Soc Indic Res (2016) 125:1035–1051 DOI 10.1007/s11205-015-0867-z

Gender Differences in Happiness and Life Satisfaction Among Adolescents in Hong Kong: Relationships and Self-Concept Wing Hong Chui • Mathew Y. H. Wong

Accepted: 7 January 2015 / Published online: 14 January 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Abstract This study uses survey data from adolescents (N = 1,428) in Hong Kong to test the association of gender with happiness and life satisfaction through relationship style and self-concept. While self-esteem and purpose in life are associated with higher happiness and life satisfaction, having more close friends is related to higher happiness, but not necessarily life satisfaction. On the other hand, boys with higher academic achievement are happier, but not more satisfied; the opposite holds true for girls. Our results provide a much-needed investigation of the differential effect of gender on the subjective well-being of adolescents. Contributing to the theoretical debate about the concepts of subjective well-being, we argue that happiness and life satisfaction are empirically and conceptually distinct. Life satisfaction might be characterized by more profound enjoyment and achievement in life than happiness. Keywords Adolescents  Gender  Happiness  Life satisfaction  Self-esteem  Purpose in life

1 Introduction Adolescence has long been regarded as a period of emotional upheaval (e.g., Erikson 1968). Subjective well-being during this stage of psychological and physical growth is a

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11205-015-0867-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. W. H. Chui (&) Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR e-mail: [email protected] M. Y. H. Wong Department of Politics and Public Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR e-mail: [email protected]

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topic of great theoretical and practical importance. Through this study, we aim to gain a better understanding of the subjective well-being of adolescents in Hong Kong. This study aims to show that there are important gender-related differences underlying the process in relation to how boys and girls perceive social relationships and themselves. In addition, we seek to contribute to the discussion regarding the concept of subjective well-being, in particular concerning the differences between happiness and life satisfaction, as well as comparing and contrasting factors that contribute to them. Happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being are interrelated concepts about one’s quality of life (Phillips 2006). Earlier works viewed affective and cognitive components as factors of life satisfaction (for a review, see Cummins 2013). Building on this, Diener et al. (1985) suggested a model with three separable (but related) components to capture subjective well-being: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. The model was later further expanded into four components (Diener et al. 2004), within which happiness is regarded as a ‘‘pleasant emotion’’—an affective, short-lived reaction tied to specific events. It is also popularly defined as ‘‘the frequent experience of positive emotions over time’’ (Lyubomirsky et al. 2005, p. 806). Life satisfaction, on the other hand, refers to one’s ongoing evaluation of the conditions of life as a whole, which presumably requires cognitive processing. Some scholars also try to differentiate the two by comparing the horizon of happiness and life satisfaction.1 This study investigates how the affective and cognitive domains of well-being are related. Namely, summarizing the above perspectives, we argue that happiness is an immediate, shortterm, temporary and retrospective mental state, whereas life satisfaction is a relatively longterm judgment of life conditions, which could be backward- or forward-looking. By adopting this stance, in the words of Diener et al. (2004, p. 205), there is an acknowledged possibility that a person ‘‘can be satisfied with one’s life, and yet experience little pleasant affect, and vice versa.’’ While the exact theoretical underpinning of the relationship between happiness and life satisfaction might be subject to debate (for a review, see Vitterso 2013), this study will work with this distinction. Further discussions on this point can be found in the concluding section. It is further noted that the association between affective and cognitive well-being (in this case, between happiness and life satisfaction) is not perfect and will vary across samples (e.g., Diener et al. 2004). In this study, we will demonstrate that the two concepts are affected by different factors, and that the factors are gender-specific (Eckermann 2000). 1.1 Gender and Subjective Well-Being Demographic variables, including gender, are sometimes seen as weak predictors of happiness (Diener et al. 1999; see also Csikszentmihalyi and Hunter 2003). With regards to adolescents specifically, the findings have also been inconclusive. While Goldbeck et al. (2007) reported a lower life satisfaction for girls as compared to boys, this being congruent with some other studies on gender effects (e.g., Moksnes and Espnes 2013), a branch of literature argues no differences in the level of subjective well-being across gender (Casas et al. 2007; Froh et al. 2009; Huebner et al. 2004). Even if we accept the proposition that gender has no direct association with happiness and well-being, such results do not rule out the possibility that gender might condition the effect of other variables; that is, the process of subjective well-being formation is different between boys and girls. For example, Thayer et al. (1994) found that women rely on social 1

Wnuk et al. (2012, p. 465) make a similar distinction by defining happiness as a cognitive balance between one’s desire and passion for life as well as evaluation of life up to now, and evaluation of life in recent days. Meanwhile, life satisfaction consists of three perspectives: past, present, and future.

