6
Health Satisfaction
gerdtham & Johannesson (2001) investigate th
e relationship between happiness (utility) and a
host of socio-economic variables in a random
sample of over 5,000 individuals from the
Swedish adult population. Their results show that
happiness increases with
income, health and
education and decreases with unemployment, urbanization, being single, and male gender.
Moreover, they found that the relationship
between age and happiness is U-shaped, with
happiness being lowest in the age-group 45–64 year
s. Peir ́o (2006) examines the relationships
between socio-economic conditions and happiness or
satisfaction of individuals in 15 countries.
In agreement with earlier studies, age, health and marital status are strongly associated with
happiness and satisfaction.
Recent research also suggests that recovery from serious illness and psychological
disorder can sometimes be associated with increased endorsement of specific character
strengths that contribute to increased life satisfaction (e.g., appreciation of beauty, forgiveness,
gratitude, humor, and kindness), whereas a history of illness can be associated with lower
levels of life satisfaction among those who have not recovered (Peterson et al., 2006).