Day of the Week and Happiness

5. Personality and Happiness

1. Age and Happiness

Koreans can be divided into four groups depending on age:

young, for those aged 19 to 34; Middle-Aged 1, aged 35 to 49;

Middle-Aged 2, aged 50 to 64; and elderly, aged 65 or older.

Life evaluation scores swell among the middle aged, and recede among the elderly. The same pattern emerges for life satisfaction.

Young and Middle-Aged 2 Koreans gave their happiness yester-day the highest score (7.1 out of 10.0 each), and the scores were lower among Middle-Aged 1 and the elderly. A similar pattern is observed with respect to eudaimonia as well. However, there is a significant difference in seniors’ ratings of life evaluation, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia, on the one hand, and the rat-ings of other age groups. Seniors are significantly less happy than others. On the other hand, the ratings of yesterday’s hap-piness did not vary so significantly across age groups.

Ⅳ Mapping Koreans’

Happiness

34 How Happy Are Koreans? Measuring Happiness and Quality of Life in Korea Young 6.81 (1.22) 7.03 (1.13) 7.07 (1.09) 3.33 (2.04) 7.06 (1.11) Middle-

aged 2 6.94 (1.18) 7.12 (1.10) 7.06 (1.18) 3.32 (2.03) 7.07 (1.13) Middle-

aged 1 6.80 (1.27) 6.95 (1.22) 6.89 (1.23) 3.39 (1.95) 6.92 (1.19) Elderly 6.11 (1.64) 6.40 (1.51) 6.49 (1.35) 3.35 (1.93) 6.25 (1.34) Overall 6.76 (1.31) 6.95 (1.23) 6.94 (1.21) 3.35 (1.99) 6.91 (1.20) Note: Young: 19 to 34 years old; Middle-Aged 1: 35 to 49 years old; Middle-Aged 2: 50

to 64 years old; Elderly: 65 years old or older. Figures in the brackets are standard deviations. The mean scores and standard deviations are weighted. The mean scores are based on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Source: KIHASA (2019)(data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

〔Figure 4-1〕 Koreans’ Life Satisfaction by Age

(Unit: points)

Note: The line graph above the bars represent confidence intervals in light of standard deviations. The mean life satisfaction level and standard deviations are weighted.

The mean scores are based on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Source: KIHASA (2019)(data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

Ⅳ. Mapping Koreans’ Happiness 35

Our analysis shows that Koreans in their 30s are more satisfied with their lives than those in their 20s, and that the life satisfaction scores continue to fall beyond the 30s. As the 2019 survey shows, Koreans in their 70s are significantly less satisfied with their lives than are Koreans in other age groups. The confidence in-tervals based on standard deviations also widen with age, with the standard deviation growing the widest among seniors with-in each given age group. In other words, among seniors, some are very happy, while others are very unhappy.

Figure 4-2 shows histograms of life satisfaction and yester-day’s happiness by age. When asked to rate their life satisfaction out of 10.0, most Koreans gave a rating of 7.0, followed by 8.0, 6.0, and 5.0. This pattern holds constant among young and middle-aged Koreans alike. The percentage of Koreans scoring their life satisfaction at 4.0 or below is not very large. On the other hand, while most seniors, too, gave their life satisfaction a rating of 7.0, the percentage of seniors who did so is consid-erably smaller than is the case with other age groups. A score of 6.0 was the next-most popular, while the difference in the percentages of seniors rating 8.0 and 5.0 is not so significant.

Considerably more seniors also rated their life satisfaction at 4.0 or below than did Koreans in other age groups. The differ-ence between the ratings of yesterday’s happiness was not as pronounced as it was for life satisfaction.

36 How Happy Are Koreans? Measuring Happiness and Quality of Life in Korea

〔Figure 4-2〕 Histograms of Life Satisfaction and Yesterday’s Happiness by Age (Unit: points) Life satisfaction Yesterday’s happiness

Source: KIHASA (2019)(data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

2. Region and Happiness

We should now look into whether where Koreans live also plays a role in their happiness. We can divide Korea into 17 metropolitan and provincial regions. Table 4-2 shows the ef-fective sample sizes and happiness ratings of Koreans by region.