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support more frequently to overcome negative moods. Similarly, although Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2006) found that men and women were equally happy, they uncovered gender differences in the use of happiness-enhancing strategies. These differences can also be attributed to the different domains of life satisfaction. Girls are more satisfied than boys in learning and family and friends, and the opposite is true in physical activities, culminating in no significant difference in overall life satisfaction (Casas et al. 2007). Such gender differences in subjective well-being will next be developed further. 1.2 Effects of Relationships and Self-Concept Across Gender In one of the theoretical perspectives discussed by Brody and Hall (2008), gender differences in emotions can be attributed to socialization, which leads women to display emotions related to their traditional gender roles such as social bonding. To explore the role of gender in shaping adolescents’ subjective well-being, this study focuses on self-concept and relationship differences between boys and girls. The terminology is borrowed from Leung and Zhang (2000), who focus on explaining life satisfaction in adolescents (similarly, Kwan et al. 1997 use self-esteem and relationship harmony as mediating variables to explain life satisfaction with samples from the US and Hong Kong). In line with a collection of studies on gender differences, family and other interpersonal ties relationships should link to females’ happiness and life satisfaction, whereas feelings of achievement (self-concept) might be more related to the well-being of males. 1.2.1 Relationships Good social relationships are considered a necessary component to subjective well-being (Diener and Seligman 2002). Two main domains of relationships are investigated here: family and friends. While parents usually exert greater social control over daughters (Lopez 2003), it is less clear whether this could lead to greater family conflict (Bui 2009) or greater family closeness. Shek (1997, 1998) found that family functioning and relationships with parents greatly influence junior high school students’ psychological wellbeing. Similarly, Leung and Leung (1992) argue that the parent–adolescent relationship is the primary determinant of life satisfaction. Therefore, it is obvious that the role of family is crucial in the subjective well-being of adolescents. In the process of socialization for adolescents, peers are another important group which may complement, or even overtake the role of family in their development (Gonzalez et al. 2014; Hartup 1983). When adolescents choose to engage in sharing about themselves, girls tend to reveal more about themselves to friends than boys do. They also receive greater social support from friends than do boys (for a review, see Gonzalez et al. 2014). In addition, while it is generally accepted that females place a greater emphasis on family and social domains, perhaps surprisingly, Feliciano (2012) found that boys have a higher focus on family relationships. Feliciano suggests that boys’ more negative peer experience at school is the reason behind this. In this study, we assess how the number of close friends and family structure (in particular, the respondents’ parents’ marital status and whether the respondent has siblings) is associated with the subjective well-being of adolescents. 1.2.2 Self-Concept Csikszentmihalyi and Hunter (2003) argue that positive feelings about oneself and social ties are the strongest predictors of happiness, among other factors. Besides socialization

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with family and friends, people’s well-being naturally depends a great deal on their selfperception. This study focuses on respondents’ academic achievement, self-esteem, and purpose in life as the three indicators of self-concept. Specifically for adolescents, we hypothesize that their experience at school—which is a crucial part of adolescents’ lives—is important in determining their ability to feel positive about life. It is generally accepted that women outperform men academically, as seen in college admissions and degree attainment (e.g., Buchmann and DiPrete 2006; Feliciano and Rumbaut 2005). In the US, numerous studies have documented boys’ negative experience towards the environment and personnel at school (e.g., Lopez 2003; Watkins and Melde 2010), which could be a reason behind their lower academic performance (Feliciano 2012). Oishi et al. (1999) argue that achievement-oriented individuals largely judge their life satisfaction based on their performance in achievement domains. However, much less is known about whether academic achievements are associated with cognitive or affective well-being indicators, or whether boys are more likely to be achievement-oriented. This study will address these questions. The second self-concept indicator is self-esteem. Self-esteem is usually defined as ‘‘a person’s appraisal of his or her value’’ (Leary and Baumeister 2000, p. 2), which relates directly to the concept of self. It affects how adolescents behave in society, especially in educational institutions (Rosenberg 1965). It is also generally believed that self-esteem has a considerable impact on happiness (Baumeister et al. 2003; Cheng and Furnham 2003) and life satisfaction (Kwan et al. 1997; Moksnes and Espnes 2013). Finally, according to McKnight and Kashdan (2009), purpose in life is a cognitive process that defines one’s life goals and provides personal meaning. Purpose in life is regarded as a component of self-concept as finding a meaning in life allows a person to affirm self-worth and establish his/her identity (Baumeister and Vohs 2009; McAdams 1996). For example, McAdams (1996) suggests that the task of writing a life story can establish personal identity through a reflection on one’s purpose in life. This demonstrates that the existence of purpose might be crucial in the construction of self-concept. Purpose is generally found to lead to a healthier psychological profile, especially among youth (Shek 1993). Since purpose in life involves aspects of both the good life and the meaningful life (Bronk et al. 2009), studies have found that purpose in life is associated with happiness (Wnuk et al. 2012) and life satisfaction (Wnuk et al. 2012; especially during adolescence and emerging adulthood, see Bronk et al. 2009). 1.3 The Role of Culture in Subjective Well-Being Researchers have also found cultural differences in subjective well-being (for a review, see Diener et al. 2009). One study found that Hong Kong adolescents reported much lower life satisfaction relative to adolescents in the US (Kwan 2010), which might be due to the individualistic-collectivistic cultural divide (Diener et al. 2009) or the tendency of Asians to avoid upper end responses (Cummins 2013). Through an investigation of the strength of self-concept and relationships factors, which represent individualistic and collectivistic factors respectively, this study also aims to contribute to the discussion of the role of culture in subjective well-being. In addition, some comprehensive studies on young people’s life satisfaction in Hong Kong discuss the role of gender only marginally, without including it in their main models (e.g., Chang et al. 2003). In this respect, the current study can provide a much-needed comprehensive study of adolescents in Hong Kong that focuses on gender differences.

