Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

ESS Round 6 - Question Module Design Final Template 1

Module Title: Personal and social well-being

Module Authors: Felicia Huppert, Nic Marks, Juliet Michaelson, Carmelo Vázquez and Joar Vittersø.

SECTION A: Theoretical background, aims and objectives

Introduction

An explicit aim of the European Union is to promote the well-being of its peoples. 2 We argued in our
module application to create the original well-being module in Round 3 of ESS, that there should therefore
be systematic and detailed well-being accounts for all nations within the EU. Such accounts are required to
compare and contrast the effects of different political and social policies and contexts on the levels of well-
being experienced by citizens. These predominantly subjective well-being indicators would complement
existing objective measures such as socio-economic indicators, which currently provide the most common
methods for measuring progress. The dominance of indicators such as GDP was based on the long-held
assumption that economic prosperity would bring happiness, but it has been known for some time that this
assumption is no longer viable. There is a relationship at low levels of income, but the marginal utility of
increasing income in developed countries is small or negligible (Easterlin, 2003; Layard, 2005).

The resulting need to rethink how to measure progress and better understand the determinants of well-
being was a driving force behind the original Well-being Module included in ESS Round 3 (‘’the Well-being
Module’). Clearly, we need to measure people’s experience of their lives, and not just the objective facts
about their lives, such as income or GDP.

Collecting repeat data on the items included in the Well-being Module is a core part of the effort to create a
set of national well-being accounts. For these to be effective and useful, they must involve regular
measurement so that the levels of different measures can be tracked over time. Repeating the module
therefore forms a critical part of the objective to use ESS data to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness
of this sort of approach. European and national statistics offices are becoming more interested in this field
and some are starting to collect some data. However, it is clear that there is still some way to go before
they are collecting the full range of subjective variables required to provide a full picture of European well-
being.

Why does well-being matter?

The idea that well-being is a valuable end in itself seems irrefutable. There can be few nations which would
not wish their citizens and communities to flourish. But beyond this general ideology, there are sound
practical reasons for prioritising and promoting well-being. The evidence from large national and cross-
national surveys shows that individuals with higher well-being as indicated by measures of happiness or life
satisfaction, tend to be more productive, have higher incomes, more stable marriages, and better health
and life expectancy (Diener, 2000; Judge et al, 2001). These cross-sectional associations are supported
by longitudinal evidence. For instance, a meta-analysis by Chida & Steptoe (2008) showed that positive
feelings or attitudes at one point in the life course were associated with increased health and longevity later
in life. A range of experimental research further confirms that higher levels of well-being or positive
emotions produce a range of beneficial outcomes including a broader focus of attention and more creative
thinking (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005), more tolerance and generosity towards others (Forgas, 2002), a

1 Citation reference: European Social Survey (2013) Round 6 Module on Personal and Social Wellbeing – Final
Module in Template. London: Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University London.
2
According to the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon ‘The Union's aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its
peoples.’ Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12007L/htm/C2007306EN.01001001.htm

1
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
healthier physiological response to stress (Fredrickson et al, 2000), reduced likelihood of developing a cold
when a common cold virus is introduced into the nostrils (Cohen et al, 2003) and a better immune response
to the influenza vaccine (Davidson et al, 2003). Taken together, the evidence shows that well-being or
positive emotions lead to positive behaviours, increased cognitive capability and health, and that positive
behaviours, capabilities and health in turn fuel well-being and positive emotions. Well-being therefore
matters as an outcome in its own right, as well as in light of its benefits for individuals and society.

Conceptual Framework
People’s subjective well-being (SWB) has usually been conceptualised in terms of people’s emotional
responses (good or bad feelings) and their cognitive or evaluative responses e.g. ‘satisfaction’ (Kahneman
et al, 1999; Diener, 1984; Veenhoven, 2000). However, as noted in our original application, this
conceptualisation regards well-being as a state rather than a process (Rogers, 1961). It focuses on having
positive feelings or evaluations, as opposed to doing certain things that lead to lasting pleasure or fulfilment
(Vitterso, 2004). This distinction was fundamental to the development of the Well-being Module. It parallels
two distinct philosophical approaches to well-being – the hedonic approach which emphasises positive
feelings (Kahneman et al, 1999) versus the eudaimonic approach which emphasises positive functioning
(Keyes, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2001; Sen 1996).

The eudaimonic approach has been operationalised in various ways, and typically includes concepts such
as autonomy or self-determination, interest and engagement, positive relationships, and a sense of
meaning, direction or purpose in life (Ryff & Singer, 1998; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Diener et al, 2010; Seligman,
2002). Items designed to capture the range of eudaimonic concepts were included in the Well-being
Module. However, in terms of theory underpinning the different conceptualisations of functioning or
eudaimonic well-being, each scholar (or pair of scholars) drew on different traditions. The six well-being
dimensions proposed by Ryff & Singer (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive
relations, purpose in life, self acceptance) derived from developmental psychology and psychodynamic
theory. The three concepts described by Deci & Ryan (autonomy, competence, relatedness) came from the
humanistic approach and the perspective of psychological ‘needs’. Seligman’s core concepts (pleasure,
engagement, meaning) combined hedonic well-being with key aspects of Aristotle’s theory and
Csikszentmihalyi’s work on ‘flow’ (1988), while Diener’s conceptualization was influenced by all these
earlier approaches plus the evidence that optimism is important for successful functioning and well-being
(Scheier & Carver, 2003) and the work of Putnam (2000) and Helliwell et al (2009) showing that ‘social
capital’ is basic to the well-being of societies. Indeed, the evidence on the importance of social connections
to well-being (Helliwell and Putnam 2005; Diener and Seligman, 2002) led us to ensure that the Well-being
Module included detailed measures of social as well as personal well-being.

While there is substantial overlap between these different conceptualizations, they are essentially
idiosyncratic. Since the development and utilization of the original Well-being Module in ESS Round 3, work
has been undertaken to bring together competing accounts of well-being into a coherent model, with
particular emphasis on its relevance to policy. In 2008, the UK Government Office for Science published
the results of its Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing (Government Office of Science, 2008).
The project aimed to use the best available scientific and other evidence to develop a vision for mental
capital and mental well-being over the next 20 years. As part of this project, the New Economics
Foundation (nef) examined the definitions of well-being used by policy makers and compared them to the
taxonomy of well-being models developed by Dolan et al (2006), who produced five categories of models:
1) preference satisfaction; 2) basic needs 3; 3) flourishing; 4) hedonic; and 5) evaluative. Rather than seeing
these models in competition with each other to describe a static construct, the nef model viewed the
various approaches as describing different aspects or stages of a dynamic process (Thompson and Marks,
2008).

In this model, functioning well (eudaimonic well-being) results from a combination of enabling conditions
and psychological resources. Enabling conditions include opportunities and obstacles, inequalities, social
norms and culture, while psychological resources include such characteristics as resilience, optimism and
self-esteem. In turn, functioning well feeds back into enabling conditions and determines one’s experience
of and cognitive judgments about life (e.g. happiness, satisfaction, interest, boredom and distress), and
experience of life in turn feeds back into psychological resources (see Figure 1). The value of this dynamic

3 Dolan et al (2006a) call this category “Objective lists”, although also use the term “basic needs” interchangeably.
2
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
model is that it generates clear hypotheses and predictions about the way in which relevant concepts are
linked, and particularly about how change in relevant variables will influence and be influenced by well-
being.

Figure 1: The dynamic model of well-being (Foresight, 2008)

Because of the inclusive nature of this model, and its policy relevance, we propose to use it as the primary
conceptual framework to inform the design of the repeat Well-being Module. The model can be seen as
accounting better for some of the items which were previously conceptualized according to the feelings-
functionings duality in the structure of the module (Huppert and Marks, 2007). For example, optimism and
self-esteem, previously described as sitting with feelings, are better described as aspects of cognitive style
and personality, rather than experiences or affect, and therefore can be seen as sitting more coherently
with the psychological resources element of the dynamic model.

However, our intention is not to use this model to the exclusion of all others. It is primarily a description of
individual well-being, and while this includes social connections as a core part of its 'functioning' element, it
does not give as much emphasis to social well-being as the Well-being Module was designed to do and
which we intended to retain. The distinction between personal and social well-being will therefore remain a
core part of the module.