Koreans living in Chungbuk scored the highest (8.2) in terms of life evaluation (based on the Cantril Ladder), followed by those in Sejong (7.5) and Daejeon (7.1). Koreans living in Ulsan had the lowest life evaluation score (6.1), and those in Jeju, the sec-ond-lowest (6.2). Chungbuk again emerged with the highest life satisfaction score (8.2), followed by Sejong (7.5) and Daejeon (7.4). Jeju and Gangwon, by contrast, were the two regions with the lowest life satisfaction scores (6.3 each). Yesterday’s

happi-Ⅳ. Mapping Koreans’ Happiness 37

ness was also rated the highest in Chungbuk (8.0), followed by Daejeon (7.3) and Sejong and Incheon (7.2 each), and the low-est in Jeju (6.3). Ylow-esterday’s depression, a negative indicator, was rated the lowest in Daejeon (2.7) and the next-lowest in Gangwon and Jeju (2.8 each). Gwangju (4.1) and Sejong (3.9) had relatively high scores for yesterday’s depression. As for eu-daimonia, Chungbuk again scored the highest (8.1), followed by Sejong and Daejeon (7.4 each). Jeju and Ulsan had the lowest eudaimonia scores (6.4 each). In summary, Chungbuk, Sejong, and Daejeon tend to lead other regions in happiness scores, while Jeju and Ulsan tend to tail the other end. However, we should note the shortcomings of the limited effective sample sizes before generalizing these patterns.

〈Table 4-2〉 Effective Sample Sizes and Happiness Scores by Region Seoul 6.96 (1.17) 7.00 (1.17) 6.96 (1.14) 3.68 (1.81) 7.00 (1.09) Busan 6.55 (1.26) 6.91 (1.06) 6.98 (1.10) 3.30 (2.08) 6.76 (1.31) Daegu 6.68 (1.24) 7.10 (1.03) 6.98 (1.18) 2.90 (1.90) 6.96 (1.24) Incheon 6.98 (1.23) 7.09 (0.94) 7.16 (1.02) 3.37 (2.21) 7.07 (1.06) Gwangju 6.88 (1.02) 7.10 (0.94) 7.02 (0.98) 4.05 (2.03) 6.77 (1.02) Daejeon 7.12 (1.16) 7.41 (0.99) 7.28 (1.03) 2.68 (2.09) 7.35 (1.12) Ulsan 6.10 (1.17) 6.37 (1.22) 6.30 (1.19) 3.20 (2.01) 6.38 (1.21) Sejong 7.54 (0.55) 7.51 (0.59) 7.23 (0.51) 3.93 (2.16) 7.43 (0.71) Gyeonggi 6.71 (1.38) 6.92 (1.34) 6.99 (1.25) 3.30 (1.94) 6.93 (1.16) Gangwon 6.25 (1.38) 6.34 (1.45) 6.35 (1.57) 2.77 (2.11) 6.70 (1.37) Chungbuk 8.19 (0.86) 8.20 (0.86) 8.00 (0.83) 3.61 (1.94) 8.07 (0.92)

38 How Happy Are Koreans? Measuring Happiness and Quality of Life in Korea

Note: Figures in the brackets are standard deviations. The mean scores and standard deviations are weighted. The mean scores are based on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Source: KIHASA (2019) (data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

3. Day of the Week and Happiness

Is the day of the week related to Koreans’ happiness? Helliwell and Wang (2013) finds that the days of the week do not have any statistical significance in relation to how respondents rate life evaluation using the Cantril Ladder, but also notes that happiness as an emotional response is significantly higher on the weekends (starting on Fridays) and holidays than on weekdays.

