Gender differences in affective and cognitive well-being in Serbia

This paper examines the gender differences in affective and cognitive component of subjective well-being in the case of Serbia. Subjective well-being is defined as the sum of positive and negative affect and the overall life satisfaction. On a nationally-representative sample of the Serbian population, consisting of 17,187 respondents, aged 15 to 96 years (M = 48.88; SD = 18.77) with 51.2% of females and 48.8% males, interviewed within the Survey on Income and Living Conditions in 2013, we examined the gender differences in frequency of experiencing (during the past four weeks) of two positive (feeling calm and peaceful, and being happy) and three negative (being very nervous, feeling down in the dumps, and feeling downhearted or depressed) affects, and the overall life satisfaction. In accordance with most previous research, we expected no gender differences in life satisfaction, and greater positive and negative affectivity among females. The results showed that, first, there are no gender differences in feeling very nervous, and calm and peaceful, but that females significantly more feel downhearted or depressed, down in the dumps, and happy. Second, there are no significant gender differences in overall life satisfaction. Greater affectivity among females may be explained by gender roles