We see it as a key strength of the module that it can be used to operationalise and test a number of
different models of well-being. Another initiative to conceptualise well-being in a less idiosyncratic, more
objective manner stems from a second theoretical model adopted in the Foresight Report, which proposes
that well-being can be described as a bell-shaped spectrum from very low (corresponding to common
mental disorder such as anxiety or depression) to very high (mental ‘flourishing’), with most people having
moderate levels of well-being. Huppert (2009) has used this model to suggest that ‘that the way to reduce
the prevalence of common mental disorder in the long term is to intervene at the general population level’
to improve levels of well-being (see Figure 2).

Using this model, Huppert and So (2009) developed an operational definition of flourishing by examining
how academics and clinicians had defined the lower end of the mental health or well-being spectrum but
taking the opposite pole. The resulting definition of flourishing led to the creation of a psychological
flourishing scale, using a number of items from the Well-being Module. They then established the
prevalence of flourishing across Europe and the factors associated with it. This analysis was presented to
an OECD meeting in 2009 (Huppert & So, 2009) and published in 2011 (Huppert & So, 2011).

3
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

Figure 2: The effect of shifting the mean of the mental health spectrum (Huppert, 2009)

Is well-being more than life satisfaction?

The vast majority of surveys continue to use single-item measures of happiness or life satisfaction as their
sole indicator of subjective well-being. This is entirely legitimate and undoubtedly cost effective if a single
item can capture the essence of the concept. However, there are several reasons why we argue that this is
not the case. First, deciding on how satisfied one is with one’s life requires a complex integration of
experience and expectations. A high score on a life satisfaction measure can be obtained if an individual
generally has a sense that life is going well, or if life is not going particularly well but they have low
expectations. This is a particular problem if such a measure is to be used to evaluate the success of a
policy, since it is unclear whether change in this measure reflects a change in experience or a change in
expectations.

Another concern relates to the “pleasantness bias” of life satisfaction measures. A number of studies have
demonstrated that the most commonly used indicators of satisfaction and happiness are quite insensitive to
important life processes. For example, they do not capture processes involved in the realization of
important life projects and the engagement in long term goals and challenging activities. By contrast, life
satisfaction measures are both predictive of and responsive to more passive activities and to episodes
characterized by routine and familiarity (see Vittersø, in press; Vittersø, et al., 2010, for overviews). We
have therefore argued that more direct measures of experience are required and a number of these were
included in the Round 3 Well-being Module.

On the other hand, if more direct measures of well-being are very highly correlated with scores on a life
satisfaction item, then one could argue that for many purposes a life satisfaction item is sufficient. In an
OECD briefing document (Huppert & So, 2009) an operationally defined measure of flourishing correlated
only 0.3 with scores on the life satisfaction measure from the core ESS. However, one third of the
flourishing group did not obtain a high score on life satisfaction and half of those with high life satisfaction
did not meet criteria for flourishing. To the extent that the flourishing measure is a good way to
conceptualise subjective well-being, a single item about life satisfaction is not an adequate substitute. We
conclude that national indicators of well-being need to go beyond a simple measure of life satisfaction.

Since the original Well-being Module, recognition of the importance of a more nuanced measure of well-
being has become more widespread, with a number of well-being scales produced to which we have
referred in producing our module. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale - WEMWBS (Tennant
et al, 2007) is a 14-item scale designed to measure both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of positive
mental well-being. It has been used in population surveys, Scotland, the North West of England and
Iceland (Bartram et al., 2010; Deacon et al., 2010; Stewart-Brown and Janmohamed, 2008) and has been
recommended for use by the US National Institutes of Health. Diener whose 5-item Satisfaction With Life
Scale (SWILS - Diener et al, 1985) has been very widely used in survey research, has recently developed
an 8-item measure of general flourishing which looks very promising, although it has so far been
administered only to student samples. Keyes has also recently produced a short form of the Mental Health
4
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Continuum (MHC-SF) which measures dimensions of emotional well-being, psychological well-being and
social well-being, using single items from each dimension in the long form of the scale (Keyes, 2009). We
have used these scales as reference points when designing new items for the module.

From personal to social well-being

The recognition that the way in which an individual relates to others and to their society is a key aspect of
their subjective well-being led us to conceptualise and measure social well-being in the original Well-being
Module. We considered social well-being to include both interpersonal and societal-level experiences and
behaviours. The literature has emphasized the centrality of social support for good interpersonal
relationships, but more recent work has highlighted the importance of supporting others. For instance
Brown et al (2003) found that helping others was more beneficial for health than receiving help, and Dunn
et al (2008) showed in an experimental study that spending money on others led to greater well-being that
spending money on oneself. Social policy has begun to recognize and utilize the well-being benefits of
giving or doing things for others through encouraging a greater role for the voluntary sector in service
delivery and increased community engagement.

Societal level well-being is important due to effects of experienced social well-being on individual well-
being, and because perceptions of societal well-being act as indicators of the well-being of the society. It
may be difficult for a society to flourish if its members do not have high levels of well-being, but a society
might not flourish even if most of its members display high levels of personal well-being, e.g. because of its
attitude towards minority groups. Research on social capital tends to use objective measures of social
connectedness and shows that average levels are linked to happiness and satisfaction, health and
productivity (Putnam, 2000; Helliwell & Putnam, 2005). We make a case for including additional subjective
measures of social capital, including both bonding (‘thick’ ties to individuals you know well) and bridging
capital (‘thin’ ties to people and organizations with whom one comes into contact). Halpern (2010)
describes social capital as “the hidden wealth of nations” and advocates the importance of strengthening
social prosperity. Refining the measures of social well-being in the ESS is a valuable step towards this
goal.

Relevance to policy concerns

Politicians and policy makers need to know not only about the objective facts of citizens’ lives but also
about how citizens experience their lives. This is now widely acknowledged by a number of cross-national
initiatives, as well as by national governments of a number of European countries. We argue that whether
people feel happy or satisfied with their lives may be important, but it is not enough for this agenda. Crucial
from the perspective of policy is the issue of how effectively people are functioning in their daily lives, since
it is effective functioning which leads to sustainable rather than transient happiness or satisfaction. It is
therefore a key aim of the module to produce policy-relevant measures of well-being, with considerable
growth in policy interest in this area since the well-being module was first fielded.

Progress towards national accounts of well-being

In January 2009, in accordance with the Round 3 QDT’s stated aim of using the well-being data to create a
set of national well-being accounts, nef published National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth
onto the balance sheet (Michaelson et al, 2009). The report introduced a measurement framework based
on a number of constituent components of well-being, using composites of ESS items. The components –
emotional well-being, satisfying life, vitality, resilience and self-esteem, positive functioning, supportive
relationships and trust and belonging – were broadly related to the different elements of the dynamic model
of well-being. They were aggregated into two headline indicators of personal and social well-being,
reflecting a key element of the structure of the Round 3 module. The component and headline indicators
were used to compare levels of well-being across Round 3 participating countries. 4 In addition to
publication of the report, the data were also made available on a fully interactive website,
www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org, where members of the public can explore particular indicators
across Europe, look at a graphically presented ‘Well-being Profile’ for all component indicators within a
country, and compare levels of well-being indicators with a range of other indicators. One aim for the
module is that it will allow the production of a second compilation of National Accounts of Well-being for

4
Russia was excluded from this analysis because it was decided to restrict the comparison to countries generally
recognised as within Europe. Latvia and Romania were excluded because full weights were not produced for the data
from these countries.
5
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Europe.

