Predictors of life satisfaction in a large representative sample from Italy

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0003-4401-3578

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Current Psychology

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Abstract

© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Life Satisfaction is a key indicator of subjective well-being and represents its cognitive component, measuring individuals’ judgment of their own lives. The aim of this study is to analyze the predictors of Life Satisfaction in a large Italian representative sample. To this end, we consider sociodemographic characteristics and other variables identified in the literature as central to Life Satisfaction. These variables are satisfaction with standards of living, household income satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and social support. Cross-sectional. The data were extracted from the Gallup World Poll which has collected nationally representative samples from Italy since 2005. The total number of participants was 14,039 individuals aged 15 and above (58.3% females, Mage = 48.74, SDage = 16.43). The results show that women score significantly lower than men on Life Satisfaction and that Life Satisfaction declines with age. Furthermore, satisfaction with standards of living is the strongest predictor of Life Satisfaction. Household income satisfaction, positive affect, social support, and negative affect, respectively, follow. Present findings demonstrate that researchers and policy-makers need to pay attention to a wide range of economic and psycho-social factors in order to understand and improve Life Satisfaction in Italy.

ISSN

1046-1310

Publisher

Springer New York LLC

Last Page

19

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Income, Italian representative sample, Life satisfaction, Negative affect, Positive affect, Social support

Scopus ID

85067043594

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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