Bimonte Salvatore, Bosco Luigi, Stabile Arsenio
Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
Department of Business and Law, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
Soc Indic Res. 2022;164(2):823-842. doi: 10.1007/s11205-022-02974-x. Epub 2022 Aug 1.
It is widely accepted that individual happiness is not, or not solely, related to material possessions, at least once basic needs are fulfilled. It has been demonstrated that interpersonal relationships and social capital matter too, and people whose values are more centred on material possessions have a greater probability of being less happy. Is this still true during the COVID-19 pandemic, when interpersonal relations, health and economic security are threatened and feelings of insecurity emerge? This is the issue that we address in this paper. We exploited the unique natural situation of the pandemic and lockdown in Italy to investigate the relationship between happiness and relational and material goods. Data collected by questionnaire during the lockdown suggests that the main direct effect of the pandemic on the happiness of respondents was related to the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on interpersonal relationships. Those who declared that COVID and lockdown had jeopardized their interpersonal relationships were significantly less likely to report higher levels of happiness, especially when controlling for other personal and contextual covariates. An important gender, religious and town size effect also emerged. Moreover, relational goods and good health were considered to be the most important determinants of happiness, though people were not so worried about their own health.
人们普遍认为，至少在基本需求得到满足后，个人幸福并非或不仅仅与物质财富相关。研究表明，人际关系和社会资本也很重要，而那些价值观更以物质财富为中心的人不太幸福的可能性更大。在新冠疫情期间，人际关系、健康和经济安全受到威胁，不安全感出现，情况还是如此吗？这就是我们在本文中要探讨的问题。我们利用意大利疫情和封锁这一独特的自然情况，来研究幸福与关系型和物质型物品之间的关系。封锁期间通过问卷调查收集的数据表明，疫情对受访者幸福的主要直接影响与疫情和封锁对人际关系的影响有关。那些宣称新冠疫情和封锁危及了他们人际关系的人，报告更高幸福水平的可能性显著降低，尤其是在控制了其他个人和背景协变量之后。此外，还出现了重要的性别、宗教和城镇规模效应。而且，关系型物品和健康被认为是幸福的最重要决定因素，尽管人们对自己的健康并没有那么担心。
