Is Life Dissatisfaction the Opposite of Life Satisfaction Melanie Davern & Robert A. Cummins School of Psychology, Deakin University
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Quarterly surveys since April 2001 of 2000 Australians All participants invited to remain involved in a longitudinal study Data collected in November 2002 from Survey 4 of the Index
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Personal Wellbeing is the average level of satisfaction across 7 domains: Standard of living Health Achievements in life Personal relationships Community connectedness Safety Future security Additional global life satisfaction item
The Assessment of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction ratings of all PWB and global “Life as a whole” items Total sample of 518 split into 2 samples according to response scales Unipolar and bipolar response scales
Satisfaction Response Scales BIPOLAR: Completely Dissatisfied Satisfied UNIPOLAR: Not at All Completely Satisfied
Dissatisfaction Response Scales BIPOLAR: Completely Dissatisfied Satisfied UNIPOLAR: Not at All Completely Dissatisfied
Circumplex Theory of Affect Activation Valence Low PA Low NA High PAHigh NA Russell (1980) PLEASANT UNPLEASANT ACTIVATED DEACTIVATED
Unipolar Response Scale: Bipolar Relationship Completely Satisfied Not at all Satisfied Not allDissatisfied CompletelyDissatisfied r = -1.00
Unipolar Response Scale: Bipolar Continuum & Mutually Exclusive Completely Satisfied Not at all Satisfied Not allDissatisfied CompletelyDissatisfied r = -.47
SatisfactionDissatisfaction MeanSDMeanSD Total Life as a whole Standard of living Health Achievements Personal Rel/ships Safety Community Future security PWB Index Total UNIPOLAR DATA (N=297)
SatisfactionDissatisfaction MeanSDMeanSD Total Life as a whole Standard of living Health Achievements Personal Rel/ships Safety Community Future security PWB Index Total BIPOLAR DATA (N=221)
Correlations - Unipolar VariablesCorrelationp Life as a whole Standard of living Health Achieve in life Personal relationships Safety Community connectedness Future security Personal Wellbeing Index and Personal Dissatisfaction Index
Unipolar Response Scale Satisfaction Dissatisfaction
Correlations - Bipolar VariablesCorrelationp Life as a whole Standard of living Health Achieve in life Personal relationships Safety Community connectedness Future security Personal Wellbeing Index and Personal Dissatisfaction Index
Bipolar Response Scale Dissatisfaction Satisfaction
Balance between Satisfaction & Dissatisfaction Using a Unipolar Scale Satisfaction (72.63) Dissatisfaction (27.16) 0% 100%
Conclusions Use of unipolar response scales in affect theory research Inverse relationship between life satisfaction and dissatisfaction