There has been a rapidly growing number of studies of the geographical aspects of happiness and well-being. Many of these studies have been highlighting the role of space and place and of individual and spatial contextual determinants of happiness. However, most of the studies to date do not explicitly consider spatial clustering and possible spatial spillover effects of happiness and well-being. The few studies that do consider spatial clustering and spillovers conduct the analysis at a relatively coarse geographical scale of country or region. This article analyses such effects at a much smaller geographical unit: community areas. These are small area level geographies at the intra-urban level. In particular, the article presents a spatial econometric approach to the analysis of life satisfaction data aggregated to 1,215 communities in Canada and examines spatial clustering and spatial spillovers. Communities are suitable given that they form a small geographical reference point for households. We find that communities’ life satisfaction is spatially clustered while regression results show that it is associated to the life satisfaction of neighbouring communities as well as to the latter's average household income and unemployment rate. We consider the role of shared cultural traits and institutions that may explain such spillovers of life satisfaction. The findings highlight the importance of neighbouring characteristics when discussing policies to improve the well-being of a (small area) place.
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Hedonic (happiness) and eudaimonic (meaning in life) well-being are negatively related to depressive symptoms. Genetic variants play a role in this association, reflected in substantial genetic correlations. We investigated the overlap and differences between well-being and depressive symptoms, using results of Genome-Wide Association studies (GWAS) in UK Biobank. Subtracting GWAS summary statistics of depressive symptoms from those of happiness and meaning in life, we obtained GWASs of respectively “pure” happiness (neffective = 216,497) and “pure” meaning (neffective = 102,300). For both, we identified one genome-wide significant SNP (rs1078141 and rs79520962, respectively). After subtraction, SNP heritability reduced from 6.3% to 3.3% for pure happiness and from 6.2% to 4.2% for pure meaning. The genetic correlation between the well-being measures reduced from 0.78 to 0.65. Pure happiness and pure meaning became genetically unrelated to traits strongly associated with depressive symptoms, including loneliness, and psychiatric disorders. For other traits, including ADHD, educational attainment, and smoking, the genetic correlations of well-being versus pure well-being changed substantially. GWAS-by-subtraction allowed us to investigate the genetic variance of well-being unrelated to depressive symptoms. Genetic correlations with different traits led to new insights about this unique part of well-being. Our results can be used as a starting point to test causal relationships with other variables, and design future well-being interventions.
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Several western governments have implemented environmental policies which increase the cost of air travel. Such policies aim to reduce the impact of air travel on climate change, but at the same time they restrict tourists in their travels. This study examines the extent to which the average tourist's happiness is affected by 'involuntary green travel', defined as reduced CO 2 emission travel imposed by government regulations. This issue was addressed in a study among 588 Dutch citizens who completed a self-report questionnaire containing questions about their happiness. The strongest determinant of tourists' happiness is freedom in choosing a destination. Any policy measure that interferes with tourists' freedom in destination choice will negatively affect tourists' happiness. Six percent of their happiness is at stake and potentially 17% of all holiday trips are affected. The number of tourists involved is possibly much smaller. The best options for governments are to impose taxes on long-haul destinations, which affect only a small share of all tourists, and air routes which can also be travelled by a variety of alternative modes of transport and thus less limiting to destination choice within this market segment.
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Are tourists who take more photos happier? Our study investigates the relationship between tourists’ photographing and happiness based on two proposed theories: photographing as a behavior that society expects from tourists, and photographing as a mechanism for social interaction. Questionnaires measuring photographic behavior and components of happiness such as positive emotions and life satisfaction were collected from 417 tourists at three destinations in the Netherlands. Additionally, we carried out participant observation to explore the potential roles of fulfilling cultural expectations and social interactions. We found a positive relationship between photography and tourists’ levels of happiness. People who take more pictures on holiday and rate photographing to be important experience more positive emotions and a higher life satisfaction, respectively. The participant observation data reveal that this relationship is strengthened when photography is used to build relationships, but weakened when people photograph to fulfill cultural expectations.
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In this chapter, we start with a description of happiness, the nature of happiness, the value of happiness, and the determinants of happiness. In that context, we discuss what leisure can contribute to happiness. Although happiness is partially set through inherited personality traits, there is potential for improving one's sense of happiness through leisure. Research to date focused mainly on casual leisure and leisure travel. These kinds of leisure have mostly a small positive effect on happiness. The benefits are often temporary and in the moment. We propose more longitudinal research that addresses serious leisure and project-based leisure, which may have more sustained effects on happiness than casual leisure and leisure travel.
