As is the case elsewhere in the world, South Africans who are materially better off report relatively greater levels of subjective well-being. But while marriage is a recipe for higher levels of happiness in the industrialised world, empirical research suggests that marital status plays no significant role in influencing South Africans’ happiness levels.
The findings emanate from statistical research conducted by a team working under the auspices of Economic Research Southern Africa (Ersa), an academic research unit based at the University of Cape Town.
In What is the Structure of South African Happiness Equations? Timothy Hinks and Carola Gruen examine South African data to establish whether what makes people happy in the developed world applies to South Africans too.
Their work, based in both the disciplines of economics and psychology, forms part of the so-called “happiness literature” which, in turn, lies at the heart of the study of welfare economics.
Hinks and Gruen refer to research which shows that economic growth and average satisfaction levels are not correlated over time. The finding has spawned debate on whether governments are right to aim primarily at economic growth, and whether they should find ways of improving perceived quality of life instead.
In establishing what South Africans’ happiness equations look like, Hinks and Gruen attempt to determine whether there is a uniform underlying structure of happiness for people across the world.
Their finding that being unemployed significantly and negatively affects happiness is consistent with results elsewhere in the world. The size of household income and the relative level of household income are positively correlated with happiness, they find.
Moreover, those who live in formal dwellings tend to be happier than those who do not.
As is the case elsewhere, race also appears to influence individuals’ happiness levels in South Africa. Whites and Asians are likely to report being significantly more satisfied with life than blacks are.
This is consistent with empirical findings for people in the United States.
But, in contrast with findings in the developed world, where the self-employed tend to be happier than those in formal employment, South Africans see the world differently: here self-employment tends to be associated with lower levels of well-being.
Hinks and Gruen attribute this to the fact that most South Africans who are self-employed operate in the informal sector and are therefore not necessarily doing well economically.
Further, whereas being married is correlated with higher happiness levels in the developed world, there appears to be no significant relationship between marital status and subjective well-being in South Africa.
Hinks and Gruen say this is regardless of whether the respondents are common-law partners, traditional marriage partners or legally married. — I-Net Bridge