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Reiff and colleagues found that perceived similarity between one’s present and future self is positively associated with life satisfaction 10 years later, using a difference-score approach to operationalize similarity. This study further evaluated the similarity effect by reproducing the original longitudinal association with a difference-score method, by using more sophisticated analyses (i.e., polynomial regression and response surface analyses), and by replicating the association in a newly collected sample. We were able to reproduce and replicate the findings based on a difference-score approach. However, we did not find a similarity effect in either sample using more sophisticated approaches. The current results show that previously reported support for the association between perceived similarity and well-being is driven by the statistical main effects of personality reports.

Social support has been proposed to be a protective factor that buffers the losses that result from the experience of negative life events. The present study uses data from a large-scale Australian panel study (the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey) to examine how life satisfaction changes following the onset of a disabling condition and then to test whether preevent or postevent social support moderates reactions to this event. Results show that the onset of a disabling condition is associated with a large decline in life satisfaction, but these changes are not moderated by preevent social support. Postevent social support does moderate change in response to the onset of a disability, but ambiguities in the interpretation of this association must be considered.

Previous research suggests global assessments of cognitive well-being—life satisfaction—are relatively stable over time. Far fewer studies have examined the extent to which experiential measures of affective well-being—the moods/emotions people regularly experience—are stable, especially over extended periods of time. The present study used longitudinal data from a representative sample of Germans to investigate the long-term stability of different components of well-being. Participants provided global ratings of life satisfaction and affect, along with experiential measures of well-being up to 3 times over 2 years. Results indicated between one-third and one half of the variance in people’s daily affect was attributable to trait-like latent variables. Replicating meta-analytic findings, 50% of the variance in global measures of well-being was attributable to trait-like latent variables.

Subjective well-being (SWB) reflects an overall evaluation of the quality of a person’s life from his or her perspective. Although SWB is typically studied at the individual level, social scientists have become increasingly interested in the well-being of broader regions like cities, states, or nations. The current study examines the association between aggregate well-being and an important behavioral indicator of regional success: migration and population growth. Using life satisfaction data from over 2 million respondents, along with population data from 2000 to 2010, I show that U.S. counties with higher levels of life satisfaction grew at substantially faster rates than did counties with low life satisfaction. Supplemental analyses showed that this association was not due to regional differences in birth or death rates. Instead, counties with high life satisfaction experienced high levels of domestic migration. These results show the validity and utility of life satisfaction measures at the regional level.

Life satisfaction (LS) is prospectively associated with the occurrence of several major events in work and family life. Analyzing longitudinal data from three nationally representative panel studies (Ns between 2,321 and 18,692), the authors found that higher LS is associated with a higher likelihood of marriage and childbirth, and with a lower likelihood of marital separation, job loss, starting a new job, and relocating. These effects held even after controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic status, and the Big Five, and were highly consistent across the three samples. Discrete-time survival analyses indicated that for most of these events, temporary rather than stable mechanisms account for the prospective effect of LS. Together, these findings provide evidence that LS is an important predictor of major life outcomes.