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2 Methods 2.1 Study Design The survey was conducted with the assistance of a non-governmental organization, which specializes in delivering social work services to secondary schools and forms a close network with a number of schools in Hong Kong. A total of 1,830 respondents aged between 10 and 19 from nine primary and secondary schools were reached through school personnel and administrators (the average response rate was approximately 88 %). The number of available observations was then limited to 1,428 in the analysis after removing participants with missing data.2 Prior to the research, ethical approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties at the University of Hong Kong. Informed consent was also distributed and collected from the principals of the participating schools and the parents of the participants. Before completing the questionnaire, all participants were given a consent form that informed them of, among other things, the anonymity of the survey. Their participation was entirely voluntary, and they could withdraw at any time. During the administration of the survey, peer-to-peer discussion was not allowed. 2.2 Measures 2.2.1 Happiness Happiness was measured using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills and Argyle 2002, Chinese translation by Hsieh 2012) consisting of 29 items.3 Respondents are asked how much they agree, on a 6-point scale (from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) with statements such as ‘‘I often experience joy and elation,’’ ‘‘I feel I have a great deal of energy,’’ and ‘‘I find beauty in some things.’’ Total scores range from 29 to 174, with higher numbers indicating greater happiness. In this study, the Cronbach’s alpha for this group of questions was 0.91.

2

Because composite measures are created for happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and purpose in life, any one missing response for these concepts would result in an incomplete observation, dropping that participant from the analysis. However, the excluded observations were largely comparable with the included group. Most importantly for our causal arguments, the null hypothesis that the pattern of missingness is not associated with gender cannot be rejected at conventional levels of significance (p = 0.207). With the exception of age, which is expected, the same can be said for the main variables in this study (happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, purpose in life, academic achievement, no. of close friends, parents’ marital status, and siblings).

3

It is acknowledged that the scale used here has been criticized in the literature for., among other things, its lack of conceptual clarity and structure (Cummins 2013; Kashdan 2004). According to Kashdan (2004), the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire mainly overlaps with the concepts of self-esteem and sense of purpose, which might be affecting the findings. Cummins (2013, p. 195) suggests that a single question can be a viable measurement of happiness. To ensure robustness, we have tried to use agreement to the statement ‘‘I am very happy’’ as an alternative measurement of happiness. Similar results can be obtained (results available upon request). Perhaps importantly, the effects of self-esteem and purpose in life did not change. Additionally, a considerable number of recent studies still utilize the scale to capture happiness under a range of contexts (e.g., Holder et al. 2010; Wei et al. 2011). While this is surely not a good reason to accept a flawed measure (Cummins 2013), unfortunately we have to leave the problem of measurements as an improvement in future studies. Further discussion regarding this point can be found in Sect. 4. We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this point.

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2.2.2 Life Satisfaction We used the ‘‘satisfaction with life’’ scale developed by Diener et al. (1985). The scale has been found to apply well in the context of Hong Kong (Shek et al. 2006; Sun and Shek 2010; see also Chui and Chan 2013; Kwok et al. 2013). The scale asks respondents to rate their agreement with five items on a 7-point scale (from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree with middle category labeled Neither Agree Nor Disagree), such as ‘‘I am satisfied with my life’’ and ‘‘In most ways my life is close to my ideal.’’ The overall scale thus ranges from 5 (low satisfaction) to 35 (high satisfaction). The Cronbach’s alpha for this group of questions was 0.88. 2.2.3 Relationships: Number of Close Friends, Parents’ Marital Status, and Siblings Respondents were asked to report their number of close friends (excluding family and girl/ boyfriends) whom they would share feelings with. Answers could take any value from 0 to 10 (or above). Regarding parents’ marital status, respondents were allowed to choose from the following options: married, separated, divorced, and other. In the analysis below, we use a dummy variable to represent whether the respondents’ parents are married (1 = married; 0 = otherwise). Finally, to further capture the social circle surrounding adolescents, besides parents and close friends, we expect that siblings might provide another source of relationship satisfaction. This variable is also coded dichotomously (1 = has sibling; 0 = no sibling). 2.2.4 Self-Concept: Academic Satisfaction, Purpose in Life, and Self-Esteem Respondents were asked to evaluate their satisfaction with their own academic performance. The responses were coded on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) very dissatisfied to (5) very satisfied, with a higher score indicating higher satisfaction. It is not uncommon to use a single indicator for measuring specific domains of life satisfaction including academic satisfaction (e.g., Xiao et al. 2009). In addition, similar results can also be obtained if we use an alternative measure combining academic satisfaction with self-reported academic performance, which should minimize the errors with the use of a single indicator.4 Following Crumbaugh (1968) and Shek (1988), the Purpose in Life Questionnaire consists of five factors: quality of life, meaning of existence, death, choice, and retirement. The survey uses 20 questions to capture the concept. On a 7-point scale (with four labeled Neutral), higher scores indicate a higher sense of purpose. The Cronbach’s alpha for this batch of questions was 0.93. The commonly used Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale uses ten items to assess participants’ perception of self-value and self-acceptance (Rosenberg 1965). Responses are recorded on a 4-point scale (from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree). Higher scores represent higher self-esteem (see, for example, Chui and Chan 2013 for a recent use of this scale in the Chinese context). The Cronbach’s alpha in our study was 0.82.