Evidence-based policy relevant well-being promoting activities

The Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing combined the expertise and advice of around 400
leading experts and stakeholders from around the world and used evidence from a range of disciplines
including; economics, social sciences, ethics, neuroscience and genetics, psychology and psychiatry;
systems analysis and futures analysis (Government Office for Science, 2008). Foresight commissioned nef
to review the evidence to produce a set of evidence-based actions to improve well-being which individuals
would be encouraged to build into their daily lives. The final set of actions is:

• Connect
• Be active
• Take notice
• Keep learning
• Give

A set of communication messages was developed for each action, which cited examples of the relevant
activities to explain and illustrate the intention of each (Aked et al., 2008). Since then, the Five Ways to
Well-being have been widely used in the UK for their original purpose of shaping public health messaging
to promote positive mental health, but also as the basis for the design of specific well-being promotion
interventions in communities and schools, as well as wide-ranging initiatives including Five Ways skills
training in Norfolk, eliciting residents’ views on town master-planning in Dewsbury and as a framework for a
city-wide themed 'Year of Well-being' in Liverpool. The chief executive of the UK's leading mental health
charity has described the Five Ways as 'the best way of explaining' what is meant by well-being 5. The UK
government's mental health framework, New Horizons, states that the Department of Health is working with
other government departments to plan a public campaign based on the Five Ways (Department of Health,
2009).There are also a number of examples of the growing use of the Five Ways beyond the UK: they have
been translated into Norwegian 6, used by ATC Health in Australia as part of a mental health promotion
campaign and used by New Zealand's Mental Health Foundation as part of its mental health awareness
week.

The growing prevalence of the Five Ways suggest that it is often useful for policy makers, mental health
practitioners, and members of the public, to conceptualise well-being in terms of the activities which
promote it, as well as, or in some cases, instead of the elements which comprise well-being (what is
measured by existing items in the module). Of particular interest is the question of the extent to which
participation in these activities varies cross-nationally, and whether any evidence can be found linking this
variation to differences in cultural and societal norms, values and structures. There are also a number of
unanswered research questions about the extent to which measures of participation in the Five Ways
actions correlate with these more direct measures of subjective well-being in population surveys in different
countries. Strong evidence of positive correlations, which is what would be expected given the process of
the development of the Five Ways from activities for which there was evidence of a link to subjective well-
being, would further help to bolster academic and policy focus on the issue of the ways in which people can
be helped to build these sorts of activities into their daily lives. We have therefore aimed to build in
measures of involvement of the Five Ways to Well-being within the module.

References

Amabile, T. M, K. G Hill, B. A Hennessey, and E. M Tighe (1994). The work preference inventory:
Assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66:
950-967.

Abdallah S, Thompson S, Michaelson J, Marks N and Steuer N (2009). The (un)happy planet index 2.0:

5
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, made this comment in his closing remarks of Mind's national conference in
November 2009.
6
See http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/puls/1.6940937
6
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Why good lives don’t have to cost the Earth (London: nef).

Aked J, Marks N, Cordon C and Thompson S (2008). Five ways to well-being: The evidence (London: nef).

Bartram DJ, Yadegarfar G and Baldwin DS (2009). Psychosocial working conditions and work-related
stressors among UK veterinary surgeons, Occupational Medicine, 59 (5), 334-341.

Brown, Stephanie L., Nesse, Randolph M., Vinokur, Amiram D. & Smith, Dylan M. (2003) Providing social
support may be more beneficial than receiving it: results from a prospective study of mortality.
Psychological Science, 14 (4), 320-327.

Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in
psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84 (4), 822-848.

Chida, Y. & Steptoe, A. (2008). Positive psychological well-being and mortality: A quantitative review of
prospective observational studies. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70, 741-756.

Cohen, S., Doyle, W.J., Turner, R.B., Alper, C.M. & Skoner, D.P. (2003). Emotional style and susceptibility
to the common cold. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65 (4), 652-657.

Csikszentmihalyi M. & Czikszentmihalyi I.S. (1988). Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in
Consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Davidson RJ, Kabat-Zinn J, Schumacher J, Rosenkrantz M, Muller D, Santorelli SF. et al. (2003).
Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation.

Deacon L, Carlin H, Spalding J, Giles S, Stansfield J, Hughes S, Perkins C and Bellis MA (2010). North
West Mental Wellbeing Survey 2009 (Liverpool: North West Public Health Observatory).

Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-
determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.

Department of Health (2009). New Horizons: A shared vision for mental health.

Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542-575.

Diener, E. (2000). Subjective Well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index.
American Psychologist, 55 (1), 34-43.

Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J. & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of
Personality Assessment, 49, 1, 71-75

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D-w., Oishi, S. & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). New Well-
being Measures: Short Scales to Assess Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings. Social Indicators
Research, 97, 2, 143-156.

Diener E and Seligman MEP (2002). ‘Very happy people’, Psychological Science, 13: 81–84.

Dolan P, Peasgood T and White M (2006). Review of research on the influences on personal well-being
and application to policy making (London: Defra).

Dunn, E.W., Aknin, L.B. & Norton, M.I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science,
319, 1687-1688.

Easterlin, R. A. (2003). Diminishing Marginal Utility of Money? A Caveat. Available on-line www-
rcf.usc.edu/~easterl/articles.htm

European Commission (2009). GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world.

7
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
European Commission (2010). European Economic Forecast – Spring 2010 (Brussels: EC)

European Union Committee of the Regions (2009). Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The Future
of the Lisbon Strategy Post 2010.

Forgas, J.P. (2002). Feeling and doing: Affective influences on interpersonal behavior. Psychological
Inquiry, 13 (1), 1-28.

Fredrickson BL and Branigan C (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-
action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19 (3), 313-332.

Fredrickson BL, Mancuso RA, Branigan C and Tugade M (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotions.
Motivation and Emotion, 24, 237-258.

Gaskell, G, Wright, D and O'Muircheartaigh, C. (1995). ‘Context effects in the measurement of attitudes: A
comparison of the consistency and framing explanations’ British Journal of Social Psychology 34, 383-393.

Government Office for Science (2008). Foresight Mental Capital and Well-being 2008. Project Final
Report. The Government Office for Science, London. (Online -
http://www.foresight.gov.uk/OurWork/ActiveProjects/Mental%20Capital/Welcome.asp).

Halpern D (2010) The Hidden Wealth of Nations, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Helliwell, J. and Putnam, R.D. (2005). The social context of well-being. In FA Huppert, B Keverne & N
Baylis (Eds.) The Science of Well-being (pp.435-459). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Helliwell, J. F., Barrington-Leigh, C., Harris, A., & Huang, H. (2009). International evidence on the social
context of well-being. In E. Diener, D. Kahneman, & J. F. Helliwell (Eds.), International differences in well-
being. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Huppert, FA (2009). ‘Psychological well-being: Evidence regarding its causes and consequences.’ Applied
Psychology: Health and Well-being, 1(2):137-164.

Huppert, F A, Baylis, N & Keverne, B. (Eds.) (2005). The Science of Well-being. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Huppert F.A. and Marks N (working paper). Assessing Personal and Social Well-being: An outline of the
methodology used for the 2006 European Social Survey, April 2007.

Huppert FA, Marks N, Clark A, Siegrist J, Stutzer A, Vitterso J, Wahrendorf M (2008). ‘Measuring Well-
being Across Europe: Description of the ESS Well-being Module and Preliminary Findings’ Social
Indicators Research, 91, 301-315.

Huppert, F.A. & So, T. (2009). What percentage of people in Europe are flourishing and what characterises
them? Briefing document for the OECD/ISQOLS meeting “Measuring subjective well-being: an opportunity
for NSOs?” 23/24 July, 2009, Florence, Italy.

Huppert, F.A. & So, T.T.C (2011). ‘Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework
for Defining Wellbeing’ Social Indicators Research, DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9966-7.

Judge TA, Thoresen CJ, Bono JE and Patton GK. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance
relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127 (3), 376-407.

Kahneman, D, Diener, E & Schwartz,N (Eds.) (1999). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Keyes CLM (2002). Promoting a life worth living: Human development from the vantage points of mental
illness and mental health. In RM Lerner, F Jacobs & D Wertlieb, eds. Promoting Positive Child, Adolescent
and Family Development: A Handbook of Program and Policy Innovations, 4(15), pp.257-274. CA: Sage
8
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Publications.

Keyes, C. L. M. (2009). Brief description of the mental health continuum short form (MHC-SF). Available:
http://www.sociology.emory.edu/ckeyes/.

