How money buys happiness: genetic and environmental processes linking finances and life satisfaction

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Wendy Johnson, Robert F Krueger

Abstract

Measures of wealth such as income and assets are commonly considered to be objective measures of environmental circumstances, making direct contributions to life satisfaction. Here, the authors explored the accuracy of this assumption. Using a nationwide sample of 719 twin pairs from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, the authors first noted the relative independence of most perceptions about financial status from measures of actual wealth. They then demonstrated that perceived financial situation and control over life completely mediated the association between measures of actual wealth and life satisfaction. Finally, they showed that financial resources appeared to protect life satisfaction from environmental shocks. In addition, control appeared to act as a mechanism translating life circumstances into life satisfaction.

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Citations

Dec 1, 2007·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Brent W RobertsLewis R Goldberg
Dec 17, 2008·Psychological Science·Michael W Kraus, Dacher Keltner
Jan 9, 2009·American Journal of Community Psychology·Joann PrauseJimi Huh
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Jun 27, 2018·PsyCh Journal·Xinyue ZhouXiaomeng Hu
Dec 22, 2017·Psicologia, Reflexão E Crítica : Revista Semestral Do Departamento De Psicologia Da UFRGS·Wangshuai WangXin-An Zhang
Dec 19, 2017·Social Psychological and Personality Science·Nathan W HudsonKostadin Kushlev
Jan 19, 2018·The Behavioral and Brain Sciences·Angela R Robinson, Paul K Piff
Jul 1, 2008·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Ronald InglehartChristian Welzel
Mar 17, 2019·International Journal for Equity in Health·Shaozhe Zhang, Wei Xiang
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Nov 12, 2020·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology·Catherine K EttmanSandro Galea
Apr 4, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Ting WangZhansheng Chen
May 18, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Guanxiong PeiCheng Fang

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