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Dynamic body feedback is used in dance movement therapy (DMT), with the aim to facilitate emotional expression and a change of emotional state through movement and dance for individuals with psychosocial or psychiatric complaints. It has been demonstrated that moving in a specific way can evoke and regulate related emotions. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of executing a unique set of kinetic movement elements on an individual mover’s experience of happiness. A specific sequence consisting of movement elements that recent studies have related to the feeling of happiness was created and used in a series of conditions. To achieve a more realistic reflection of DMT practice, the study incorporated the interpersonal dimension between the dance movement therapist (DMTh) and the client, and the impact of this interbodily feedback on the emotional state of the client. This quantitative study was conducted in a within-subject design. Five male and 20 female participants (mean age = 20.72) participated in three conditions: a solo executed movement sequence, a movement sequence executed with a DMTh who attuned and mirrored the movements, and a solo executed movement sequence not associated with feelings of happiness. Participants were only informed about the movements and not the feelings that may be provoked by these movements. The effects on individuals were measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and visual analog scales. Results showed that a specific movement sequence based on movement elements associated with happiness executed with a DMTh can significantly enhance the corresponding affective state. An additional finding of this study indicated that facilitating expressed emotion through movement elements that are not associated with happiness can enhance feelings such as empowerment, pride, and determination, which are experienced as part of positive affect. The results show the impact of specific fullbody movement elements on the emotional state and the support outcome of DMT on emotion regulation.
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Current leisure mobility patterns are not sustainable. Because energy efficiency measures appear insufficient to accommodate predicted future volume growth, changes in transportation modes and volume are needed. Short-haul should be the preferred distance, public transportation the preferred mode and length of stay should increase rather than trip frequency. However, tourists are unwilling to adopt these changes. This paper proposes a new conceptual "three-gear model" demonstrating how happiness, travel motivations and perception of distance set barriers for desirable behavioral change. The model improves understanding of the gap between awareness of, and attitudes to, tourism mobility and the gap between environmentally friendly everyday behaviors and unsustainable vacation behaviors. The paper shows that happiness is integral to all stages of the tourist experience. Understanding happiness enhances the understanding of tourist behavior, and how it drives, via the speed-distance-demand loop, the three-stage model presented here. Key practical implications include the need for effective policies to break the speed-distance-demand loop, changes to transport infrastructure policies, and recognition of the role of happiness in sustainable tourism strategies. Theoretical contributions include a synthesis of theories to interrogate key behavioral gaps and a theoretical basis for future empirical studies.
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This chapter discusses if and how experiencing tourism contributes to tourists’ happiness. First, we discuss the different conceptualizations of experience and happiness. In doing so, we also acknowledge current assumptions that exist in tourism studies, specifically regarding the interpretation of concepts. Consequently, we create a framework that functions as a conceptual model, which allows us to map different conceptual approaches to experience and happiness. Next, we map and discuss the 2018 studies on the tourist experience of happiness as published in the three leading tourism journals. We find that many happiness research areas are well-studied and conceptualized. We conclude that studies on locals’ happiness are still scarce, and we observe that a lack of clarity and consistency in the differences between meaning in life versus meaning of life exists. Consequently, we suggest that researchers should focus more on local’s happiness and to use theory-driven approaches to the conceptualization of meaning.
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In this study we use aggregated weighted scores of environmental effects to study environmental influences on well-being and happiness. To this end, we split a sample of Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) participants into a training (N =4857) and test (N =2077) sample. In the training sample, we use elastic net regression to estimate effect sizes for associations between life satisfaction and two sets of environmental variables: one based on self- report socioenvironmental data, and one based on objective physical environmental data. Based on these effect sizes, we create two poly-environmental scores (PES-S and PES-O, for self-reports and objective data respectively). In the test sample, we perform association analyses between different measures of well-being and the two PESs. We find that the PES-S explains ~36% of the variance in well-being, while the PES-O does not significantly contribute to the model. Variance in other well-being measures (i.e., different life satisfaction domains, subjective happiness, quality of life, flourishing, psychological well-being, self-rated health, depressive problems, and loneliness) are explained to varying extents by the PESs, ranging from 6.36% (self-rated health) to 36.66% (loneliness). These predictive values did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic (N =3214). Validating the PES-S in the UK biobank (N =40,614), we find that the UK biobank PES-S explains about ~12% of the variance in happiness. Lastly, we examine if there is any indication for gene-environment correlation (rGE), the phenomenon where one’s genetic predisposition influences exposure to the environment, by associating the PESs with polygenic scores (PGS) in a sample of Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) and UK Biobank participants. While the PES and PGS were not correlated in the NTR sample, they were correlated in the larger UK biobank sample, indicating the potential presence of rGE. We discuss several limitations pertaining to our dataset, such as a potential influence of common method bias, and reflect on how PESs might be used in future research.
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