Wellbeing and satisfaction

Outcome measures of how people rate their lives and their work overall (ONS personal well-being, satisfaction, positive affect).

8 items catalogued in this domain; 4 verified and rendered with wording. The rest are listed with provenance only until their wording is verified against the primary source and cleared for redistribution.

aps-life-satisfaction

Overall life satisfaction verified, rendered

Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?

Response scale: 0 to 10, where 0 is 'not at all' and 10 is 'completely'.
Primary source: ONS personal well-being questions (Annual Population Survey)
Citation: Office for National Statistics, personal well-being questions, Annual Population Survey. Crown copyright. (source)
Copyright status: OGL
Benchmark availability: Item-level benchmark held (see benchmark field).
Verification: verified
Notes: ONS personal well-being measure 1 of 4.
Evidence view: graded evidence record in the OWHS Instrument Registry

Benchmark: 7.45 (mean out of 10), year ending March 2023. ONS, Personal well-being in the UK: April 2022 to March 2023 (published 7 November 2023). (source)

aps-worthwhile

Sense that life is worthwhile verified, rendered

Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Response scale: 0 to 10, where 0 is 'not at all' and 10 is 'completely'.
Primary source: ONS personal well-being questions (Annual Population Survey)
Citation: Office for National Statistics, personal well-being questions, Annual Population Survey. Crown copyright. (source)
Copyright status: OGL
Benchmark availability: Item-level benchmark held (see benchmark field).
Verification: verified
Notes: ONS personal well-being measure 2 of 4.
Evidence view: graded evidence record in the OWHS Instrument Registry

Benchmark: 7.73 (mean out of 10), year ending March 2023. ONS, Personal well-being in the UK: April 2022 to March 2023 (published 7 November 2023). (source)

aps-happiness

Happiness yesterday verified, rendered

Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?

Response scale: 0 to 10, where 0 is 'not at all' and 10 is 'completely'.
Primary source: ONS personal well-being questions (Annual Population Survey)
Citation: Office for National Statistics, personal well-being questions, Annual Population Survey. Crown copyright. (source)
Copyright status: OGL
Benchmark availability: Item-level benchmark held (see benchmark field).
Verification: verified
Notes: ONS personal well-being measure 3 of 4.
Evidence view: graded evidence record in the OWHS Instrument Registry

Benchmark: 7.39 (mean out of 10), year ending March 2023. ONS, Personal well-being in the UK: April 2022 to March 2023 (published 7 November 2023). (source)

aps-anxiety

Anxiety yesterday verified, rendered

Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?

Response scale: 0 to 10, where 0 is 'not at all anxious' and 10 is 'completely anxious'.
Primary source: ONS personal well-being questions (Annual Population Survey)
Citation: Office for National Statistics, personal well-being questions, Annual Population Survey. Crown copyright. (source)
Copyright status: OGL
Benchmark availability: Item-level benchmark held (see benchmark field).
Verification: verified
Notes: ONS personal well-being measure 4 of 4. Prior compilations often omitted the anxiety item; it is completed here so the ONS-4 set is whole.
Evidence view: graded evidence record in the OWHS Instrument Registry

Benchmark: 3.23 (mean out of 10), year ending March 2023. ONS, Personal well-being in the UK: April 2022 to March 2023 (published 7 November 2023). (source)

ses-job-satisfaction

Overall job satisfaction provenance only

Wording is held by the primary source and is not reproduced here in this release. See the source and licence below.

Response scale: 1 to 7 (completely dissatisfied to completely satisfied)
Primary source: Skills and Employment Survey 2017
Citation: Felstead A, Gallie D, Green F et al., Skills and Employment Survey 2017. Cardiff University, UCL, University of Oxford; ESRC. (source)
Copyright status: permission required; none requested
Benchmark availability: Periodic Great Britain estimates (SES series).
Verification: unverified
Notes: Single-item overall job satisfaction; also carried in Understanding Society.

perma-joy

Positive affect at work (joy) provenance only

Wording is held by the primary source and is not reproduced here in this release. See the source and licence below.

Response scale: 0 to 10
Primary source: PERMA-Profiler
Citation: Butler J, Kern ML (2016), The PERMA-Profiler. (source)
Copyright status: permission required; none requested
Benchmark availability: Instrument-specific reference scores.
Verification: unverified
Notes: PERMA-Profiler item; referenced only.
Evidence view: graded evidence record in the OWHS Instrument Registry

oecd-positive-outlook

Positive outlook provenance only

Wording is held by the primary source and is not reproduced here in this release. See the source and licence below.

Response scale: 5-point (always to never)
Primary source: OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being
Citation: OECD (2013), OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being. (source)
Copyright status: permission required; none requested
Benchmark availability: Instrument-specific reference material (OECD).
Verification: unverified

ess-wlb-satisfaction

Satisfaction with work-life balance provenance only

Wording is held by the primary source and is not reproduced here in this release. See the source and licence below.

Response scale: 0 to 10
Primary source: European Social Survey
Citation: European Social Survey ERIC (ESS). Rounds vary by item. (source)
Copyright status: ESS
Benchmark availability: Cross-national benchmarks (ESS).
Verification: unverified
Notes: European Social Survey Round 6.