Life satisfaction in Brazil: an exploration of theoretical correlates and age, period and cohort variations using the World Values Survey (1991-2014)*

Golgher, André; Coutinho, Raquel Zanatta

doi:10.20947/S0102-3098a0108

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. bras. estud. popul. 37 • 2020 • https://doi.org/10.20947/S0102-3098a0108 copy

Life satisfaction in Brazil: an exploration of theoretical correlates and age, period and cohort variations using the World Values Survey (1991-2014)*

Satisfação com a vida no Brasil: uma exploração de correlatos teóricos e variações de idade, período e coorte usando o World Values Survey (1991-2014)

Satisfacción vital en Brasil: una exploración de correlatos teoréticos y variaciones de edad, período y cohorte usando la World Values Survey (1991-2014)

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the factors associated with life satisfaction in Brazil using four waves of the World Values Survey (1991 to 2014). Some results already described in the literature were confirmed, as we found that individuals who were married, employed, more religious, in better health, with greater freedom/control over their lives and who had a better financial situation were more satisfied with life, regardless of the time period. The variables for age and cohort showed non-significant associations with life satisfaction when aspects that theoretically correlated with life satisfaction were controlled in the analysis. When the different cohorts were analyzed separately, the results suggest that life satisfaction might be related to the conjectural and historical factors represented by period effects.

Key words
Life satisfaction; Brazil; World Values Survey

Variable	Overall conclusions	Conclusions with Brazilian data
Age	Not conclusive/Positive/Inverse U-shaped/Mostly U-shaped	Non-significant/positive
Period	Context-dependent	-
Cohort	Context-dependent	-
Gender	Not conclusive/Women mostly had higher levels of well-being	Non-significant/ Men had higher levels of well-being
Race	Whites had higher levels of well-being.	Whites mostly had higher levels of well-being/In some settings, Non-Whites had higher levels of well-being.
Health status	Healthier individuals had higher levels of well-being.
Unemployment	Unemployed individuals had lower levels of well-being.
Education	The higher the education level, the higher the well-being level; however, direct effects might be small.	The results were mostly non-significant.
Income/ Financial situation	Richer individuals had higher levels of well-being.
Marital status	Married individuals had higher levels of well-being.
Religiosity	More religious individuals tended to have higher levels of well-being.
Self-determination	Individuals with greater level of self-determination had higher levels of well-being.

Variable	Label	Type
Life satisfaction	Y	Continuous
Age	Age	Continuous
Periods	Periods	Categorical. Years: 1991, 1997, 2006 and 2014
Cohorts	Cohorts	Categorical. Born in: 1942-1951, 1952–1961, 1962-1967 or 1968-1973
Sex	Male	Dummy
Ethnic group	White	Dummy
Health level	Health	Ordered: poor, good and very good
Marital status	Marital	Categorical: married, cohabiting, divorced/separated, widowed and single
Importance given to family	Family	Dummy
Financial situation	Finance	Continuous
Employment status	Unemployed	Dummy
Educational attainment	Education	Ordered: incomplete elementary education; incomplete secondary school; complete secondary school; some university without degree; and university with degree.
Religiosity	Religion	Ordered: not religious, slightly religious, religious and very religious
Self-determination	Freedom	Continuous

Year and cohort	Age group
Year and cohort	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59
Life satisfaction for by year
1991	3.32^m1	3.29^m1,m2	3.54^m1	-
1997	3.29^m1	3.29^m1,m2	3.43^m1	3.62
2006	3.63	3.81^M2	3.78	3.84
2014	3.81^M1	3.98^M1	3.90^M1	3.90
Life satisfaction for by cohort
1968-1973	3.40	3.94^M1,M2	4.01^M	-
1962-1967	3.30	3.35^m1	3.69	3.66
1952-1961	-	3.27^m2	3.65	4.01
1942-1951	-	-	3.54^m	4.58

Cohort and age group	Year
Cohort and age group	1991	1997	2006	2014
Life satisfaction by cohort
1968-1973	3.33	3.52	3.94	4.01
1962-1967	3.30	3.34	3.66	3.67
1952-1961	3.29	3.33	3.91	4.04
1942-1951	3.54	3.47	3.68	-
Life satisfaction by age group
18-29	3.32	3.29	3.63	3.81
30-39	3.29	3.29	3.81	3.98
40-49	3.54	3.43	3.78	3.90
50-59	-	3.62	3.84	3.90