4

Results are available upon request. Unfortunately, there is no centralized public examination until the end of high school in Hong Kong. As respondents come from nine different schools, objective and comparable evaluations about their academic performance are not available. It is also noted that there is evidence that academic satisfaction is directly influenced by academic results (Xiao et al. 2009).

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2.2.5 Other Personal Background To better explain happiness and life satisfaction, we also include several demographic variables. The regression models below include age, ethnicity (1 = Chinese; 0 = other), religion (1 = reported a religion; 0 = otherwise). Age is included as a control as subjective well-being is expected to decrease during adolescence (e.g., Casas et al. 2007; Goldbeck et al. 2007). Religiosity may also be positively associated with life satisfaction (Diener and Clifton 2002), although the reported size of the effect is allegedly quite small. Finally, as there is a cultural dimension in our discussion of subjective well-being, we accounted for whether the respondent is an ethnic Chinese. 2.3 Procedure To compare gender differences in the development of happiness and life satisfaction, we begin by reporting the correlations of the main variables. This is followed by ordinary least squares regression analyses, in which happiness and life satisfaction are dependent variables. To test the research question, the analyses will be presented in two stages. First, hierarchical models will be used to illustrate the results with the inclusion of background, relationship, and self-concept variables. Second, three models will be presented for each indicator: one model for each gender in addition to the pooled model. This will allow us to look at the mean effect and compare the gender-specific effects. The analysis below was conducted with the STATA 12.0 statistical package.

3 Results 3.1 Characteristics of the Sample As noted above, this study included 1,428 teenagers aged 10–19. The sample was 47 % male and 53 % female, which is representative of the demographic profile of Hong Kong (46.7 % male; Census and Statistics Department 2012). Descriptive statistics of the main variables by gender, differences across gender, and size effects are shown in Table 1. Although girls appeared to have a higher purpose in life and higher academic satisfaction on average, the differences in the average values of the two measures of well-being (happiness and life satisfaction) were not significant. Therefore, it is argued that the gender-related effects we demonstrate below do not arise from pre-existing differences in our sample of respondents. 3.1.1 Correlation of the Main Variables Table 2 shows the correlations between our main variables.5 As discussed above, although happiness and life satisfaction are similar concepts of subjective well-being, they only correlated at 0.56, demonstrating a considerable amount of uncorrelated variation. This preliminary finding reinforces the need to separately investigate the two measures. On the other hand, happiness correlated with purpose in life at 0.72 and self-esteem at 0.66 respectively. Although the correlations were slightly lower for life satisfaction, this 5

Correlation figures by gender can be found in the online appendix, available at the journal website. The figures are very similar across the two gender groups for the main variables.

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Table 1 Descriptive statistics by gender Female (N = 757)

Male (N = 671)

Mean

Mean

SD

Difference

T test/Chi square

Effect size (Cohen’s d/Cramer’s V)

SD

Age

14.23

1.88

14.06

1.56

0.17

2.08*

0.10

Happiness

111.01

18.4

109.68

19.31

1.34

1.28

0.07

Life satisfaction

24.12

6.01

23.64

6.00

0.48

1.68

0.08

Self-esteem

26.99

4.4

27.1

4.57

0.11

0.52

0.03

Purpose in life

93.79

20.35

91.19

20.26

2.60

2.67**

0.13

Academic satisfaction

5.88

1.73

5.52

1.91

0.36

2.59**

0.12

No. of close friends

4.57

2.93

5.3

3.58

-0.72

-4.68**

-0.22

Siblings (%)

79.80 %

67.60 %

12.20 %

34.58**

0.14

Parents’ marital status (%)

