A statistical meta-analysis of the wellbeing literature

Abstract

This study employs an empirical meta-analysis to examine the livability factors of wellbeing and assess each precursor's relative significance. The effect size results of individual studies of existing academic work are pooled by the use of a variety of statistical techniques to determine a meta-effect that yields statistically more significant conclusions and is a more powerful measure in that it has the ability to identify results closer to the true outcomes. The metaanalysis in this paper covers 164 studies and 560 observations published prior to September 2013. After articulating definitions of the central concepts and tenets of the scholarly research on wellbeing, the analysis continues with a literature review identifying recurring factors of wellbeing and the associated correlation. To address the variation in the type of analysis that underlies each study, all studies are converted to an effect size using Fischer's z and then analyzed under the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model. The results largely confirm the findings in the literature but also reveal some surprises and suggest avenues for future research. The metaanalysis finds empirical support for the dimensions of living standard, health, freedom, personal and community relationships, peace, and security as significant livability factors of wellbeing.

Redefining Well-Being in Nations and Organizations

“…Andrada (2015) found that increases in income only increased life satisfaction up to a certain level of income as also noted by Eger (2015) above. This confirms earlier observations (for example, Dluhosch et al 2012;Easterlin 2015) that rich and poor countries can have identical life satisfaction levels.…”

“…Eger and Maridal (2015), carrying out a meta-analysis of causal factors, distinguishes between happiness (a short-term affective state) and life satisfaction (a longer-term cognitive experience) with a relatively low correlation between them in the World Values Survey, suggesting the two are different but related concepts, These are described by Eger and Maridal (2015: 47) as Evaluative Well-being (EWB) and Affective Wellbeing (AWB), see Figure 2.4 below.…”

“…Factors causing evaluative and affective well-being (with correlations found in a meta-analysis by Eger and Maridal 2015) include:…”

“…Health and Environment -objective indicators of health identified • in the literature include life expectancy, undernourishment, suicide rates, positive experiences, mental and physical suffering, and air, water and sanitation quality. As an example of reverse causality, EWB itself is also a predictor of future good health (Eger & Maridal 2015). Freedom -Political, economic, civil and religious.…”

Transforming legal education through emotions

“…There is considerable debate over the definition of 'wellbeing'; 143 however, the key definitions given in recent and Maridal refer to the emotional state of 'happiness' as one of two components required for wellbeing (the other being "life satisfaction"). 146 Somewhat surprisingly, to date, there is very little information on law student wellbeing which specifically relates to legal education in England and Wales, although there is evidence of increasing levels of psychological distress amongst university students generally. 147 However, there are substantial bodies of work, relating specifically to legal education, in both the US and Australia which can be considered.…”