Life satisfaction and happiness in Turkey


SELİM S.

Social Indicators Research, cilt.88, sa.3, ss.531-562, 2008 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 88 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2008
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s11205-007-9218-z
  • Dergi Adı: Social Indicators Research
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.531-562
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: life satisfaction, happiness, ordered logit model, Turkey
  • Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This research aims to investigate life satisfaction and happiness in Turkey. It extends the previous researches on subjective well-being (SWB) for Turkey by considering both happiness and life satisfaction. The previous researches for Turkey are local studies, and their findings cannot be generalized to the population of Turkish society. Given these facts, the factors that shape individual happiness and life satisfaction amongst Turkish people are determined using a representative survey of sociocultural and political change, World Values Survey (WVS). Some results obtained in this study are similar to typical findings such as a negative age effect, positive influences of income and health status, and a negative effect of unemployment. Contrary to the expectations, middle education has a negative direct effect on life satisfaction among females, and the upper education level is insignificant in the life satisfaction model. By comparing the correlates of happiness and life satisfaction across different years, this research aims to provide insights for policy makers and professionals to improve the perceived lives of Turkish people. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007.