87.00 %

90.30 %

-3.30 %

4.85*

-0.05

** p \ 0.01; * p \ 0.05 (two-tailed student t test for continuous variables, and two-tailed Chi square test for dichotomous variables)

confirms our expectation that these two positive self-concept attributes have high explanatory power on subjective well-being. In line with the descriptive statistics above, gender did not correlate significantly with happiness or life satisfaction. Finally, the number of close friends and academic achievement also demonstrated a robust positive correlation with psychological well-being. The precise form of the relationship between these factors will be explored next. 3.2 Hierarchical Regression Models Table 3 presents the hierarchical regression results for happiness and life satisfaction. As noted, background factors are entered in the first stage, followed by relationships variables and finally self-concept ones. The results were very similar for both measures of subjective well-being. Age was significant and negative in the first stage, hinting at a drop in subjective well-being as respondents reach late-adolescence. In the second step, the only consistent predictor of well-being was the number of close friends. Perhaps as expected, the more intimate peer-to-peer connections an adolescent can form, the better is his/her well-being. In the third step, it can be seen that self-concept as a whole was a very strong predictor of subjective well-being, both statistically and substantively. All of the three factors (academic satisfaction, self-esteem, and purpose in life) were significant and positive in explaining happiness and life satisfaction. Based on the results so far, self-concept variables can be considered the strongest predicators of well-being, with the partial exception of age and number of close friends. It was observed that gender was not significant in the first stage of these models. However, it may have become significant once the full model was used and all relevant factors were controlled for. In addition, as discussed above, even if gender did not exert a significant effect, it may have been the case that the underlying pattern of subjective well-being formation is different for boys and girls. These possibilities will be explored in the next section.6 6

Results from moderation tests with interaction terms between gender and other explanatory variables are consistent with those in the pooled models below and are largely significant. However, as the interpretation of the results are less straightforward, the results are presented in the online appendix.

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0.50**

0.45**

0.23**

-0.03

0.07*

0.30**

-0.18**

0.00

(3) Purpose in life

(4) Self-esteem

(5) No. of close friends

(6) Siblings

(7) Parents’ marital status

(8) Academic satisfaction

(9) Age

(10) Gender

** p \ 0.01; * p \ 0.05

0.56**

(2) Happiness

(1) Life satisfaction

(1)

Table 2 Correlations between main variables

0.04

-0.15**

0.40**

0.04

0.00

0.30**

0.66**

0.72**

(2)

0.02

-0.13**

0.36**

0.02

-0.04

0.30**

0.56**

(3)

-0.13**

-0.13**

0.42**

0.04

0.00

0.27**

(4)

-0.15**

-0.14**

0.20**

0.00

-0.01

(5)

-0.11**

0.05

-0.04

0.07*

(6)

-0.06*

-0.01

0.06*

(7)

-0.09**

-2.22**

(8)

0.08**

(9)

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Table 3 Hierarchical regression analysis of happiness and life satisfaction Happiness B

SE

Life satisfaction 2

b

F

R

8.70

0.03

B

SE

b

F

R2

10.97

0.03

15.55

0.06

65.25

0.31

Step 1 Gender

1.75

1.10

0.05

Age

-1.77

0.33

-0.16**

0.27

0.34

0.02

-0.50

0.09

-0.14**

Religion (Y)

0.41

1.12

0.01

0.58

0.32

0.05

Ethnicity-Chinese

-8.28

4.98

-0.05

-0.75

0.44

-0.05*

No. of close friends

1.65

0.16

0.29**

0.35

0.05

0.19**

Siblings

0.10

1.16

0.00

-0.06

0.35

-0.00

Parents’ marital status

1.76

1.63

0.03

1.19

0.47

0.06*

Academic satisfaction

1.03

0.38

0.06**

0.49

0.15

0.09**

Self-esteem

1.51

0.10

0.36**

0.31

0.04

0.24**

Purpose in life

0.45

0.02

0.47**

0.09

0.01

0.31**

Step 2 21.00

0.11

Step 3 186.07

0.63

** p \ 0.01; * p \ 0.05

3.3 Tests of the Effects of Gender on Subjective Well-Being In Table 4, a total of six models are shown. In the first three models, happiness was used as the dependent variable. Relationships (number of close friends, siblings, and parents’ marital status), self-concept (academic achievement, self-esteem, and purpose in life), and background factors were inserted as independent variables. Male and female respondents were pooled together in the first model and separated in the second and third. The exercise was then repeated for life satisfaction in the last three models. Starting with background factors less relevant to our arguments, religion was unrelated to happiness, but was found to contribute positively to the level of life satisfaction (p \ 0.05 in the pooled and female model). Ethnicity, on the other hand, provided some puzzling results. As compared to ethnic Chinese, our minority groups were characterized by a lower level of happiness (significant at p \ 0.01) and a higher level of life satisfaction (significant at p \ 0.05). Although happiness and life satisfaction were not statistically different for boys and girls on average (Table 1), after controlling for other factors, the coefficient for gender was positive and significant in the first model in Table 4. This shows that girls are happier than boys, all else equal. While this might be contradictory to the results in the above section, it is noted that the effect of gender was only insignificant prior to the inclusion of relationships and self-concept factors. In line with descriptive statistics and correlation figures, gender was found to be associated with happiness once the effects were isolated. Boys also become less happy as they entered their late adolescence, while the effect of age was not significant for girls. Among the relationship variables, only the number of close friends was found to be significant in all specifications. However, this factor was much more significant—both statistically and in terms of effect size—for females than males. The estimate