Year and age group	Cohort
Year and age group	1968-1973	1962-1967	1952-1961	1942-1951
Life satisfaction by year
1991	3.33 ^m1,m2	3.30	3.29^m1,m2	3.54
1997	3.52	3.34	3.33^m1,m2	3.47
2006	3.94^M2	3.66	3.91^M2	3.68
2014	4.01^M1	3.67	4.07^M1	-
Life satisfaction by age group
18-29	3.40^m1,m2	3.30	-	-
30-39	3.94^M2	3.35	3.27^m1,m2	-
40-49	4.01^M1	3.69	3.65^M2	3.52
50-59	-	3.66	4.01^M1	3.58

Select variables and year	Cohort
Select variables and year	1968-1973	1962-1967	1952-1961	1942-1951
Life satisfaction
1991	3.33^m1,m2	3.30	3.29^m1,m2	3.54
1997	3.52	3.34	3.33^m1,m2	3.47
2006	3.94^M2	3.66	3.91^M2	3.68
2014	4.01^M1	3.67	4.07^M1	-
Health status
1991	1.20^M1	1.14^M1	0.97^M1	0.82^M1
1997	1.11^M2	1.07^M2	0.91	0.82
2006	1.15	1.03^M3	0.94	0.64^m1
2014	0.95^m1,m2	0.83^m1,m2,m3	0.75^m1	-
Marital status
1991	0.23^m1,m2,m3	0.41^m1,m2	0.58	0.69^M1
1997	0.40^M3,m2	0.58^M2	0.61	0.67^M2
2006	0.54^M2	0.47	0.58	0.60^m1,m2
2014	0.46^M1	0.61^M1	0.55	-
Importance given to family
1991	0.89	0.92	0.92^M1	0.87^M1
1997	0.94	0.96	0.93^M2	0.89^M2
2006	0.86	0.89	0.87	0.78^m1,m2
2014	0.86	0.93	0.83^m1,m2	-
Unemployment
1991	0.19	0.13	0.085	0.054
1997	0.19	0.14	0.094	0.043
2006	0.19	0.18	0.082	0.086
2014	0.14	0.13	0.073	0.050
Financial situation
1991	5.45	5.59	5.15^m1	5.25
1997	5.51	5.11^m1,m2	5.13^m1	5.69
2006	5.74	5.95^M2	5.43^m1	5.84
2014	6.07	5.98^M1	6.19^M1	-
Self-determination
1991	3.24^m1,m2	3.58	3.36^m1,m2	3.39
1997	3.56	3.34	3.42^m2	3.48
2006	3.83^M2	3.61	3.94^M2	3.80
2014	3.85^M1	3.81	3.77^M1	-
Religiosity
1991	2.04^m1,m2	2.13^m1,m2,m3	2.28	2.38
1997	2.31^M2	2.37^M3	2.43	2.42
2006	2.39^M1	2.37^M2	2.32	2.28
2014	2.17	2.37^M1	2.25	-

Select variables and cohort	Age group
Select variables and cohort	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59
Life satisfaction
1968-1973	3.40	3.94^M1,M2	4.01^M	-
1962-1967	3.30	3.35^m1	3.69	3.66
1952-1961	-	3.27^m2	3.65	4.01
1942-1951	-	-	3.54^m	4.58
Health status for
1968-1973	1.17	1.15	0.95	-
1962-1967	1.14	1.06	0.96	0.80
1952-1961	-	0.99	0.82	0.82
1942-1951	-	-	0.82	0.75
Marital status
1968-1973	0.29^m	0.54	0.46^m	-
1962-1967	0.41^M	0.56	0.55^m	0.53^m
1952-1961	-	0.60	0.58^m	0.56^m
1942-1951	-	-	0.67^M	0.68^M
Importance given to family
1968-1973	0.90	0.86^m1,m2	0.85	-
1962-1967	0.92	0.94^M2	0.90	0.95^M
1952-1961	-	0.93^M1	0.90	0.85
1942-1951	-	-	0.87	0.84^m
Unemployment
1968-1973	0.19^M	0.19^M1	0.14^M1	-
1962-1967	0.13^m	0.15^M2	0.14^M2	0.17^M
1952-1961	-	0.082^m1,m2	0.11	0.073^m
1942-1951	-	-	0.055^m1,m2	0.048^m
Financial situation
1968-1973	5.47	5.74	6.07^M1	-
1962-1967	5.59	5.11	6.15^M2	5.74
1952-1961	-	5.11	5.27^m1,m2	5.88
1942-1951	-	-	5.29^m1,m2	5.78
Self-determination
1968-1973	4.34	4.83^M	4.85	-
1962-1967	4.58	4.36	4.62	5.01
1952-1961	-	4.36^m	4.65	5.02
1942-1951	-	-	4.41	4.63
Religiosity
1968-1973	2.13	2.39	2.17	-
1962-1967	2.12	2.35	2.40	2.34
1952-1961	-	2.32	2.35	2.38
1942-1951	-	-	2.41	2.34

Covariates	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Age	-0.0100	-0.0218	-0.0166
	(0.0160)	(0.0276)	(0.0283)
Age squared	0.000261*	0.000489**	0.000257
	(0.000107)	(0.000147)	(0.000147)
1991	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.

