A Structural Equation Model of Subjective Well Being in European Citizens

The purpose of this study was to determine how individual-level variables (control, economic well-being, physical health, and social support) and a country-level variable (Gross National Income per capita) relate to subjective well-being. Data were taken from a sample of 47,537 European citizens in 25 countries from the European Social Survey. A multilevel structural model of subjective well-being was tested using path analysis. Results indicated that individuals with higher levels of control, social support, economic well-being, and health reported greater levels of SWB. Furthermore, health served as a mediator between the three other predictors and SWB. On the between country level, countries with higher GNI/capita did not have citizens with higher SWB, contrary to expectation. Secondary analyses tested the model with SWB as an exogenous variable instead of an endogenous variable. Results revealed that neither model provided a clearly superior fit. Additionally, secondary analyses comparing models using the outcome variables of happiness or life satisfaction instead of SWB revealed that the SWB model explained the most variance in the endogenous variable. A strength of this study is that it tested a multi-faceted, multi-level model including several important variables simultaneously at both the individual and country levels. Economic well-being and health were the two variables with the strongest relations to SWB (at the individual level), so they appear especially important