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18-12-2023 | Original Article

Thirteen Years of Subjective Well-Being: Within-Person Association between Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Life Satisfaction

Author: Mohsen Joshanloo

Published in: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

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Abstract

Research shows that people use their current mood along with other sources of information to assess their overall life satisfaction. Therefore, it has been assumed that the positive relationship between affective well-being and life satisfaction means that affective well-being influences life satisfaction and not vice versa. However, this assumption has not been rigorously tested in within-person analyses. Existing empirical evidence suggests that life satisfaction may also influence future affective experiences. The purpose of the present study was to examine the longitudinal within-person relationships between the components of affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect) and life satisfaction. The study used a sample of adults from the German Aging Survey collected at 5 time points over a 13-year period (N = 12,216, baseline age ≈ 60 years). The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that changes in affective well-being predicted subsequent changes in life satisfaction. Changes in life satisfaction predicted subsequent changes in positive affect significantly and in negative affect marginally. This study provides insight into the direction of the long-term relationship between affective well-being and life satisfaction and highlights the importance of within-person analyses in understanding the relationships between these variables.
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Metadata
Title
Thirteen Years of Subjective Well-Being: Within-Person Association between Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Life Satisfaction
Author
Mohsen Joshanloo
Publication date
18-12-2023
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Print ISSN: 1557-1874
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1882
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-023-01223-7