1997	0.0477	-0.00216	-0.188
	(0.138)	(0.125)	(0.175)
2006	0.337	0.215	-0.0785
	(0.315)	(0.265)	(0.407)
2014	0.438	0.305	0.182
	(0.435)	(0.414)	(0.468)
Born 1968-1973	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.

Born 1962-1967	-0.256*	-0.310*	-0.274*
	(0.103)	(0.104)	(0.116)
Born 1952-1961	-0.178	-0.244	-0.108
	(0.247)	(0.241)	(0.258)
Born 1942-1951	-0.263	-0.393	-0.223
	(0.438)	(0.412)	(0.436)
Male		0.0860**	0.0392
		(0.0224)	(0.0283)
White		-0.209**	-0.163**
		(0.0397)	(0.0470)
Poor health		Ref.	Ref.

Good health		0.515***	0.319***
		(0.0498)	(0.0376)
Very good health		1.157***	0.779***
		(0.0591)	(0.0837)
Married		Ref.	Ref.

Cohabitating		-0.284**	-0.326**
		(0.0743)	(0.0726)
Divorced/Separated		-0.415**	-0.396**
		(0.0857)	(0.112)
Widowed		-0.339	-0.428**
		(0.156)	(0.123)
Single		-0.545**	-0.492**
		(0.135)	(0.137)
Unemployed		-0.296**	-0.150*
		(0.0761)	(0.0502)
Religiosity			0.157**
			(0.0404)
Freedom			0.226***
			(0.0119)
Financial situation			0.208***
			(0.0155)
Family			0.409
			(0.206)
Less than elementary schooling			Ref.

Incomplete secondary education			-0.379
			(0.214)
Secondary education			-0.701*
			(0.223)
Some tertiary education			-0.639**
			(0.175)
University degree			-0.800**
			(0.200)
Continuing	3.525***	3.555***	1.767*
	(0.324)	(0.579)	(0.683)

Observations	3,642	3,592	3,458
R-squared	0.021	0.079	0.242

Variables	Cohort born in
Variables	1968-1973	1962-1967	1952-1961	1942-1951
Age	-0.0519	0.323	0.0741	-0.140
	(0.227)	(0.312)	(0.200)	(0.260)
Age squared	-0.000570	-0.00352	-0.000579	0.00162
	(0.00324)	(0.00377)	(0.00200)	(0.00224)
1991	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.

1997	0.233	-0.730	-0.224	-0.580*
	(0.464)	(0.572)	(0.302)	(0.338)
2006	1.150	-1.278	-0.0124	-1.015*
	(0.858)	(1.028)	(0.568)	(0.600)
2014	2.245**	-1.182	0.0513	-0.627
	(1.066)	(1.222)	(0.667)	(0.721)
Married	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.

Cohabitating	-0.423**	-0.115	-0.431**	-0.354
	(0.194)	(0.218)	(0.193)	(0.288)
Divorced/Separated	-0.673**	-0.573**	-0.330*	-0.159
	(0.291)	(0.228)	(0.190)	(0.246)
Widowed	-0.0843	-1.014**	-0.363	-0.304
	(0.650)	(0.418)	(0.385)	(0.238)
Single	-0.803***	-0.458**	-0.360**	0.106
	(0.140)	(0.181)	(0.177)	(0.273)
Unemployed	-0.177	0.0205	-0.141	-0.133
	(0.156)	(0.212)	(0.220)	(0.339)
Religiosity	0.108	0.117	0.133*	0.301***
	(0.0659)	(0.0840)	(0.0715)	(0.0932)
Family	0.0459	0.392	0.263	0.920***
	(0.206)	(0.286)	(0.198)	(0.227)
Less than elementary schooling	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.

Incomplete secondary education	0.274	-0.258	-0.502**	-0.878***
	(0.275)	(0.279)	(0.220)	(0.218)
Secondary education	-0.0385	-0.743***	-0.707***	-1.272***
	(0.268)	(0.274)	(0.223)	(0.262)
Some tertiary education	-0.259	-0.539	-0.466	-1.169***
	(0.312)	(0.329)	(0.315)	(0.378)
University degree	-0.179	-0.872***	-0.807***	-1.223***
	(0.311)	(0.318)	(0.228)	(0.289)
Continuing	2.857	-5.187	-0.169	3.950
	(3.429)	(5.729)	(4.595)	(7.254)

Observations	973	741	1,058	686
R-squared	0.256	0.282	0.227	0.289

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