Vicarious Happiness from Royal Wedding May Not Be So Bad

Who wouldn't want to be Mr. and Mrs. Plate and Mug?
From The Telegraph.

In recent weeks I've had the curious problem of not being able to find enough news to cover. All the news is old news! Apparently broadcast media in general is going through a similar dry spell, so they have turned themselves over to 24/7 coverage of a wedding between a figurehead monarch and a fashion photographer. This may have some unintended positive consequences, however, as The Boston Globe reports.

Boston College psychologist Joseph Tecce says that people watching the happiness of others often feel happiness themselves. He explains, "There's a Freudian theory called identification that says whenever we identify with someone of a higher social standing than we are, we feel good about it." This identification often relieves the stresses of everyday life.

On the other hand, Ronald Siegel of Harvard Medical School warns us that too much identification may be a bad thing. "If you think the only people who matter are those who are famous," he says, "then the wedding may remind you of how much you don't matter, and that will get you down." You should also be careful about dwelling on all the divorces the royals have gone through over the years, especially if you have had a bitter marriage yourself.

But all in all, it may not be so bad if you mark your calendars for a wedding between two people you've never met. Tomorrow, April 29, Prince William weds Kate Middleton! Be there or be slightly less able to enjoy vicarious thrills!

Gallup Releases Latest National Wellbeing Poll Results

Gallup's deserted front desk. Apparently everyone
was out doing surveys. From The Woodlands Texas.

The Atlantic reports that Gallup, one of the world's leading statistical organizations, has released its 2010 list of countries ranked by wellbeing. Here are the top five, along with how many of its citizens are "thriving" by their own admission:

1. Denmark:  72% thriving
2. Sweden:  69% thriving
3. Canada:  69% thriving
4. Australia:  65% thriving
5. Finland:  64% thriving

Some other interesting factoids:  the U.S. ranks 12th with 59%, which is between Panama and Austria. Also, the United Kingdom ranks 17th with 54%, which is just ahead of Qatar, but just below the United Arab Emirates. It'll be interesting to see if the U.K.'s rank improves once its Gross National Happiness measures kick into gear. As far as I know, none of the countries in the top five has official measures like that (except possibly Canada in the future).

Like the gap between the rich and the poor, there is also a huge gap in wellbeing. In 19 countries, the majority of citizens consider themselves to be thriving, yet in a whopping 67 countries, that percentage falls below 25. Russia is one of these, with 24% of its population thriving. So is China with 12%, which is even lower than Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia. The Chinese government apparently has a long way to go if they're serious about focusing on happiness (which they probably aren't).

The African nation of Chad comes in at the bottom of the list with only 1% of its population thriving. Of course, there may be worse countries out there, but those aren't even well enough to report statistics.

Action for Happiness Says British People Don't Trust Each Other

From The Telegraph.

As Britain tries to start its Gross National Happiness campaign off on the right foot, The Telegraph reports that the initial results are not looking good. Action for Happiness, a nonprofit organization, says that the country may be heading for increased rates of depression and suicide due to the culture's desire for money instead of social connection and intrinsic value.

The organization bases many of these predictions on a new study that shows British people don't trust each other any more. Only around 30% of them trust most of their peers, compared to around 60% a half century ago. Since trust is a major component of social relationships, a lack of it may spell doom for the country's wellbeing.

Anthony Seldon, one of the group's members and headmaster of Wellington College, says that children need to be taught better values to prevent this sort of thing from taking root. He says, "If we don’t act now, in the future we are likely to see increased levels of adolescent suicide and mental illness, and a culture in which taking anti-depressant drugs is the norm."

Unfortunately, the article doesn't go into much detail about the actual study that found this 30% trust figure (and Action for Happiness's website is overwhelmed at the moment), but other recent studies of Britain have been more optimistic. I guess we'll have to wait for the full results.

British People Really Like Coffee and Parks

From Coffee Ratings.

Yes, according to this story from The Telegraph, Britain has just released some preliminary results of the Gross National Happiness survey, and the results show that coffee and walks in the park are among the responses to how British people define happiness. This information comes as a result of focus groups trying to define happiness before the British government begins the main survey phase of its happiness plan.