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-0.39

0.38

-8.68

Religion (Y)

Ethnicity-Chinese

0.42

Siblings

Parents’ marital status

0.45

0.63

Self-esteem

Purpose in life

R2

** p \ 0.01; * p \ 0.05

1.03

1.51

Academic satisfaction

Self-concept

0.40

0.38

No. of close friends

Relationships

3.31

Gender (1 = female)

B

0.47**

0.36**

0.06**

0.01

0.01

0.07**

-0.05**

0.01

-0.03

0.09**

b

0.65

0.45

1.55

1.34

-2.71

0.92

0.27

-8.51

0.74

-0.61

B

0.47**

0.37**

0.08**

-0.04

0.02

0.05*

-0.05*

0.02

-0.05*

b

0.61

0.45

1.44

0.71

3.42

-0.42

0.67

-7.69

-0.03

-0.08

B

b

0.48**

0.34**

0.04

0.07*

-0.01

0.10**

-0.04

-0.00

-0.01

0.31

0.09

0.31

0.49

0.74

-0.20

0.09

0.98

0.59

-0.24

0.54

B

0.31**

0.24**

0.09**

0.04

-0.01

0.05*

0.06*

0.05*

-0.07**

0.05

b

All

Female

All

Male

Life satisfaction

Happiness

Age

Background

Dependent variable sample

Table 4 Regression analysis of happiness and life satisfaction by gender group

0.30

0.11

0.24

0.33

0.05

-0.02

0.11

1.44

0.43

-0.20

B

Male

0.36**

0.19**

0.06

0.00

-0.00

0.07

0.03

0.03

-0.05

b

0.32

0.08

0.38

0.66

1.26

-0.41

0.07

1.19

0.74

-0.28

B

Female

0.26**

0.28**

0.12**

0.07*

-0.03

0.03

0.09**

0.06*

-0.09**

b

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of the size of the coefficient among females was about two times that of males, with significance levels of 0.01 versus 0.05. In addition, parents’ marital status was associated with happiness among girls (p \ 0.05) but not among boys. On the other hand, all three self-concept variables carried some power in explaining happiness. As expected, self-esteem and purpose in life were positively associated with happiness in all models. The fact that the effect size and significance levels were similar in the male and female regressions suggests that there are minimal gender differences. The same cannot be said about academic satisfaction, which was significant for males (p \ 0.01) but not for females. The size of the coefficient for the group of boys also doubled that of girls. We now turn our focus to the determinants of life satisfaction (the three models on the right in Table 4). Unlike happiness, after controlling for relationships and self-concept variables, there was no gender difference in the average level of life satisfaction. Girls were less satisfied with their lives as they grew up, while the same effect for boys was not significant. The relationship variables did not fare well in explaining life satisfaction. Only the number of close friends in the pooled model and parents’ marital status for girls were significant (p \ 0.05 for both). While the lack of an effect for parents’ marital status in explaining subjective well-being demonstrated above might be surprising, the models by gender here showed that this is only the case for boys. Girls with married parents did indeed have higher happiness and life satisfaction (p \ 0.05 for both). This finding is consistent with our expectation that girls’ subjective well-being should depend more on social relationships than boys. Similar to the case of happiness above, self-concept factors were more strongly associated with life satisfaction than relationship factors. Self-esteem and purpose in life were, again, positive and significant in all specifications with no observable gender difference. However, academic achievement was only significantly related to higher satisfaction for girls. The effect was not significant for boys, which is the exact opposite of the case of happiness above. As our sample covered respondents from a wide age range (10–19), we further explored whether age moderates the effects of other variables in the process. We performed pooled regressions on happiness and life satisfaction by dividing our sample into two even-sized groups (cut-off at age 14), and the results of academic satisfaction seem to be conditioned by age. Academic satisfaction was significantly associated with happiness and life satisfaction only for the older group. However, an interaction term age 9 academic satisfaction was not found to be significant in a full model. Other interaction terms of age (included one at a time) also did not yield significant results. Relevant results can be found in the electronic supplementary materials. In sum, comparing the results across genders, we can conclude that relationships factors (the number of close friends and parents’ marital status) seem to matter much more for the happiness of females. While relationships variables do not appear to carry great weight in determining adolescents’ life satisfaction, parents’ marital status for, female respondents, stand out as a notable exception. It is interesting to see that the number of close friends is significantly associated with happiness, but not life satisfaction. On the other hand, self-esteem and purpose in life appear to be important factors of subjective well-being for all adolescents. Higher academic satisfaction may only leads to higher happiness for boys but not for girls. Conversely, academic satisfaction matters for the life satisfaction for females but not for males. It is perhaps noteworthy that academic satisfaction is significantly associated with happiness for boys and life satisfaction for girls, but not the other way round.

