We are pleased to share a paper has recently been published in which all authors have JRP links. Their article on multidimensional measures of psychological well-being was recently published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, and covers 21 countries in Europe. It is a delight for us to report that, on top of our Executive Director being the lead author, four others have links to the JRP:

Dr Áine Maguire: JRP 2012-2013 cohort

Dr Eduardo García-Garzon: JRP 2013-14 cohort, JRP Team 2014-2016, jCouncil 2017-present

Dr Sandra Matz: JRP Lecture Series speaker and Insights for Impact Big Data theme lead 2016

Prof Felicia Huppert: JRP summer school speaker 2013

This is a particularly exciting story given that two of the co-authors had not even started doctoral programs when they originally worked on the study, and now have completed PhDs! (All five authors have changed institution from the time the paper was originally written.)

Their work comes in light of recent debates in well-being research that emphasised the shift away from one-dimensional measures. Using the European Social Survey, the authors take a multi-dimensional approach by analysing data from 2006 and 2012 from the European Social Survey (ESS). The analyses included 21 countries, involving approximately 40,000 individuals for each year.

Overall, the authors assessed ten individual dimensions, which were utilized to compute a single value standardized to the population, supporting broad assessment and comparison over countries. Both this composite score and the separate dimensions can be useful for exploring appropriate policies to analyze and improve well-being in different countries. The authors note that this is not the first or only multidimensional approach, but they put it in the context of influential platforms such as the ESS, and indicate how to make useful in policy.

Interested to find out more? The article is freely available here.