Kroll, C. (under review). ‘The Motherhood Penalty in Civic Engagement: Examining Social Capital and
Subjective Well-Being by Gender and Parental Status.’ Working paper version available at
SSRN:http://ssrn.com/abstract=1481334. Paper presented at the IX conference of the International Society
for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), Florence, 2009.

Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. New York: Penguin.

Michaelson J, Abdallah S, Steuer N, Thompson S and Marks N (2009). National Accounts of Well-being:
bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet (London: nef).

Putnam R.D. (2000). Bowling alone. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rogers, R. (1961). On Becoming a Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and
eudaimonic well-being. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 52, 141-166.

Ryff, C.D. & Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9 (1), 1-28.

Scheier, M. F. & Carver, C. S. (2003). Self-regulatory processes and responses to health threats: Effects of
optimism on well-being. In J. Suls & K. Wallston (Eds.), Social psychological foundations of health (pp. 395-
428). Oxford UK: Blackwell.

Seligman M. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York: Free Press.

Sen, A. (1996). Rationality, joy and freedom. Critical Review, 10 (4), Fall, 481-94.

Stewart-Brown S and Janmohamed K (2008). Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)

User Guide (NHS Health Scotland)

Tennant, R., Hiller, L., Fishwick, R., Platt, S., Joseph, S., Weich, S., Parkinson, J., Secker, J. & Stewart-
Brown, S. (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK
validation Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5: 63 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-5-63 -
http://www.hqlo.com/content/5/1/63

Thompson S and Marks N (2008). Measuring well-being in policy: issues and applications (London: nef).

Veenhoven, R. (2000). The four qualities of life. Ordering concepts and measures of the good life.
Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 1-39.

Vittersø, J. (2004). Subjective well-being versus self-actualization: Using the flow-simplex to promote a
conceptual clarification of subjective quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 65, 299-331.

Vittersø, J., Søholt, Y., Hetland, A., Thorsen, I. A., & Røysamb, E. (2010). ‘Was Hercules happy? Some
answers from a functional model of human well-being’ Social Indicators Research, 95, 1-18.

Vittersø, J. (in press). Functional well-being: Happiness as feelings, evaluations and functioning. In S.
David, I. Boniwell and A. Conley Ayers (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of happiness. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.

9
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
SECTION B. Brief description of all the concepts to be measured in the module and their expected
relationships, either verbally or diagrammatically. Specific details about the concepts and sub
concepts are specified in SECTION C.

The concepts to be measured in the module are structured broadly as in the dynamic model of well-being,
presented in Section A, and include all the elements of the operational definition of flourishing devised by
Huppert and So. The functioning concepts are divided into personal and social, and in addition to the
generic aspects of well-being included within these, also included is the concept of involvement in specific
well-being promoting activities (the Five Ways to Well-being), which cut across both personal and social.
For clarity we have presented separate groups of concepts for evaluations and emotions, although these
are often presented together within the dynamic model of well-being. Note that ‘Material conditions’ are
measured via various items in the core questionnaire and are not considered here.

10
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

SECTION C: Complex Concepts

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Resilience

Complex Concept Description

Resilience generally refers to positive adaptation in the context of risk or adversity. It is a broad concept
that encompasses a wide range of phenomena, including the capacity of a system to adapt or recover from
significant challenges. Rather than a personality trait (i.e., resiliency), resilience describes the ability to
sustain adaptive functioning under difficult circumstances. In all these cases, resilience refers to patterns of
doing well after exposure to a serious adversity or threat. Resilience research has focused on two distinct
situations. A) stress resistance and B) bouncing-back.

Speed of recovery is important when measuring resilience. A number of distinctions can be made between
the ways that people respond when things go wrong. These include:
a) no effect at all,
b) a short-term effect,
c) an effect that takes a long time to recover from and
d) an effect which you never get over or learn to live with.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Resilience is part of the personal element of good functioning, along with autonomy and control, vitality,
meaning and purpose, competence and engagement.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Stress resistance

Sub Concept Description

Refers to functioning well during a time of significant adversity.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

It is expected that stress resistance will behave similarly to, although remaining distinct from, the other
resilience sub-concept (bouncing back – E29 (R3)/D19).

Question item wording

D30 CARD 30 How difficult or easy do you find it to deal with 7 important 8
problems that come up in your life? Please use this card where 0 is
extremely 9 difficult and 10 is extremely easy.

Extremely Extremely (Don’t

difficult easy Know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

7
‘to deal with’ in the sense of ‘to handle’
8
‘important’ in the sense of ‘major’ or ‘significant’
9
‘extremely’ in the sense of ‘an ending point on the scale where nothing can go beyond it. This might be represented
also by ‘completely’, ‘fully’, ‘absolutely’, ‘totally’, etc.
11
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
SUB CONCEPT NAME: Bouncing back
Sub Concept Description

Refers to returning to, and speed of return to, a previous level of good functioning following difficult times or
severely disturbing experiences.

Question item wording

Repeat item E29 from Round 3:

CARD 26 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D19 When things go wrong

in my life, it generally 1 2 3 4 5 8
takes me a long time to
get back to normal.

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Meaning and purpose

Complex Concept Description

Experiencing meaning in life is related to healthy human functioning. It refers to people’s concerns with the
purpose, predictability, and comprehensibility of each of their own lives. Although “meaning” usually refers
to sense or coherence and “purpose” is more related to intentions, these terms generally are used
interchangeably.

A sense of purpose in life is nurtured when people see their current activities linked to future positive states
and when also see their actions as right, good, or justifiable. Research has also found that positive
relationships with others are one of the most important sources of meaning.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Meaning and purpose is part of the personal element of good functioning, along with autonomy and control,
vitality, resilience, competence and engagement.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Orientation to future

Sub Concept Description

It assesses to what extent people have a sense direction in their lives and are able to aim their daily
activities and life plans to the future.

Question item wording

12
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

D35 CARD 33 To what extent do you feel that you have a sense of direction 10
in your life? Please use this card where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely 11.

(Don’t
Not at all Completely Know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Meaning and purpose – Daily activities

Sub Concept Description

This concept aims to assess to what extent people find meaning in their daily activities. Rather than
assessing general feelings of purpose in life, these items are focused in whether or not people find that
what they do in their everyday lives is worthwhile. This measures the extent to which, as people cope with
the demands of their environments, they believe that they do so for meaningful or worthy ends.

Question item wording

Repeat item E40 from Round 3:

CARD 28 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D23 I generally feel that what I

do in my life is valuable 1 2 3 4 5 8
and worthwhile 12.

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Autonomy and control

Complex Concept Description

The need for autonomy has been identified as a basic psychological need required for people to function in
healthy or optimal ways (Deci & Ryan 2000). It is here divided into two sub-concepts. Autonomy relates to
shaping one’s life or activities free from other people’s control (free from) and control relates to personal
control over one’s own activities (choosing to take personal control).

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Autonomy and control is part of the personal element of good functioning, along with meaning and purpose,

10
‘sense of direction’ – a feeling or an idea of how someone would like their life to be in the future
11
‘completely’ in the sense of ‘an ending point on the scale where nothing can go beyond it. This might be
represented also by ‘extremely’, ‘fully’, ‘absolutely’, ‘totally’, etc.
12
‘worthwhile’ means ‘beneficial to others’.
13
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
vitality, resilience, competence and engagement.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Autonomy

Sub Concept Description

Autonomy relates to shaping one’s life or activities, free from other people’s control.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Based on factor analyses of data from the Round 3 module, it seems that autonomy and control are
relatively distinct sub-concepts.

Question item wording

Repeat item E23 from Round 3:

CARD 26 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D16 I feel I am free to decide

for myself how to live 1 2 3 4 5 8
my life.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Control

Sub Concept Description

Control relates to personal control over one’s own life and activities (choosing to take personal control).

Question item wording

D28 CARD 29 To what extent do you make time 13 to do the things you really want to do? Please use this
card where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely 14.