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4 Discussion This study examined subjective well-being of adolescents with a particular focus on the role of gender. By looking at happiness and life satisfaction among adolescents in Hong Kong, we compare the effect of self-concept and relationship constructs. As self-concept and relationship constructs are both important for predicting adolescents’ happiness and life satisfaction (Leung and Zhang 2000), we believe our two-category model of well-being can satisfactorily explain happiness and life satisfaction in this age group. A major strength in this study is the large sample size, which allows us to establish fairly strong results. It also enhances reliability by minimizing the influences of potential random errors in selfreporting, especially among adolescents. Our results confirm several prior notions while delivering some surprises. From the hierarchical models (and partially in pooled models), it was confirmed that subjective wellbeing might decrease as respondents reach late-adolescence, which is in line with some other studies (e.g., Casas et al. 2007; Goldbeck et al. 2007). A rather surprising finding was the insignificant effect of parents’ marital status. Given the substantial literature on the role of family, especially parents, in the development of adolescents, its weak effect warrants further investigation. On the other hand, self-esteem and purpose in life consistently predicted subjective well-being. The number of close friends was a strong predictor of happiness for both sexes, though the effect was stronger for females. However, having more friends did not seem to increase life satisfaction. Parents’ marital status was found to be associated with girls’ subjective well-being, but the corresponding effect was absent for boys. While relationships factors were in general weaker than self-concept ones in explaining subjective well-being, we can still observe that girls place a greater emphasis on them. Interestingly, higher academic satisfaction made teenage boys happier, but not more satisfied with their life. On the other hand, higher academic satisfaction made girls more satisfied with their life, but not happier. With this set of results, we believe we have firmly established the gender-specific nature of subjective well-being. Without further data, we speculate that some of the results can be explained with the concepts of happiness and life satisfaction discussed at the start of the paper. Happiness might be a short-term measure of temporary contentment while life satisfaction could be more profound and long-term. Having more friends, in this case, can bring joy and happiness to adolescents, but perhaps does not add to the sense of life satisfaction. Adolescents, regardless of gender, report higher happiness when they have more friends, but this does not seem to lead to higher satisfaction in life (at least not significantly/consistently so). Similarly, girls might see a good academic performance as an end that can allow them to pursue a more successful and satisfied life in the future. In contrast, boys treat academic achievement as an achievement in its own right, which is a means to happiness. Of course, further research must be done to test the preliminary ideas offered here. This study also contributes to the discussion of the components of subjective well-being. It is expected that adolescents should derive a large part of their life satisfaction through academic and relationship issues. However, our results show that the exact relationship depends on the measurement (happiness or life satisfaction) and gender. First, having more friends has different impacts on one’s happiness and satisfaction. Second, academic satisfaction does not always lead to a higher subjective well-being—it could affect happiness and life satisfaction differently depending on gender. This finding is in line with Diener et al. (2000) argument that global life satisfaction is not necessarily the sum of domainspecific satisfactions.

