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Journal of Health Psychology
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Health and Happiness among Older Adults

A Community-based Study

Erik Angner

University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, angner{at}uab.edu

Midge N. Ray

University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

Kenneth G. Saag

University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

Jeroan J. Allison

University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

The relationship between health and happiness was explored using a cross-sectional survey of 383 community-dwelling older adults. As a function of self-reported health, median happiness was increasing at a decreasing rate; happiness variability was decreasing at a decreasing rate. In multivariable logistic regression, lowest-quartile happiness was associated with poverty, unfavorable subjective health, debilitating pain and urinary incontinence, but not with the comorbidity count or other comorbidities. The results, robust to common method bias, suggest that subjective health measures are better predictors of happiness than objective measures are, except for conditions that disrupt daily functioning or are associated with social stigma.

Key Words: happiness • health • pain • subjective well-being • urinary incontinence

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 4, 503-512 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1359105309103570
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