When asked how they define happiness, the people in the focus groups showed a diversity of responses, from big ideas to little details. Some of the responses included:

• “Having access to open, green space within walking distance of my home.”
• “Access to low-cost facilities that enrich life - e.g. libraries, parks, swimming pools.”
• “Opportunity to laugh, ability to trust, opportunities to recharge my batteries and restore my mental health.”

Some people responded negatively, saying that what really matters is contentment, freedom, health, or money.

In case you don't know what all this is about, last year British Prime Minister David Cameron began a campaign to put wellbeing statistics alongside Britain's economic indicators. You can join an online version of the happiness focus groups by going to the Office for National Statistics website here.

Britain Preps Study of 90,000 Children

Prime examples of British children. "Charlie Bit Me"
screenshot from cityrag.

Today parentdish reports on Britain's next phase of its national happiness program:  a study of 90,000 British children. Both children and parents will be surveyed, hopefully giving more insight into the roles that different social, economic, biological, environmental, and health factors play in the lives of children than previous studies. This phase will begin in 2012 and will cost around £33.5 million.

British Science Minister David Willetts says, "Birth cohort studies provide a unique insight into all the factors affecting people's lives and are central to our understanding of child development. They produce powerful evidence that informs government policy on a wide range of issues, including social mobility, inequality, education, and public health. This in turn has positive economic impacts through changes in the delivery of public services, earlier diagnosis of diseases, and improvements in quality of life."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg supports the program, adding, "This government is committed to the long term - to making decisions today that will promote a better future:  a more prosperous economy, and a fairer society."

Happy Adolescence Leads to Happy Adulthood...and Divorce

So now when I look at pics like this, I know around 20%
of these excited kids will be divorced. Thanks science!
From English Subject Centre.

Apparently in keeping with this week's divorce theme, the Vancouver Sun reports that a happy adolescence increases the likelihood of a happy adulthood, but also increases the likelihood of divorce. This information comes from a study in the The Journal of Positive Psychology that analyzed data on 2,776 British citizens born in 1946. The data concerned teacher evaluations of students aged 13 to 15, rating them on their popularity, ease of making friends, energy levels, and overall happiness.

This interesting rating method revealed that around 20% of the kids who scored highly in multiple areas were divorced by age 53, compared to around 16% of the kids who scored poorly, even with no change in the likelihood of marriage. The difference of four percent appears small, but is significant enough to warrant further investigation. (For comparison, the divorce rate in the United States is somewhere around 43%, increasing to around 75% the more marriages a person has.)

The study, carried out by Felicia Huppert of the University of Cambridge and Marcus Richards of Britain's Medical Research Council, says, "The explanation for this is not immediately obvious and warrants further investigation. One possible factor might be that positive children have higher self-esteem or self-efficacy than their peers and are therefore more willing to leave a marriage if it is not meeting their needs."

HOWEVER, before you try to protect teenagers by making them sad, the study goes on to say that the benefits of a happy adolescence outweigh the downsides. Happy teenagers go on to become adults who are more satisfied with their jobs, more social, and 60% less likely to develop mental disorders. Whew!

Britain Starts Their Happiness Survey

Prime Minister David Cameron and an anonymous dog.
From Green Consultancy.

Yes, as reported back in November, Britain plans to focus on the wellbeing of its citizens. Well, now The Telegraph reports that the nation's first official happiness survey is afoot. This first batch will cover 200,000 people over the age of 16, asking them to rate themselves on the following questions on a scale of 0 to 10:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Future questions will probably focus on more specific areas, such as the state of their marriage, friendships, and health. Paul Allin, head of the wellbeing project, expects the large sample size to rule out most dishonest answers, saying, "We essentially trust people to give us the answers they give us and we will work what they say."

The whole initiative comes from Prime Minister David Cameron's belief that governments play a role in helping their citizens "feel better." It is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and has a current budget of £2 million a year. Previous surveys show that Britain's life satisfaction has failed to keep up with its GDP over the last 40 years.