(Don’t
Not at all Completely Know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

13
‘to make time’ in the sense of ‘to allow yourself time’ or ‘to put aside time’, which is used to do something specific.
14
‘completely’ in the sense of ‘an ending point on the scale where nothing can go beyond it. This might be
represented also by ‘extremely’, ‘fully’, ‘absolutely’, ‘totally’, etc.
14
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Engagement

Complex Concept Description
The concept of engagement is part of the eudaimonic aspect of well-being, and it is intended to capture trait
emotions that facilitate active involvement and motivate individuals to pursue complex life goals, to learn
new things and to develop their potentials. It is part of good functioning because it involves how one relates
to the activities in one’s life, and thus includes elements of being absorbed in one’s activities and feeling
actively engaged, being interested in learning new things and having opportunities to learn and
experiencing a lack of boredom.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Engagement is part of the personal element of good functioning, along with meaning and purpose, vitality,
resilience, competence and autonomy and control.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Experience of learning

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept assesses the extent to which respondents’ experience learning in their lives. This does
not concern formal experiences of learning but the extent to which respondents feel they learn things
generally, as a measure of engagement with and curiosity about the world around them. The sub-concept
also forms part of the concept ‘Involvement in well-being promoting activities’, with ‘Learn’ being one of the
five ways to well-being.

Question item wording

CARD 27 Using this card, please tell me to what extent…READ OUT…

Not A (Don’t
at all great know)
deal 15

D20 ...you learn new things in

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 88
your life?

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Engagement during everyday life

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept assesses the extent of feeling engaged during day-to-day life. The items within the sub-
concept aim to measure different emotional aspects of feeling engaged: interest, absorption and
enthusiasm. The three items are designed to behave as a scale and are adapted from the Basic Emotions
Trait Test (Vittersø, J., Dyrdal, G. M., & Røysamb, E. (2005) Utilities and capabilities: A psychological
account of the two concepts and their relation to the idea of a good life. Paper presented at the 2nd
Workshop on Capabilities and Happiness, Milan, Italy, 15 – 18 June, 2005.)

Question item wording

Please use CARD 31 for the next three questions. How much of the time would you generally say you

15
‘A great deal’ means ‘a large amount’ and ‘very much’.
15
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
are...READ OUT...
None of the All of (Don’t
time the know)
time

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88
D31 …interested in what you are doing?

D32 ...absorbed 16 in what you are doing?

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

D33 ...enthusiastic about what you are doing?

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Competence

Complex Concept Description

Competence refers to a sense of general capability (e.g. managing life well), as well as cognitive
capability (ability to think, concentrate, and make decisions).

Competence is regarded as an important aspect of well-being. It is one of the three components in

Deci and Ryan’s model (autonomy, competence, relatedness), one of six in Ryff’s model (it is termed
‘environmental mastery’) and is part of the Huppert & So operational definition of flourishing which has
been derived from DSM and ICD.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Competence is part of the personal element of good functioning, along with meaning and purpose, vitality,
resilience, engagement and autonomy and control.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Opportunity to demonstrate competence

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept focuses on opportunities within daily activities to demonstrate personal strengths and
abilities. This focus derives from the observation that a sense of competence must be bound up with the
activities one actually undertakes – it is a feeling bound up with being able to pursue types of behaviour –
hence opportunities to undertake such behaviour are an important part of the concept.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

The opportunity to demonstrate competence and sense of accomplishment items in Round 3 behaved
relatively similarly (following recoding given that the items were worded in opposite directions) although
they could be distinguished from each other.

Question item wording

Repeat item E25 from Round 3:

CARD 26 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

16
‘absorbed’ in the sense of ‘focused or involved’
16
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D17 In my daily life I get very

little chance to show 1 2 3 4 5 8
how capable I am.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Sense of accomplishment

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept focuses on experiencing a sense of accomplishment from daily activities. The sub-
concept refers to a general sense of successful achievement in some respect. One prominent model of
well-being to emphasize accomplishment is Martin Seligman’s PERMA model (Seligman, M (2011)
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. New York: Free Press).

Question item wording

Repeat E27 from Round 3:

CARD 26 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D18 Most days I feel a

sense of 1 2 3 4 5 8
accomplishment from
what
I do.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Sense of competence

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept is included as a measure of ‘pure’ competence. It is a new item intended to complement
question D17 measuring opportunity to demonstrate competence and question D18 measuring sense of
accomplishment.

Question item wording

CARD 26 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

17
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

D25 There are lots of things

I feel I am good at. 1 2 3 4 5 8

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Vitality

Complex Concept Description

Subjective vitality refers to feeling alive and alert, and also to physical experiences such as lack of
tiredness and chronic pain. This sense of energy is needed for a person to be fully functional.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Vitality relates strongly to emotional well-being and satisfaction. Although it is perhaps more ‘inwardly-
focused’ than many of the other functioning concepts, it is broadly part of the concepts involved in good
functioning.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Feeling full of energy

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept focuses on the extent to which people feel like they have a lot of energy. Two different
items are suggested here: one which measures feeling full of energy over a specified recent time period
(the past week) and one (‘general vitality’) which does not relate to a specified time period. Testing is
required to examine whether these items in fact behave differently.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Based on analysis of the Round 3 data, feeling full of energy behaved differently from items related to
tiredness, relating to external drivers in different ways (e.g. unemployed people felt that they had less
energy (negative vitality), but were less tired (positive vitality) than employed people). Tiredness loaded
together with restedness and ability to get going/effortfullness (although these items are considered under
the emotions-depression sub-concept) in a factor analysis, but the feeling full of energy item did not load
together with them.

For Round 6, the original module design included measures of both mental and physical vitality. However,
for mental vitality, there is expected to be considerable overlap with the engagement items measuring
absorption and interest in learning, so a separate ‘mental vitality’ item is not included. Physical vitality is
measured by the question below.

Question item wording

Repeat item E16 from Round 3:

And please tell me how much of the time during the past week... READ OUT…

None or
almost All or
none of the Some of Most of almost all of (Don’t
time the time the time the time know)

D13
...you had a lot of energy? 1 2 3 4 8

18
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Involvement in well-being promoting activities

Complex Concept Description

Involvement in well-being promoting activities takes a behavioural approach to measuring levels of well-
being, in contrast to many of the other concepts in the module which measure subjective experiences and
assessments. The concept is operationalised here through measurement of involvement in activities which
fall under the Five Ways to Well-being headings. The Five Ways to Well-being are a set of positive actions
which, it is hypothesised, enhance the well-being of individuals who regularly carry them out. They were
developed as part of the UK government’s Foresight Review of Mental Capital and Well-being and are
strongly supported by the evidence base.

However, because of restrictions on number of items in the module, we have decided that where possible
new items will not be introduced to measure the sub-concepts here, but existing items will be used which
can ‘double up; and cover these sub-concepts.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

The evidence base consulted when developing the Five Ways to Well-being suggested that involvement in
well-being promoting activities is a driver for many of the well-being concepts measured elsewhere in the
module, particularly those concepts relating to personal and social functioning. Hence it would be expected
that the concept would relate both to functioning concepts as well as measures of experienced (emotional)
and evaluated well-being.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Be active

Sub Concept Description

Be active is one element of the five ways to well-being. Be active refers to physical activity, and is broadly
understood to include all actions with a physical element to them.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

As stated above, there are strong grounds to expect all the ‘involvement in well-being promoting activities’
sub-concepts here to be related to concepts and sub-concepts elsewhere in the module. In terms of
relationships between the ‘involvement’ sub-concepts, while they conceptually form a coherent set, it is an
empirical question, not yet answered, whether involvement in one such activity is related to involvement in
any others.

The ‘be active’ sub-concept is likely to particularly be related to vitality.

Question item wording

D39 CARD 36 Using this card, please tell me on how many of the last 7 days
you were physically active continuously for 20 minutes or longer?
INTERVIEWER NOTE: include household tasks such as housework or
gardening if mentioned, as long as performed for 20 minutes or longer.

