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2. SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN SCOTLAND
2.1 In one of the most recent enquiries into subjective well-being in Scotland, economists David Bell and David Blanchflower used data from successive sweeps of the Eurobarometer survey to compare measures of life satisfaction in Scotland and in Great Britain as a whole. They found that for the period 1998-2002, 86% of people living in Scotland said they were either 'fairly' or 'very' satisfied with their lives compared with 14% who were 'not at all' or 'not very satisfied' 5 (Bell and Blanchflower, 2007). The numbers for Great Britain as a whole during the same time period were 90% and 11% respectively. Drawing on these findings Bell and Blanchflower concluded that people in Scotland are less satisfied with life than the rest of the British population. Combining data in this way was necessary due to the very small size of the Scottish sample in the Eurobarometer study, 6 which makes comparison across individual years methodologically problematic and increases the risk that fluctuation in trends from year to year will be missed. The size and robust nature of the SSA sample was designed to provide, for the first time, the national level data that is needed in order to explore subjective well-being in Scotland in greater depth.
2.2 Three key points stand out from findings on each of the five subjective well-being measures included in the survey (Figure 1). First, people in Scotland on the whole return high scores across all five measures, tending to place themselves towards the top of the scale, indicating that they are generally more satisfied than dissatisfied with their job, family, standard of living and life as a whole, and generally more happy than unhappy. Whilst these are positive findings it is important to note that it is not uncommon for scores on subjective well-being measures to be high. As Bramston pointed out ' when large Western population samples from all age groups, ethnic groups and socio-economic groups are asked to rate their life satisfaction, their responses consistently fall well above neutral' (Bramston, 2002).
2.3 Second, 'life satisfaction' and 'happiness' have very similar scores. The average score for both, on a scale of 0 to 10 (where 10 is the most positive score) was 8. However, the fact that the results are so similar does not in itself support the notion, put forward by some, that the terms are interchangeable and essentially measure the same thing. For example, a person might give a higher score when asked about satisfaction with their life as a whole than when asked how happy they consider themselves to be, or vice versa. In addition, it is not necessarily the case that it is the same people who give high scores in response to both questions.
2.4 Finally, after rounding, the only measure of subjective well-being to have an average score lower than 8 was 'job satisfaction' (7.0). Although still comfortably above the mid-point in the scale, it is interesting that job satisfaction scores the lowest of the five measures, given the evidence in the literature on the positive relationship between employment and higher levels of life satisfaction. Studies in the area have consistently shown that being out of work is a key determinant of low levels of life satisfaction (see for example Bell and Blanchflower 2007, Layard 2005, Galloway et. al. 2006). However, Donovan and Halpern (2002) among others attribute this to the loss of personal control, social status and social networks that can affect the unemployed, rather than to any monetary loss. As Bell notes, domain satisfactions are often inter-related and may each influence overall satisfaction but with different weights (Galloway et. al. 2006). Given the wealth of evidence supporting the role of social relationships - friends, family and work-mates - in shaping well-being it is perhaps not surprising that satisfaction with family and personal life scores the highest of the five domains. 7
Figure 1 Mean satisfaction and happiness scores across five dimensions of subjective well-being in Scotland
Sample size:
Job satisfaction=829 8, Satisfaction with family or personal life=1492 , Satisfaction with general standard of living=1498 , Satisfaction with life as a whole=1495 , Happiness=1496
Key points:
- Subjective well-being scores are high in Scotland across all five measures.
- The average scores for happiness and satisfaction with 'life as a whole', 'family or personal life' and 'general standard of living' are 8, where 10 is 'extremely satisfied'. 9
- Levels of job satisfaction in Scotland are slightly lower, with a mean score of 7.
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