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Although this study only focuses on one society, it also carries implications regarding the relationship between culture and subjective well-being. Self-concept is found to be more strongly associated with life satisfaction in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic ones, while the opposite holds for relationship harmony and social support (e.g., Diener and Diener 1995; Kwan et al. 1997). Similarly, East Asians feel happier when their interdependent selfhood is affirmed, as opposed to the affirmation of independent selfhood among European Americans (Kitayama and Markus 2000). Our results call for a more careful handling of the different factors of well-being across cultures. Even within a cultural background (be it individualistic or collectivistic), it is possible for subjective well-being to be determined more by self-concept or relationships depending on gender. At the very least, these studies need place more consideration on the role of gender, as simply controlling for gender may not be sufficient to uncover this kind of patterns (i.e., results of the pooled models in Table 4). Besides the wider cultural debate, our results can also shine light on the situation of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. To the best of our knowledge, there is virtually no systematic or comparative research on the subjective well-being of minority groups in Hong Kong. In our survey, non-Chinese in the region are reportedly less happy, yet characterized by a higher level of life satisfaction. This can perhaps relate to our distinction between the short-term nature of happiness and long-term nature of life satisfaction. Ethnic minorities in Hong Kong usually come from a poorer background, have fewer opportunities for education, and sometimes suffer from discrimination (Ku et al. 2003, 2005). While this might explain their short-term unhappiness, their cultural character might lead them to be more positive in the long run. For example, in a study on ethnic adolescents, 72 % of them disagreed that they are ‘‘not as smart as Hong Kong Chinese students,’’ and about 80 % of them agreed that they have ‘‘special qualities or abilities that local Chinese students do not have’’ (Ku et al. 2005; unfortunately the study did not cover Chinese students). This cultural difference might explain the difference in life satisfaction. However, our explanations should be considered exploratory given the lack of an established literature in this area. Our study is not without several limitations, one of them being its cross-sectional design. This precludes the investigation of temporal dimension and stability of subjective well-being. Although we surmise it to be rather unlikely, it may be the case that the causal directions are opposite to what we suggested. For example, one can argue that our results are actually the case that happier boys (and girls with a higher life satisfaction, but not the others) do better at school and acquire a higher academic satisfaction. Therefore, our findings have to be considered preliminary. They should hopefully be replicated in future longitudinal studies focusing on the change in self-concepts, relationships, and subjective well-being between boys and girls over time. Another limitation lies in the measurement of academic satisfaction. While a onecomponent measurement of domain-specific satisfaction might be acceptable (e.g., Xiao et al. 2009), it could suffer from bias in self-reporting as well as other types of random errors. Although we have tried to ensure the robustness of our results by using different indicators of academic performance (see footnote 4 above), the lack of an objective measurement for academic performance might be a concern. That being said, for largescale studies covering several schools, the lack of a comparative benchmark for students in Hong Kong (no public examinations until the end of high school) is an obstacle for all future researchers. A final limitation of this study is the measurement of happiness. The shortcomings of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire as a measure of happiness have been recognized

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(Cummins 2013; Kashdan 2004; see footnote 3 for a discussion). As such, future studies would do well to at least adopt additional scales of happiness to ensure the robustness of the results. However, aside from the choice of measurement, the very concept of happiness itself might also be a point of debate. In their four-component hierarchical model of ‘‘happiness’’ or subjective well-being, Diener et al. (2004, p. 71) categorize ‘‘happy’’ as a sub-component under pleasant emotions. This is, of course, due to the lack of a dominant definition of happiness, both among academics or in everyday conversation; it is thus difficult to quantify whether we are measuring (even with a valid scale) happiness as a general state of overall subjective well-being, or merely a sub-component of pleasant emotions. Consequently, we cannot expect survey respondents to be aware of this subtle distinction, as we cannot definitively pinpoint what their understanding of happiness is, and it further remains unknown if and how any incongruences in their comprehension of this construct would influence our results. This is a critical issue that researchers in the field can hopefully address in future. References Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4(1), 1–44. Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2009). The pursuit of meaningfulness in life. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), The handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 608–618). New York: Oxford University Press. Brody, L. R., & Hall, J. A. (2008). Gender and emotion in context. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 395–408). New York: Guilford. Bronk, K. C., Hill, P. L., Lapsley, D. K., Talib, T. L., & Finch, H. (2009). Purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 500–510. Buchmann, C., & DiPrete, T. A. (2006). The growing female advantage in college completion: The role of family background and academic achievement. American Sociological Review, 71, 515–541. Bui, H. N. (2009). Parent–child conflicts, school troubles, and differences in delinquency across immigration generations. Crime & Delinquency, 55, 412–441. Casas, F., Figuer, C., Gonzalez, M., Malo, S., Alsinet, C., & Subarroca, S. (2007). The well-being of 12- to 16-year old adolescents and their parents: Results from 1999 to 2003 Spanish samples. Social Indicators Research, 83, 87–115. Census and Statistics Department. (2012). 2011 Population Census. Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department. Chang, L., Mcbride-Chang, C., Stewart, S. M., & Au, E. (2003). Life satisfaction, self-concept, and family relations in Chinese adolescents and children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(2), 182–189. Cheng, H., & Furnham, J. (2003). Personality, self-esteem, and demographic predictions of happiness and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(6), 921–942. Chui, W. H., & Chan, H. C. O. (2013). Psychological characteristics of male 14- to 20-year-olds on probation and in a residential home in Hong Kong. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 23, 41–55. Crumbaugh, J. (1968). Cross-validation of a purpose-in-life test based on Frankl’s concepts. Journal of Individual Psychology, 24, 74–81. Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Hunter, J. (2003). Happiness in everyday life: The uses of experience sampling. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 185–199. Cummins, R. A. (2013). Measuring happiness and subjective well-being. In S. David, I. Boniwell, & A. Conley Ayers (Eds.), Oxford handbook of happiness (pp. 185–200). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Diener, E., & Clifton, D. (2002). Life satisfaction and religiosity in broad probability samples. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 206–209. Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653–663. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

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Gender Differences in Happiness and Life Satisfaction ... - Springer Link

Accepted: 7 January 2015 / Published online: 14 January 2015. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015. Abstract This study uses survey data from .... 1.2 Effects of Relationships and Self-Concept Across Gender. In one of the ...

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