Our study findings partially confirmed the initial hypothesis that well-being—encompassing happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor—is predominantly influenced by subjective health, body mass index (BMI), and a healthy lifestyle among the 37 determinants examined for both men and women. The data suggest that determinants such as BMI, sleep, regular PA, dietary habits, and the avoidance of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption have limited or no significant impact on well-being components like happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor. Instead, the results highlight that mood (particularly the absence of depression), emotional intelligence (especially the ability to regulate emotions), and subjective health evaluation are the strongest determinants of well-being among the determinants studied. Additionally, personality traits such as neuroticism in men and extraversion in women emerged as significant predictors of well-being. In contrast, empathy and logical thinking ability demonstrated no significant association with the components of well-being for either gender.
Our research indicates that men have certain advantages over women in various areas such as life satisfaction, mood (with higher vigor and lower fatigue), health (they perceive their health more positively and report fewer chronic diseases), and economic status. Men also engage in exercise more frequently and have higher levels of MVPA. Furthermore, they experience lower stress levels and lower neuroticism and make utilitarian decisions more often. On the other hand, women tend to have a lower BMI, smoke less, exhibit better emotional intelligence, and demonstrate a more pronounced agreeableness personality trait. Interestingly, there were no significant differences between men and women in terms of happiness, efficiency in logical thinking, sleep and eating habits, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, mood indicators (such as depression, tension, anger, and confusion), personality traits (including conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness), or in three key life aspects: personal growth, success at work, and leisure time. This suggests that differences among men not only exist in happiness indicators but also in the determinants influencing them. Therefore, we believe that the chosen strategy to examine happiness determinants separately for men and women is appropriate. Our previous data showed that men have higher MVPA than women, experience lower stress, but have a higher BMI and lower emotional intelligence [30, 43]. This aligns with our current research findings, but earlier studies indicated that men’s efficiency in solving logical tasks was better than that of women (while in our current case, we didn’t find a difference between men and women). The current findings of our study align with an earlier study [44] in that men had higher mood indicators of vigor and lower fatigue than women. Furthermore, in previous research, we found a significant positive correlation between mood profile and PA level [44]. Quite interestingly, our research coincided with Youssef et al., [45], showing that women tend to make significantly fewer utilitarian decisions than men. Additionally, it was found that the more people experience stress, the more inclined they are to make non-utilitarian decisions [45]. We can only speculate that in our case, women experienced higher stress than men, hence their dominance in non-utilitarian decisions over men. Moreover, intriguing studies indicate that exercise-induced exertion and fatigue can influence moral reasoning and decision-making towards a non-utilitarian direction. This shift is possibly due to limitations in prefrontal-cortex mediated executive resources, more pertinent for utilitarian reasoning and decision-making [46]. We can only speculate that higher fatigue and stress in women, coupled with lower vigor, create more favourable conditions for them to make non-utilitarian decisions compared to men. To our knowledge, these findings highlighting the differences between men and women are original—a novelty stemming from our research, indicating that the determinants of happiness should not be generalized across both genders but rather studied separately for men and women.
The second and primary finding of our research is that, using linear logistic regression analysis, we comprehensively examined the determinants (sociodemographic, health, healthy lifestyle, mood profile, personality traits, emotional intelligence, logical thinking, non-utilitarian decisions, adverse childhood experiences, important aspects of life) of happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has so extensively explored the determinants of happiness differently for men and women. Half of the determinants we examined (19 out of 38) (specifically, economic status, health, perceived stress, exercise, MVPA, sedentary behaviour, overeating, all mood indicators, personality traits extraversion and neuroticism, emotional intelligence, managing own emotion, adverse childhood experiences, and important aspects of life) are statistically significantly associated with happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor. However, this also depends on gender and the specificity of the happiness construct. It is quite unexpected that none of the happiness constructs we studied are significantly associated (for both men and women) with age, education, nature of a job, chronic diseases, BMI, sleep, smoking and alcohol consumption, breakfast eating, personality traits conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness, logical thinking, non-utilitarian decisions, perception of others’ emotions, managing others’ emotions, and emotion utilization. Among all indicators, mood indicators stand out the most, especially depression, which has the greatest negative impact on happiness and life satisfaction, influencing them more significantly (Fig. 1). It can be assumed that mood indicators are more related to hedonic (affective well-being) happiness, as affective well-being is more linked to feelings of joy and pleasure, eudaimonic well-being to a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and evaluative well-being more closely reflects life satisfaction [8, 13]. Of course, being happy and finding life meaningful often overlap and are difficult to distinguish [13].
