Abstract

To what extent do our beliefs about how our well-being has improved over time correspond to observed changes? Participants (N = 1,247 from Qualtrics Panels) completed questionnaires measuring dispositional well-being and ill-being (depressive symptoms) at three time points over the course of one year, as well as 44 weekly assessments of state well-being and ill-being over 52 weeks. They additionally completed measures of perceived improvements in well-being and ill-being at Weeks 45 and 52 as well as a measure of broad personality traits. We estimated latent change scores and latent growth curves, which allowed us to obtain more accurate estimates of the convergence between retrospective improvements and veridical change compared to past methods utilized. Stability in both global and state well-being and ill-being were observed. People who agreed more strongly that their well-being had improved (or their ill-being had increased) tended to show greater increases in actual well-being (or ill-being) across the past year. Additionally, we observed meaningful relationships between personality traits and perceived improvements. On average, people have some insight in assessing whether they became happier (or unhappier) over one year.

摘要

我们对我们的幸福感如何随着时间的推移而改善的信念在多大程度上与观察到的变化相对应？参与者（N = 来自 Qualtrics 小组的 1,247 人）在一年的三个时间点完成了测量性格幸福和不适（抑郁症状）的问卷，以及 52 周内对州幸福和不适的 44 次每周评估. 他们还在第 45 周和第 52 周完成了对幸福感和不适感的感知改善的测量，以及对广泛人格特征的测量。我们估计了潜在变化分数和潜在增长曲线，与过去使用的方法相比，这使我们能够更准确地估计回顾性改进和真实变化之间的收敛性。观察到全球和国家福祉和不幸的稳定性。那些更强烈地同意他们的幸福感有所改善（或他们的幸福感有所增加）的人往往会在过去一年中表现出更大的实际幸福感（或幸福感）增加。此外，我们观察到人格特质与感知改善之间的有意义的关系。平均而言，人们在评估他们在一年内是否变得更快乐（或更不快乐）方面有一些洞察力。