Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Andrew Clark and Tom Lee

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2021, vol. 181, issue C, 360-368

Abstract: We here use data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) to provide one of the first analyses of the distal (early-life) and proximal (later-life) correlates of older-life subjective well-being. Unusually, we have two distinct measures of the latter: happiness and eudaimonia. Even after controlling for proximal covariates, outcomes at age 18 (IQ score, parental income and parental education) remain good predictors of well-being over 50 years later. In terms of the proximal covariates, mental health and social participation are the strongest predictors of both measures of well-being in older age. However, there are notable differences in the other correlates of happiness and eudaimonia. As such, well-being policy will depend to an extent on which measure is preferred.

Keywords: Life-course; Well-being; Eudaimonia; Health; Happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268117303177
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2021)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2021)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: evidence from the Wisconsin longitudinal study (2017)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2017)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2017)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2017)
Working Paper: Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2017)
Working Paper: Early-Life Correlates of Later-Life Well-Being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:181:y:2021:i:c:p:360-368

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.013

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D.

More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().