The Vast Majority of British Couples Are Happy

Here's what every British wedding should
look like. From the BBC.

Continuing this week's Valentine's theme, this story from United Press International says that almost all British couples are happy, but married couples are even happier. In fact, around 90% of married women and around 93% of married men are happy in their relationship, compared to around 88% cohabiting women and 92% cohabiting men.

This information comes from Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. Researchers surveyed couples (both members individually) on a 1-to-7 happiness scale, with 1 meaning extremely unhappy and 7 meaning perfect. The survey also found that the happiest couples have been together less than five years, have no children, have an employed man, and both members hold a college degree.

It would be interesting to view similar data--possibly including gay couples--for other countries to see if Britain is unique in this regard. I found this article, which I can't view fully, but which seems to suggest that other countries have similar marriage happiness correlations, especially developed nations. That's good news if you're not British!

New British Charity Aims to Spread Happiness

Mark Williamson, director of the
charity. From The Young Foundation.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's story comes this one from the BBC. A charity called Action for Happiness will be spreading happiness tips to anyone within ear- or Internet-shot. They have a PDF workbook called the Happiness Challenge that you can download here. You can also watch the former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe give an introductory mindfulness lesson in the news story itself.

From their website, Action for Happiness already looks quite well-connected through Facebook and Twitter. We'll keep an eye on them to see what effect they have, but for now there's not much more to report. Britain and a lot of other countries could certainly use the help, though!

One in Four British Workers Unhappy with Their Job

From Marc's Leadership Lessons.

Today the Press Association reports on a new survey that shows around 25% of British employees are unhappy with their job, while around 30.5% are merely "ambivalent," with employees in finance and law being the unhappiest. These results come from the recruitment firm Badenoch & Clark, who surveyed around 1,000 office workers.

Heidi Waddington, associate director of Badenoch & Clark, says, "Economic uncertainty over the past year has put tremendous pressure on employees. This trend is particularly evident in professional services, which has resulted in heightened intensity in the workplace and increasingly poor morale."

I would be interested in seeing figures like this for lower class workers (not in an office), but we may have to wait until Britain completes its happiness study. I'd also be interested in results for America and other countries. You can read more stories about employee happiness by clicking here. Corporations may especially want to pay attention to this one, which shows a correlation between higher employee happiness and higher stock value.

Germany Apparently Wants to Copy Rest of World, Measure Happiness

A view from Munich. From Geographic Guide.

According to this story from The Swedish Wire, Germany may join fellow bandwagon members Britain, France, and Canada in measuring Gross National Happiness. Speaker of parliament Norbert Lammert led the happiness committee, which will give its recommendations two-and-a-half years from now. They are considering a method that would survey quality of life along with GDP.

As many of you probably know by now, Bhutan has been the trend setter when it comes to happiness measures. They've measured Gross National Happiness since 1972, an unorthodox choice for a developing country. In the past few months, we've seen a flurry of countries start to think about national happiness measures for some reason. Why are they starting now? I have no idea, but maybe the economic depression has something to do with it.

Take a look at my Gross National Happiness tag for the most recent happenings on this topic.

Canada May Also Jump On Gross National Happiness Train

Here is the royal Canadian coat of arms,
in case you care about things like coats of arms.
From The Canadian Design Resource.

Tired of Canadian news yet? Good, here's some more:  according to The Globe and Mail, a group of experts in Ottawa has convened to discuss whether Canada should join Britain, France, and trend-setter Bhutan in measuring Gross National Happiness.

Mel Cappe, head of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, says he would welcome Gross National Happiness metrics because GDP numbers reward the production of stuff, which just leads to high volumes of garbage. The idea could still use some tweaking, but British Prime Minister David Cameron's endorsement of GNH has meant a lot. "The fact that Cameron said what he said is really a sea change," says Cappe.

Not everyone is on board, however. Don Drummond, another member of the convention, says that measurement of GDP does not necessarily mean that governments only pursue money. For him, voter happiness is already built into the election process itself, so there's no need for another metric.

These are all interesting points, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. Canadians, it's up to you!