No days 00
One day 01
Two days 02
Three days 03
Four days 04
Five days 05

19
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Six days 06
Seven days 07
(Don’t know) 88

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Connect

Sub Concept Description

Connect is one element of the five ways to well-being. Connect refers to positive social relationships, both
what can be called ‘thick’—as in close intimate relationships with close friends and family—and ‘thin’—as in
more numerous but psychological distal relationships with other friends, relatives, neighbours or work
colleagues.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Connect is expected to be positively related to overall life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, absence
of negative affect, trust and belongingness.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item C2: How often do you meet socially with friends, relatives or work colleagues?
Response scale: Never, Less than once a month, Once a month, Several times a month, Once a week,
Several times a week, Every day

Existing CORE item C4: Compared to other people of your age, how often would you say you take
part in social activities?
Response scale: Much less than most, Less than most, About the same, More than most, Much more than
most

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Give

Sub Concept Description

Give is one element of the five ways to well-being. Give refers to an individual’s engagement with activities
that support the well-being of others through their efforts. This can be direct actions such as gifts of time,
money or other resources or activities that display a generosity of spirit such as simply smiling, being
supportive or sharing positive thoughts.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Give is expected to be positively related to overall life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, absence of
negative affect, connect, trust, belongingness, meaning and purpose. It also overlaps considerably with the
‘reciprocity in social exchange’ sub-concept of the ‘thick relationships’ concept.

Question item wording

Due to space considerations we are not proposing any additional items for this sub-concept as it will be
covered by the item about providing support to others (D37) under the ‘reciprocity in social exchange’ sub-
concept.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Keep learning

Sub Concept Description

Keep Learning is one element of the five ways to well-being. Keep Learning refers to an individual’s
experience of continuing to learning new things. It is related to the constructs of curiosity and engagement
20
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
and includes both knowledge based learning and a more informal process deepening understanding.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Keep Learning is expected to be related to experience of learning engagement, meaning and take notice.

Question item wording

Due to space considerations we are not proposing any additional items for this sub-concept as we consider
it will be well covered by item (D20) under the ‘Engagement – experience of learning’ sub-concept (p.15).

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Take notice

Sub Concept Description

Take Notice is one element of the five ways to well-being. Take notice is related to the constructs of
awareness and mindfulness, how often the respondent notices what is happening around them and within
themselves. It has two elements – engagement with the outside world and awareness of their internal
world – though only one (engagement with the outside world) is captured in the module.
Expected relationship with other sub concepts
Taking notice is expected to be positively related to engagement and meaning in life.

Question item wording

D34 CARD 32 On a typical day, how often do you take notice of 17 and appreciate 18 19

your surroundings 20?

(Don’t
Never Always Know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Optimism

Complex Concept Description

Optimism refers to positive feelings or evaluations about the future (long term or short term). It has
both an emotion element (hopefulness) and a cognitive element (positive expectation). One can also
differentiate between general optimism and optimism despite difficult circumstances, and between
optimism about the future in general and about a personal future.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Optimism is an element of psychological resources, together with self esteem, as it involves trait-like
characteristics of thinking. Being optimistic despite difficult circumstances is related to resilience.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Optimism about personal future

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures positive evaluations about one’s personal future. This aims to distinguish

17
‘take notice of’ in the sense of ‘become aware of’
18
Both actions MUST be translated, that is, ‘take notice of’ and ‘appreciate’; please use two verbs in your language.
19
‘appreciate’ in the sense of ‘value’
20
‘surroundings’ whether physical or social
21
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
feelings about one’s personal future from feelings about the future of society or the world in general. It
measures a trait-like characteristic, that is the extent to which optimism is a fairly permanent aspect of
cognition and emotion, rather than optimism in a given time period.

Question item wording

Repeat item E4 from Round 3:

CARD 24 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree nor Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree disagree Disagree strongly know)

D2 I am always
optimistic about 1 2 3 4 5 8
my 21 future.

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Self-esteem

Complex Concept Description

Self-esteem refers to feelings and attitudes towards oneself; encompasses liking or feeling good about
oneself (internally orientated) and being confident (externally orientated). However, confidence is difficult to
measure in general terms without specifying further (e.g. willingness to deal with the unknown, to take
risks) or mentioning a context (e.g. at work, at home, in relationships etc) hence we have decided to focus
here on measurement of the internal aspect of self-esteem only.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Self-esteem is an element of psychological resources, together with optimism, as it involves trait-like
characteristics of thinking. We expect it to be related to life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Self-acceptance

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept focuses on the internally oriented aspect of self-esteem, liking or feeling good about
oneself.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

This is the only sub-concept within the overall concept of self esteem included in the module (measured by
two items, one positively and the other negatively oriented).

Question item wording

Repeat item E5 from Round 3:

CARD 24 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

21
New footnote for Round 6: The translation of ‘my’ must refer to the respondent’s personal future and not the future
in general. If the translation used in Round 3 did not reflect this countries should contact the Translation team for
further guidance.
22
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

Neither
Agree agree nor Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree disagree Disagree strongly know)

D3 In general I feel
very positive about 1 2 3 4 5 8
myself.

Repeat item E6 from Round 3:

CARD 24 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree nor Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree disagree Disagree strongly know)

D4 At times I feel as if
I am a failure. 1 2 3 4 5 8

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Emotions

Complex Concept Description

Positive and negative emotions are a core part of experienced well-being. Strongly established evidence
demonstrates that positive and negative emotions each need to be measured separately. Emotions can be
assessed in the moment (e.g. Experience Sampling Method or Day Reconstruction Method), currently or
recently (e.g. the past week), or how one feels in general.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

The dynamic model of well-being (see introduction) conceptualises emotional well-being as one of the
outcomes of good eudaimonic functioning (itself supported by external conditions and personal resources).
Hence we would expect a positive affect balance (experience more positive than negative emotions) to be
positively related to a number of aspects of positive functioning.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Depression

Sub Concept Description

The incidence of depression is a well-established way of measuring of mental health. It is measured

through a set of items (from the CES-D scale) which ask about positive and negative emotions, sleep
quality and energy levels. This set of items has been analysed by Bracke and colleagues who established
their factorial invariance across gender and countries, which indicates the good reliability and validity of
using the items to compare mean differences in depression of men and women across countries (Bracke P,
Levecque K and Van de Velde S (2008) The psychometric properties of the CES-D 8 depression inventory
and the estimation of cross-national differences in the true prevalence of depression. International
Conference on Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts (3MC), 25-28
June, 2008, Berlin, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities).

23
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Expected relationship with other sub concepts

The depression scale items are closely related to the other emotions sub-concepts, whose items were
constructed to mirror the structure of the depression scale items.

Question item wording

Repeat items E8-E15 from Round 3:

CARD 25 I will now read out a list of the ways you might have felt or behaved during the past week. Using
this card, please tell me how much of the time during the past week…READ OUT…

None or
almost All or
none of the Some of Most of almost all of (Don’t
time the time the time the time know)

D5
…you felt depressed? 1 2 3 4 8

D6 …you felt that everything you

1 2 3 4 8
did was an effort?
D7
…your sleep was restless? 1 2 3 4 8

D8
…you were happy? 1 2 3 4 8

D9
…you felt lonely? 1 2 3 4 8

D10
…you enjoyed life? 1 2 3 4 8

D11
…you felt sad? 1 2 3 4 8

D12
…you could not get going 22? 1 2 3 4 8

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Anxiety

Sub Concept Description

Anxiety is a negative mood condition distinct from depression, and characterised by fear and concern. This
question format has been used to measure the sub-concept to be consistent with the CES-D scale.

Question item wording

Repeat item E17 from Round 3:

And please tell me how much of the time during the past week... READ OUT…

None or
almost All or
none of the Some of Most of almost all of (Don’t
time the time the time the time know)

22
‘could not get going’ in the sense of ‘felt lethargic and lacked motivation’.
24
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
D14
…you felt anxious? 1 2 3 4 8

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Calmness

Sub Concept Description

Calmness is a low arousal aspect of positive mood, characterised by the absence of agitation or
excitement. This question format has been used to measure the sub-concept to be consistent with the
CES-D scale.

Question item wording

Repeat item E20 from Round 3:

And please tell me how much of the time during the past week... READ OUT…

D15
… you felt calm and peaceful? 1 2 3 4 8

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Happiness overall

Sub Concept Description

This item asks respondents to assess their happiness overall and as such may be seen as closer to an
evaluative measure than a direct affect-based measure. It is an item on the core survey not within the well-
being module but is mentioned here for completeness.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item C1: Taking all things together, how happy would you say you are?
Response scale: 11-point scale, 0 labelled ‘Extremely unhappy’, 10 labelled ‘Extremely happy’.

