The contribution of job and partner satisfaction to the homeostatic defense of subjective wellbeing

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Social Indicators Research

Publication Date

3-1-2013

Volume

111

Issue

1

First Page

203

Last Page

217

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Keywords

Cultural response bias, Global life satisfaction, Homeostatic model, Homeostatically protected mood, Personal Wellbeing Index, Subjective wellbeing

Abstract

Two studies investigate subjective wellbeing (SWB) homeostasis. The first investigates the contribution of job satisfaction (JS) and partner satisfaction (PS) to the homeostatic defense of SWB. The extant model of homeostasis does not include either variable. The second study investigates the relationship between Homeostatically Protected Mood (HPMood) and other factors involved in the homeostatic model. It has been proposed that HPMood is the basic, biologically determined, positive mood that saturates SWB and other related variables, and forms the basis of the SWB set-point. Thus, if HPMood is an individual difference and it perfuses other homeostatic variables, then HPMood should be responsible for much of the shared variance between such variables. Two comparative samples are involved. One is a group of 171 Hong Kong Chinese recruited through convenience sampling. The other is a group of 343 Australians recruited via a general population survey. Results indicate that both JS and PS predict significant variance in Global Life Satisfaction beyond the existing factors in the homeostatic model. It is also found that, after controlling for the effect of HPMood, the strength of correlations between SWB and other homeostatic variables is significantly diminished. The implications of these findings are discussed.

DOI

10.1007/s11205-011-9991-6

Print ISSN

03038300

E-ISSN

15730921

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Lai, L. C. H., & Cummins, R. A. (2013). The contribution of job and partner satisfaction to the homeostatic defense of subjective wellbeing. Social Indicators Research, 111(1), 203-217. doi: 10.1007/s11205-011-9991-6

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