The Relationship Between the Gender Gap in Subjective Well-Being and Leisure Activities in China

Dong Zhou () and Langchuan Peng ()
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Dong Zhou: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Langchuan Peng: Nanjing Audit University

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2018, vol. 19, issue 7, No 14, 2139-2166

Abstract: Abstract This study explains the observed gender gap in subjective well-being (SWB) in China using heterogeneous marginal utility derived from leisure hours. We find that women in China exhibit higher levels of well-being than men and that there is a conditional unexplained gender gap in SWB ranging between 0.15 and 0.17. This conditional gap can be partly (30–40%) explained by the gender difference in the marginal utility of leisure hours. Meanwhile, we find a strong negative effect of hours spent on housework. These findings are robust to a variety of model specifications and subsamples.

Keywords: Gender subjective well-being gap; Leisure activities; Happiness; Life satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9913-7

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