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Overall satisfaction

Complex Concept Description

Feeling satisfied or happy with one’s life overall are general evaluative measures of experienced well-
being. Indicators within this concept generally used in research on subjective well-being a headline overall
measure, to which other aspects of subjective well-being are seen to relate. Despite the multi-faceted
approach to subjective well-being measurement taken within this module, it is still vitally important to
understand the relationships between this concept and others.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Related to most other concepts within the module.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Satisfaction with life

Sub Concept Description

Satisfaction with life items ask respondents to assess their satisfaction with life as a whole, and are often

25
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
treated as a proxy for an overall assessment of subjective well-being.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item B20: All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole
nowadays? Please answer using this card, where 0 means extremely dissatisfied and 10 means
extremely satisfied.
Response scale: 11-point scale, 0 labelled ‘Extremely dissatisfied’, 10 labelled ‘Extremely satisfied’

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Thick relationships

Complex Concept Description

Measures of thick relationships capture the quality of ‘bonding ties’ – that is, of relationships to individuals
you know well and the people closest to you, i.e. close family and friends. It is a core part of the social
element of good functioning. It covers having sources of support from others, feeling appreciated by people
close to you and spending enjoyable time with them. It also includes a question on satisfaction with close
relationships will be tested for its properties as an overall guide to the quality of close relationships.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Thick relationships are distinguished from thin relationships with a much broader circle of people – less
close friends, acquaintances, family members, work colleagues and others – with whom one comes into
contact. They are part of the social aspect of good functioning.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Sources of support

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures the extent to which people feel they have others who support them
emotionally.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

We expect this sub-concept to be associated with the sub-concepts feeling appreciated and reciprocity in
social exchange. It is likely also to be negatively related to the loneliness item which is one of the emotions-
depression measures.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item C3 (changed for Round 6):

C3^ CARD 19 How many people, if any, are there with whom you can
discuss intimate and personal23 matters? Choose your answer
from this card.
None 00
1 01
2 02
3 03

23
‘Intimate’ implies things like sex or family matters; ‘personal’ could include work or occupational issues as well. Note
that this item has changed since Round 5. However, translation should closely reflect that used in previous rounds.
26
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
4-6 04
7-9 05
10 or more 06
(Don’t know) 88

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Feeling appreciated

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures the extent to which people feel they are valued, recognised, respected and
acknowledged by others close to them.

Question item wording

D29 STILL CARD 29 To what extent do you feel appreciated 24 by the people you are close to 25? Please
use the same card.
(Don’t
Not at all Completely Know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Loneliness

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures feelings of loneliness and can therefore be seen as measuring a key element
of negative affect related to thick relationships. It is operationalised here using an item from the emotions-
depression sub-concept.

Question item wording

Repeat item E12 from Round 3 – see above under Emotions – Depression, now item D9 (page 24).

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Reciprocity in social exchange

Sub Concept Description

A balance between give and take in relevant social relationships (social reciprocity) is a universal principle
guaranteeing stability and justice of social exchange. The recurrent experience of reciprocity has significant
impact on social well-being, while failed reciprocity elicits strong negative emotions and bodily stress
reactions.

Reciprocity in social exchange is measured here in relation to thick relationships, i.e. people who
respondents feel close to: perception of support from and feeling appreciated by those one is close to and
providing help and support to them in turn.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

24
‘appreciated’ in the sense of ‘valued, recognised, respected and acknowledged’.
25
‘close to’ in the sense of ‘emotionally close’ rather than ‘physically close’.
27
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
It is expected that this sub-concept will be related to frequency of social contact and social trust. It is
expected to be less closely related to sub-concepts about being treated with respect, and sense of local
belonging.

Question item wording

D36 CARD 34 To what extent do you receive help and support 26 from people
you are close to 27 when you need it? Please use this card where 0 is not at
all and 6 is completely 28.
(Don’t
Not at all Completely know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 88

D37 STILL CARD 34 And to what extent do you provide help and support 29 to people
you are close to 30 when they need it?

(Don’t
Not at all Completely know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 88

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Thin social relationships

Complex Concept Description

Measures of thin social relationships capture the quality of ‘bridging ties’ – that is, of relationships to
individuals beyond those closest to you, that is from a wider circle of other friends and relatives, work
colleagues, acquaintances and others. It is a core part of the social element of good functioning. It covers
reciprocity in social exchange (feeling supported and appreciated by those in one’s wider circle and helping
or supporting them); social trust (expecting fairness from and trusting others); having a sense of local
belonging and frequency of social contact.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Thin relationships are distinguished from thick relationships with people regarded as close family and
friends. They are part of the social aspect of good functioning and likely to be associated with the items
within the active involvement concept.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Social trust

Sub Concept Description

26
‘help and support’ whether emotional or material.
27
‘close to’ in the sense of ‘emotionally close’ rather than ‘physically close’.
28
‘completely’ in the sense of ‘an ending point on the scale where nothing can go beyond it. This might be
represented also by ‘extremely’, ‘fully’, ‘absolutely’, ‘totally’, etc.
29
‘help and support’ whether emotional or material.
30
‘close to’ in the sense of ‘emotionally close’ rather than ‘physically close’.
28
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
The social trust sub-concept measures the extent to which respondents expect fairness from, and trust,
other people.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item A3: Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that
you can’t be too careful in dealing with people? Please tell me on a score of 0 to 10, where 0 means
you can’t be too careful and 10 means that most people can be trusted.
Response scale: 11-point scale with ends labelled ‘You can’t be too careful’ and ‘Most people can be
trusted’

Existing CORE item A4: Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they
got the chance, or would they try to be fair?
Response scale: 11-point scale with ends labelled ‘Most people would try to take advantage of me’ and
‘Most people would try to be fair’

Existing CORE item A5: Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful or that they are
mostly looking out for themselves?
Response scale: 11-point scale with ends labelled ‘People mostly look out for themselves’ and ‘People
mostly try to be helpful’

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Perception that others treat you with respect
Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures respondents’ perceptions that other people treat them with respect. Note that
this is not intended to be restricted to those people defined as in a respondent’s wider circle, but may apply
to all people one has contact with.

Question item wording

Repeat E37 from Round 3:

CARD 27 Using this card, please tell me to what extent…READ OUT…

Not A (Don’t
at all great know)
deal 31
…you feel that people treat
D22
you with respect? 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 88

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Frequency and relative frequency of social contact

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures frequency of social contact, and respondents’ perceptions of the relative
frequency of their own contact compared to others of their age.

Question item wording

Existing CORE item C2: How often do you meet socially with friends, relatives or work colleagues?
Response scale: Never, Less than once a month, Once a month, Several times a month, Once a week,
Several times a week, Every day

31
‘A great deal’ means ‘a large amount’ and ‘very much’.
29
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Existing CORE item C4: Compared to other people of your age, how often would you say you take
part in social activities?
Response scale: Much less than most, Less than most, About the same, More than most, Much more than
most

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Sense of local belonging

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures sense of belonging to people in the local area in terms of attachment and
identification.

Question item wording

Repeat item E45 from Round 3:

CARD 28 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D27 I feel close to 32 the people

in my local area. 1 2 3 4 5 8

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Perception of local support

Sub Concept Description

This sub-concept measures perceptions of how much people in the respondent’s local area help each
other, including all types of support.

Question item wording

Repeat E36 from Round 3:

CARD 27 And for each of the following, please tell me to what extent…READ OUT…
Not A (Don’t
at all great know)
deal 33
D21 …you feel that people in
your local area 34 help one
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 88
another?

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Active involvement

32
‘close to’ means ‘identify with’, ‘feel attached to’
33
‘A great deal’ means ‘a large amount’ and ‘very much’.
34
Respondent’s local area or neighbourhood
30
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Complex Concept Description

This concept measures people’s active involvement in volunteering and helping activities. It is widely used
as part of the measurement of social capital.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

Active involvement is part of the social element of good functioning, alongside thick and thin relationships.
However it can also be conceptualised as part of involvement in well-being promoting activities, that is, a
predictor of well-being outcomes, rather than a core part of well-being itself.

