ayuso-Mateos
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006240:Happiness; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland; D013030:Spain