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Previous research has shown that having rich neighbors is associated with reduced levels of subjective well-being, an effect that is likely due to social comparison. The current study examined the role of income inequality as a moderator of this relative income effect. Multilevel analyses were conducted on a sample of more than 1.7 million people from 2,425 counties in the United States. Results showed that higher income inequality was associated with stronger relative income effects. In other words, people were more strongly influenced by the income of their neighbors when income inequality was high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Identifying reliable patterns of age differences in personality can help clarify the nature of adult personality development. Previous studies have been limited because many have relied on convenience samples. In this study, we examined age differences in personality in two nationally representative samples, one from Switzerland and one from the United States. The results indicated that Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were positively associated with age, whereas Extraversion was negatively associated with age. However, the magnitude of age differences for Extraversion was much smaller than for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Openness showed a more complex trend such that 30- to 34-year-olds scored lower on Openness than younger age groups, whereas older groups scored somewhere in between. Inconsistent age differences were observed for Neuroticism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported testing of a number of well-being scales for potential use on public health surveillance systems. The purpose of this study was to examine the descriptive and psychometric properties of the scales (i.e. Satisfaction with Life, Meaning in Life, Positive and Negative Affect,Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness, and global and domain-specific life satisfaction) and to examine the distribution of well-being levels in a representative sample of community-dwelling US adults (N = 5,399) using a stratified analysis. The scales demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. Responses were negatively skewed, with most respondents reporting mildly positive levels of subjective well-being. With the exception of autonomy, competence, and relatedness scales, all scales demonstrated good variability across socio-demographic subgroups. Older age and higher levels of education, and income, were associated with higher levels of subjective well-being. Most of the examined scales and related items merit consideration for continued testing in telephone surveys used in public health surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diener (2000) proposed that National Accounts of Well- Being be created to complement existing economic and social indicators that reflect the quality of life in nations. These national accounts can provide valuable information to policymakers and other leaders. Systematic measurement of subjective well-being provides novel information about the quality of life in societies, and it allows for the accumulation of detailed information regarding the circumstances that are associated with high subjective wellbeing. Thus, accounts of subjective well-being can help decision makers evaluate policies that improve societies beyond economic development. Progress with well-being accounts has been notable: Prestigious scientific and international institutions have recommended the creation of such national accounts, and these recommendations have been adopted in some form in over 40 nations. In addition, increasing research into policy-relevant questions reveals the importance o f the accounts for policy. Psychologists can enlarge their role in the formulation and adoption of policies by actively studying and using accounts of subjective well-being to evaluate and support the policies they believe are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weather conditions have been shown to affect a broad range of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The current study examines whether these effects extend to life satisfaction judgments. We examine the association between daily weather conditions and life satisfaction in a representative sample of over 1 million Americans from all 50 states who were assessed (in a cross-sectional design) over a 5-year period. Most daily weather conditions were unrelated to life satisfaction judgments, and those effects that were significant reflect very small effects that were only detectable because of the extremely high power of these analyses. These results show that weather does not reliably affect judgments of life satisfaction., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)