Happiness, domains of life satisfaction, perceptions, and valuation differences across genders

Happiness is strongly correlated with goal attainment, productivity, mental health and suicidal risk. This paper examines the association between satisfaction with areas of life and overall life satisfaction, the importance of relative perceptions compared to absolute measures in predicting overall life satisfaction, and differences in the domains of life which are the most strongly related to overall life satisfaction of men and women. The findings suggest that relative perceptions have a large statistically significant association with SWB. Satisfaction with family life and health are the strongest predictors while satisfaction with income and leisure time are the weakest predictors of overall life satisfaction for both genders. Work satisfaction is more important for men than for women, whereas partner's happiness is more valued by female respondents. Satisfaction with household compared to personal income has a larger association with life satisfaction in all subsamples except employed women. Understanding the perceived and factual determinants of happiness has urgent implications discussed in the article.