SUB CONCEPT NAME: Formal volunteering

Sub Concept Description

The formal volunteering sub-concept measures respondents’ participation in formal volunteering activities,
defined as work for voluntary or charitable organisations.

Expected relationship with other sub concepts

Involvement in formal volunteering predicts a number of well-being outcomes, with the literature showing
relationships between happiness and life satisfaction and participation in volunteering, as well as a
relationship with the frequency of volunteering (evidence summarised on p29 of Stoll L, Michaelson J and
Seaford C (2012) Well-being evidence for policy: a review. London: new economics foundation). Hence we
expect relationships between this sub-concept and life satisfaction and emotional well-being. It is also likely
to be related to other aspects of active involvement and social well-being.

Question item wording

Repeat item E1 from Round 3:

D1 CARD 23 In the past 12 months, how often did you get

involved in work for voluntary or charitable organisations?
Please use this card.
At least once a week 01
At least once a month 02
At least once every three months 03
At least once every six months 04
Less often 05
Never 06
(Don’t know) 88

COMPLEX CONCEPT NAME: Subjective socioeconomic position

Complex Concept Description

This concept measures subjective perception of one’s position in society and can be divided into perception
of current position and perception of position in the future.

This item is adapted slightly from one used in the ISSP (2009) and measures perception of one’s current
position in society.

Expected relationship with other complex and simple concepts

31
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template
Expected to be related to overall life satisfaction: strength of association to be investigated.

Question item wording

D38 CARD 35 There are people who tend to be 35 towards the top of our society
and people who tend to be towards the bottom. On this card there is a scale
that runs from top to bottom. Where would you place yourself on this scale
nowadays?

Top of our society 10

Bottom of our society 0

(Don’t Know) 88

35
‘tend to be’ in the sense of ‘are generally’.
32
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

SECTION D: Simple Concepts

SIMPLE CONCEPT NAME: Satisfaction with job

Simple Concept Description

Asks currently employed respondents about their satisfaction with their current job.

Expected relationship with other concepts

This item forms a set of satisfaction items about key life domains together with items on life satisfaction and
satisfaction with work/life balance.

Question item wording

Repeat item E48 from Round 3:

ASK RESPONDENTS IN PAID WORK (code 01 at F17d)

**F35b
CARD 56 All things considered, how satisfied are you with your present job?
INTERVIEWER NOTE: if more than one job, respondent should answer
about their main job.

Extremely Extremely (Don’t

dissatisfied satisfied know)

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

SIMPLE CONCEPT NAME: Satisfaction with work/life balance

Simple Concept Description

Asks currently employed respondents about their satisfaction with the balance between their work and
other aspects of their life.

Expected relationship with other concepts

This item forms a set of satisfaction items about key life domains together with items on life satisfaction and
job satisfaction. It is also expected to be related to sense of control.

Question item wording

Repeat item E49 from Round 3:

**F35c
STILL CARD 56 How satisfied are you with the balance between the time you
spend on your paid work and the time you spend on other aspects of your life?

Extremely Extremely (Don’t

dissatisfied satisfied know)
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 88

33
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

SIMPLE CONCEPT NAME: Social optimism

Simple Concept Description

Social optimism refers to an individual’s assessment of the future of their society as a whole. This is
measured by two items in the module. One item focuses on optimism about national society, and one
focuses on optimism about ‘the world’.

Expected relationship with other concepts

There are expected relationships with the ‘optimism about personal future’ item as well as overall life
satisfaction.

Question item wording

Repeat E44 from Round 3:

CARD 28 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D26 For most people in

[country] life is getting 1 2 3 4 5 8
worse rather than better.

Repeat E42 from Round 3:

CARD 28 Using this card, please say to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following
statements. READ OUT EACH STATEMENT AND CODE IN GRID

Neither
Agree agree Disagree (Don’t
strongly Agree nor Disagree strongly know)
disagree

D24 The way things are now, I

find it hard to be hopeful 1 2 3 4 5 8
about the future of the
world.

34
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

SECTION E. Items from Round 3 that will NOT be repeated in Round 6 (with justification)

E2: Not counting anything you do for your family, in your work, or within voluntary organisations,
how often, in the past 12 months, did you actively provide help for other people?
It was decided to drop E3 from the module in Round 6 as it was felt that there would be substantial overlap
with the ‘help and support’ item from the ‘thick relationships’ concept (D37).

E3: And in the past 12 months, how often did you help with or attend activities organised in your
local area?
It was decided to drop E3 from the module in Round 6 due to poor performance in cognitive interview pre-
tests in five countries.

E7: On the whole my life is close to how I would like it to be

It was decided to drop E7 from the module in Round 6 due to overlap with B20 from the core questionnaire
(measuring life satisfaction).

E18: And please tell me how much of the past week...you felt tired?
It was decided to drop E18 from the module in Round 6 as it was felt to overlap with items on ‘emotions’
and ‘vitality’.

E19: Please tell me how much of the time during the past week you were absorbed in what you were
doing
An improved measure has been developed for Round 6, to form a set of items with respondents being
asked how ‘interested’/‘absorbed’/‘enthusiastic’ they are in what they are doing (items D31-D33 in Round
6).

E21: And please tell me how much of the past week...you felt bored?
It was decided to drop E21 from the module in Round 6 due to the need to reduce the number of items in
the module.

E24: In my daily life, I seldom have time to do the things I really enjoy
An improved item has been developed for Round 6 to measure control (D28).

E26: I love learning new things

An improved item (D20) has been developed for Round 6 to measure interest in learning to reduce the
number of agree-disagree scales in the module.

E28: I like planning and preparing for the future

This item was dropped from the module as it was felt to measure a trait-like personality feature rather than
perceived sense of direction.

E30: My life involves a lot of physical activity

An improved measure has been developed for Round 6 (D39) as E30 used an agree-disagree scale and
was felt to be vague.

E31-E32: How satisfied are you with how your life has turned out so far/ with your present standard
of living?
It was decided to drop E31 and E32 from the module in Round 6 due to overlap with B20 from the core
questionnaire (measuring life satisfaction). The sub concept of life satisfaction will be measured by core
item B20 in Round 6.

E33-E34: How much of the time spent with your immediate family is enjoyable / stressful?
The sub-concept ‘quality of family relationships’ was dropped due to a decision to broaden the focus of
‘thick relationships’ to include ‘people you are close to’.

E35: Please tell me to what extent...you get a chance to learn new things?

35
Round 6 Personal and Social Wellbeing - Final Module in Template

It was decided to drop E35 from the Round 6 module because the new measure (D20 – ‘interest in
learning’) appeared to provide a more direct and more meaningful measure of learning in life.

E38: ...you feel that people treat you unfairly?

This item had high non response in a number of countries in Round 3. It was felt that core items A3-A5
were effective measures of social trust.

E39: ...you feel that you get the recognition you deserve for what you do?
This item had high non response in a number of countries in Round 3 and poor face validity for measuring
reciprocity in social exchange.

E41: If I help someone I expect some help in return

It was felt that there was a lack of clarity in this question – it is unclear what it means to disagree with this
statement (indicating either lack of helping or lack of expectation of help in return).

E43: There are people in my life who really care about me

It was felt that core item C3 measured ‘sources of support’ sufficiently.

E46: Do you ever feel frustrated by having watched too much television?
This item is conceptually distant from the core model of what contributes to subjective well-being, relating
instead to feelings about one specific activity, television watching.

E47: Can I just check, are you currently in paid work of any kind?
This item preceded E48 in Round 3; E48 is now asked as F35b in Round 6. It is not necessary to include
E47 as the routing preceding F35b can be used to establish the same information.

Items E50-E55 (aspects of well-being at work)

These items relate to a particular life domain, work, which applies only to a subset of the population. There
are equally a number of other life domains which could be explored in depth (e.g. family relationships,
leisure activities, community) and it was felt that focusing only on work as one particular life domain risks
overemphasising this domain compared others. The aim instead is to focus the module on the core and
universal elements that contribute to subjective well-being, as they cut across life domains.

36