Shimai Satoshi, Yamamiya Yuko, Fukuda Sanae
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansai University of Welfare Sciences.
Temple University, Japan Campus.
Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi. 2018;65(9):553-562. doi: 10.11236/jph.65.9_553.
Objectives The present study investigated subjective happiness in Japanese adults and offers basic knowledge for future studies. In addition, how subjective happiness varies in relation to certain demographic variables, such as gender and age, as well as factors that influence this variability, are examined.Methods A total of 2,000 Japanese people (1,000 females and 1,000 males) over the age of 20 completed an anonymous self-report internet survey. There were approximately the same number of participants in each of six age groups ranging from the 20s to 70s. How Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) scores were related to various demographic variables, including gender and age, as well as happiness, life satisfaction, and stress response, were analyzed.Results The validity of the SHS was supported by positive correlations with happiness and life satisfaction scores and negative correlation with stress response scores. The results also showed that females had higher SHS scores than males, and this gender difference was distinctive, especially among young adults. In addition, there was a U-shaped change in SHS score by age. That is, subjective happiness dropped with age, but started increasing again after the 50s. The same findings were reconfirmed by an additional survey one year later. Moreover, those with a spouse showed higher SHS scores than unmarried participants. Lastly, SHS scores were low among those whose highest education was junior high school and those who lived alone, although the limitations of sampling bias should be considered.Conclusion The SHS is an internationally accepted measure of subjective happiness consisting of only four items and can easily be used in public health research and practice. The current study offers basic information regarding SHS scores as well as subjective happiness in Japanese adults of different age groups and genders. The findings of the present study clearly indicate higher levels of subjective happiness among older age groups than younger ones, those with a spouse than those without a spouse, and females than males. As many studies conducted in other cultures have shown no such gender difference, further cross-cultural comparison studies are needed to clarify this discrepancy. The SHS as an indicator of personal well-being can be strongly expected to show extended utility in the future.
目的 本研究调查了日本成年人的主观幸福感，并为未来研究提供基础知识。此外，还研究了主观幸福感如何因某些人口统计学变量（如性别和年龄）而变化，以及影响这种变化的因素。
方法 共有2000名20岁以上的日本人（1000名女性和1000名男性）完成了一项匿名的自我报告网络调查。六个年龄组（从20多岁到70多岁）的参与者人数大致相同。分析了主观幸福感量表（SHS）得分与包括性别和年龄在内的各种人口统计学变量以及幸福感、生活满意度和压力反应之间的关系。
结果 SHS的有效性得到了与幸福感和生活满意度得分的正相关以及与压力反应得分的负相关的支持。结果还表明，女性的SHS得分高于男性，这种性别差异很明显，尤其是在年轻人中。此外，SHS得分随年龄呈U形变化。也就是说，主观幸福感随年龄下降，但在50多岁后又开始上升。一年后的另一项调查再次证实了相同的结果。此外，有配偶的人的SHS得分高于未婚参与者。最后，最高学历为初中的人和独居者的SHS得分较低，不过应考虑抽样偏差的局限性。
结论 SHS是一种国际认可的主观幸福感测量方法，仅由四个项目组成，可轻松用于公共卫生研究和实践。本研究提供了有关SHS得分以及不同年龄组和性别的日本成年人主观幸福感的基本信息。本研究结果清楚地表明，老年组的主观幸福感水平高于年轻组，有配偶者高于无配偶者，女性高于男性。由于在其他文化中进行的许多研究没有显示出这种性别差异，因此需要进一步进行跨文化比较研究来澄清这种差异。作为个人幸福感指标的SHS有望在未来发挥更大的作用。
