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Concept
Life satisfaction
Summary
Life satisfaction is a measure of a person's overall well-being, assessed in terms of mood, relationship satisfaction, achieved goals, self-concepts, and self-perceived ability to cope with life. Life satisfaction involves a favorable attitude towards one's life—rather than an assessment of current feelings. Life satisfaction has been measured in relation to economic standing, degree of education, experiences, residence, and other factors.
Life satisfaction is a key part of subjective well-being. Many factors influence subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Socio-demographic factors include gender, age, marital status, income, and education. Psychosocial factors include health and illness, functional ability, activity level, and social relationships. People tend to gain life satisfaction as they get older.
A meta-analysis using the "Big Five" personality model found that, among the "Big Five", low neuroticism was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Other key factors include openness to experiences and socialization. Socially engaged people tend to be more satisfied with life.
Apart from the Big Five model, a person's chronotype correlates with life satisfaction; morning-oriented people ("larks") showed higher life satisfaction than evening-oriented individuals ("owls").
An individual's genes affect their life satisfaction, so life satisfaction is partly heritable. One study found no significant differences between males and females in terms of the heritability of life satisfaction.
Several studies have shown that self-esteem is a strong predictor of life satisfaction.
An individual's mood and outlook on life greatly influence the perception of their life satisfaction. Two correlating emotions that may influence how people perceive their lives are hope and optimism. Both of these emotions consist of cognitive processes that are usually oriented towards the perception and reaching of goals. Additionally, optimism is linked to higher life satisfaction, whereas pessimism is related to symptoms of depression.
Official source
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