Data from other researchers clearly show that higher PA level is associated with higher well-being and quality of life independently of age [4, 7, 8, 23, 27, 28, 47, 48]. However, our research data indicate that MVPA and exercise are statistically significantly positively associated only with vigor (for both men and women), while the relationship with happiness and life satisfaction is not significant. Interestingly, among men, there is a statistically significant relationship between sedentary behaviour and happiness. It is noteworthy that neither sleep duration, bedtime, alcohol consumption, smoking, breakfast eating, overeating (except for men, where overeating is positively associated with life satisfaction; indicating a hedonic aspect of happiness) were significantly related to happiness, life satisfaction, or vigor. This contradicts excellent research suggesting that a balanced diet, abstaining from overeating [49], sufficient rest—especially quality sleep [50], minimizing prolonged periods of sitting [26, 28], and numerous other determinants, including diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, significantly influence human health and well-being [51]. Surprisingly, our studies did not show any significant correlation between BMI and happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor, even though it is widely acknowledged that an increased BMI (especially obesity) is a significant risk determinant for numerous chronic diseases [28].
One of the most interesting findings from our research is that neither logical thinking nor non-utilitarian decision-making is significantly associated with happiness, life satisfaction, or vigor. In contrast, the emotional intelligence component of the ability to manage one‘s emotions is significantly positively associated with happiness, vigor, and life satisfaction for both men and women (except for men). Our previous studies have shown an inverse relationship between logical thinking and emotional intelligence [30, 43, 52]. When individuals make moral decisions in a non-utilitarian manner, they express a reluctance to harm others, and this “unwillingness to harm others” is widely considered the most basic element of human morality [53]. Unfortunately, our research did not indicate that constructs of happiness are dependent on moral decision-making strategies. However, it also did not show that they (happiness constructs) are not related to logical thinking but are associated with the ability to manage one’s emotions. The ability to manage one’s emotions is one of the most crucial human abilities, influencing success in various spheres, such as sports [54]. Other researchers have shown that participants who expressed stronger support for utilitarian solutions exhibited higher scores on measures of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and a sense of life meaninglessness [55]. Another notable discovery from our study regarding personality traits is particularly intriguing. It is noteworthy that women’s vigor is significantly positively linked with extraversion, while neuroticism (specifically for men) negatively influences both happiness, life satisfaction, and vigor (for women, vigor is not negatively associated with neuroticism). Scholars delving into personality and happiness have come to a general conclusion that personality dispositions are connected with happiness, physical and psychological health, and spirituality [1]. However, as our study indicates, only extraversion and neuroticism are correlated with happiness constructs. A similar conclusion was reached in an excellent study by other researchers, demonstrating that global satisfaction with social relationships is associated with extraversion, neuroticism (negatively), and the ability to manage one’s emotions [56]. Surprisingly, we discovered statistically significant negative associations between men‘s and women‘s happiness and childhood adverse experiences. However, these findings should be further expanded upon in future research.
Limitations
Our study grapples with a primary limitation—the challenge of establishing causal relationships between happiness constructs and numerous determinants. The intricate interplay of the 37 determinants influencing the three happiness constructs poses an additional complexity, as the linear logistic regression analysis method falls short in identifying their causal interactions.
Our study, with its focus on a specific demographic, suggests a potential avenue for future research. Expanding the scope to include diverse cultural contexts could unveil variations in the determinants of happiness. Cultural nuances may play a pivotal role in influencing the significance of certain determinants in shaping well-being. Additionally, future research endeavours could explore the effectiveness of interventions or well-being programs targeting specific determinants identified in this study. Understanding how targeted interventions impact happiness and life satisfaction holds practical implications for promoting overall well-being. In acknowledging these limitations, our commitment to ongoing research reflects a dedication to refining our understanding of the intricate dynamics of happiness determinants and contributing to the broader discourse on human well-being.
Read More: Beyond lifestyle, logic and empathy: subjective health, mood, emotional intelligence, and