Survey on Koreans’ Happiness and Quality of Life 2019 was conducted from early May to early June in 2019. There was no public holiday during this period except for Memorial Day to-ward the end of the survey period. We may therefore compare whether and how Koreans’ assessment of their own happiness differed across the week. Life evaluation scores based on the Chungnam 6.83 (1.29) 6.99 (1.17) 6.98 (1.18) 3.00 (2.01) 7.26 (1.07)

Jeonbuk 6.41 (1.07) 6.94 (0.83) 6.86 (0.93) 3.80 (1.71) 6.57 (0.95) Jeonnam 6.67 (1.34) 6.99 (1.20) 6.92 (1.21) 3.65 (2.14) 6.84 (1.27) Gyeongbuk 6.54 (1.21) 6.60 (1.15) 6.65 (1.12) 3.01 (2.04) 6.59 (1.13) Gyeongnam 6.32 (1.46) 6.61 (1.32) 6.53 (1.38) 3.22 (2.02) 6.49 (1.37) Jeju 6.19 (1.64) 6.28 (1.59) 6.25 (1.66) 2.83 (2.21) 6.37 (1.63) Overall 6.76 (1.31) 6.95 (1.23) 6.94 (1.21) 3.35 (1.99) 6.91 (1.20)

Ⅳ. Mapping Koreans’ Happiness 39

Cantril Ladder were the highest (6.9) on Wednesdays, while there were no significant differences between the scores on the other days of the week. The same pattern emerged with respect to life satisfaction and eudaimonia scores as well. Yesterday’s happiness, on the other hand, tended to be the highest on Wednesdays, Monday 6.68 (1.41) 6.86 (1.37) 6.83 (1.26) 3.46 (1.93) 6.83 (1.23) Tuesday 6.71 (1.30) 6.94 (1.24) 6.89 (1.27) 3.54 (2.01) 6.91 (1.26) Wednesday 6.93 (1.27) 7.09 (1.24) 7.06 (1.28) 3.26 (2.00) 7.04 (1.28) Thursday 6.73 (1.39) 6.90 (1.24) 6.86 (1.20) 3.21 (2.11) 6.92 (1.17) Friday 6.75 (1.25) 6.89 (1.17) 6.84 (1.19) 3.36 (1.98) 6.93 (1.15) Saturday 6.75 (1.28) 6.98 (1.13) 7.03 (1.14) 3.21 (2.02) 6.87 (1.19) Sunday 6.75 (1.31) 6.97 (1.22) 6.97 (1.19) 3.41 (1.93) 6.92 (1.15) Overall 6.76 (1.31) 6.95 (1.23) 6.94 (1.21) 3.35 (1.99) 6.91 (1.20) Note: Figures in the brackets are standard deviations. The mean scores and standard

deviations are weighted. The mean scores are based on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Source: KIHASA (2019) (data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

Figure 4-3 charts the fluctuations in Koreans’ life satisfaction by day of the week and employment status. The life satisfaction scores given by full-time paid workers, employers and self-em-ployed people, out of labor force, and unpaid workers in family businesses range between 6.5 and 7.5 from Monday to Thursday, but differences begin to emerge across different employment

40 How Happy Are Koreans? Measuring Happiness and Quality of Life in Korea

statuses from Friday through Sunday. Full-time paid workers experience greater life satisfaction on the weekends than dur-ing the week. Employers/self-employed and out of labor force, on the other hand, experience a slight drop (below 7.0) in their life satisfaction on the weekends. Unpaid workers in family businesses see their life satisfaction score drop further to 6.5 or so on the weekends.

Temporary/day paid workers and unemployed people lag significantly behind other groups in terms of life satisfaction.

Unemployed people’s life satisfaction score, in particular, falls to 4.5 on Friday.

〔Figure 4-3〕 Day of the Week, Happiness, and Employment Status

(Unit: points)

Note: All scores are weighted means based on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10.

Source: KIHASA (2019) (data re-analyzed and formatted by the authors).

Ⅳ. Mapping Koreans’ Happiness 41