IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ariqol/v11y2016i4d10.1007_s11482-015-9441-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Christmas and Subjective Well-Being: a Research Note

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Mutz

    (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Abstract

According to Holmes and Rahe, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2), 213–218, (1967), Christmas is a critical life event that may cause feelings of stress that, in turn, can lead to reduced subjective well-being (SWB) and health problems. This study uses a quantitative approach and large-scale survey data to assess whether or not respondents in European countries indicate lower SWB before and around Christmas. Precisely, respondents interviewed in the week before Christmas or at Christmas holidays are compared to respondents who are questioned at other times throughout the year. Moreover, the assumption is tested if religious denomination and religiousness moderate the association between Christmas and SWB. Main findings suggest that the Christmas period is related to a decrease in life satisfaction and emotional well-being. However, Christians, particularly those with a higher degree of religiousness, are an exception to this pattern.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Mutz, 2016. "Christmas and Subjective Well-Being: a Research Note," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1341-1356, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:11:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11482-015-9441-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-015-9441-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-015-9441-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11482-015-9441-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Roberts & Aimee Clement, 2007. "Materialism and Satisfaction with Over-All Quality Of Life and Eight Life Domains," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 82(1), pages 79-92, May.
    2. Bergen, Helen & Hawton, Keith, 2007. "Variation in deliberate self-harm around Christmas and New Year," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 855-867, September.
    3. Pilar Sanjuán, 2011. "Affect Balance as Mediating Variable Between Effective Psychological Functioning and Satisfaction with Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 373-384, June.
    4. Tim Kasser & Kennon Sheldon, 2002. "What Makes for a Merry Christmas?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 313-329, December.
    5. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    6. J. Ian Norris & Jeff Larsen, 2011. "Wanting more than you have and it’s Consequences for Well-being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 877-885, October.
    7. Peggy Schyns, 2002. "Wealth Of Nations, Individual Income andLife Satisfaction in 42 Countries:A Multilevel Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 5-40, December.
    8. Belk, Russell W., 1995. "Collecting as luxury consumption: Effects on individuals and households," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 477-490, September.
    9. Richins, Marsha L & Dawson, Scott, 1992. "A Consumer Values Orientation for Materialism and Its Measurement: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 19(3), pages 303-316, December.
    10. M. Sirgy, 1998. "Materialism and Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 227-260, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Mutz, 2019. "Life Satisfaction and the UEFA EURO 2016: Findings from a Nation-Wide Longitudinal Study in Germany," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 375-391, April.
    2. Rachel Dale & Sanja Budimir & Thomas Probst & Peter Stippl & Christoph Pieh, 2021. "Mental Health during the COVID-19 Lockdown over the Christmas Period in Austria and the Effects of Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M. Joseph Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic-Mehmedovic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2013. "Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 349-366, January.
    2. Thyroff, Anastasia & Kilbourne, William E., 2018. "Self-enhancement and individual competitiveness as mediators in the materialism/consumer satisfaction relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 189-196.
    3. David B. Allsop & Chen-Yun Wang & Jeffrey P. Dew & Erin K. Holmes & E. Jeffrey Hill & Chelom E. Leavitt, 2021. "Daddy, Mommy, and Money: The Association Between Parental Materialism on Parent–Child Relationship Quality," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 325-334, June.
    4. M. Joseph Sirgy, 2018. "The Psychology of Material Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 273-301, June.
    5. Schalembier, Benjamin & Bleys, Brent & Van Ootegem, Luc & Verhofstadt, Elsy, 2020. "How the income of others affects the life satisfaction of materialists," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 64-74.
    6. Grace B. Yu & Dong-Jin Lee & M. Joseph Sirgy & Michael Bosnjak, 2020. "Household Income, Satisfaction with Standard of Living, and Subjective Well-Being. The Moderating Role of Happiness Materialism," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(8), pages 2851-2872, December.
    7. Donnelly, Grant & Iyer, Ravi & Howell, Ryan T., 2012. "The Big Five personality traits, material values, and financial well-being of self-described money managers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1129-1142.
    8. M. Joseph Sirgy & Grace B. Yu & Dong-Jin Lee & Mohsen Joshanloo & Michael Bosnjak & Jinfeng Jiao & Ahmet Ekici & Eda Gurel Atay & Stephan Grzeskowiak, 2021. "The Dual Model of Materialism: Success Versus Happiness Materialism on Present and Future Life Satisfaction," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 201-220, February.
    9. M. Joseph Sirgy & Dong-Jin Lee & Grace B. Yu, 2020. "Shopping-Life Balance: Towards a Unifying Framework," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 17-34, March.
    10. Fabian O. Ugwu & Chidi Ugwu, 2013. "Anointing Without Money: Exploring the Relationships between Materialism, Happiness and Daily Spiritual Experience in a Nigerian Sample," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(5), pages 1196-1207, May.
    11. Soo Tan & Siok Tambyah & Ah Kau, 2006. "The Influence of Value Orientations and Demographics on Quality-of-Life Perceptions: Evidence from a National Survey of Singaporeans," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 33-59, August.
    12. Laura Birg & Anna Goeddeke, 2016. "Christmas Economics—A Sleigh Ride," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(4), pages 1980-1984, October.
    13. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    14. Gagandeep Kaur & Manjit Singh & Sanjay Gupta, 2023. "Analysis of key factors influencing individual financial well-being using ISM and MICMAC approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1533-1559, April.
    15. Eda Gurel Atay & Joseph Sirgy & Melika Husić & Muris Čičić, 2010. "Influence of materialism on life satisfaction," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 22(2), pages 151-166.
    16. Lima de Miranda, Katharina & Snower, Dennis J., 2020. "Recoupling Economic and Social Prosperity," IZA Discussion Papers 12998, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Kasser, Tim & Grow Kasser, Virginia, 2001. "The dreams of people high and low in materialism," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 693-719, December.
    18. Jiah Yoo & Yuri Miyamoto & Uwana Evers & Julie Lee & Nancy Wong, 2021. "Does Materialism Hinder Relational Well-Being? The Role of Culture and Social Motives," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 241-261, January.
    19. M. Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2012. "Linking Advertising, Materialism, and Life Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 79-101, May.
    20. Necati Aydin & Hayat Khan, 2021. "G-Donic Happiness: An Alternative to Hedonic and Eudemonic Happiness for Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:11:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11482-015-9441-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.