Bibliothèque complète

The present study of diachronous ratings of subjective well-being (SWB) was modeled on research undertaken by Staudinger, Bluck & Herzberg (2003). In addition, we were interested in determining the effects of culture and context (where one lives) on SWB ratings. To gage these effects, we included the factor of mother tongue and altered the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire by adding a question concerning expected well-being in Quebec. We asked 350 Anglophones and Francophones from the Eastern Townships, aged 18 to 95, to rate their SWB in the past, present, future, and future ‘in Quebec’. The results concerning the effects of chronological age on diachronistic SWB ratings followed the patterns of previous research: young people (aged 18–38) rate past SWB lower than present SWB and future SWB much higher; middle-aged people (aged 39–64) rate their SWB the same regardless of time; And the elderly (67–95) rated past SWB higher than the present and their future SWB much lower. There were no differences between Anglophones or Francophones. Further analysis revealed the disturbing finding that the oldest participants rated their current SWB significantly lower than the other two age groups. In the second half of our study we found that by simply asking Francophones and Anglophones to rate their SWB in the future – first unspecified as to location, and then in a future ‘if they stay in Quebec’ – produced different response patterns. Both future SWB ratings were the same for Francophones, indicating that the questions were simply redundant. The Anglophones, on the other hand, rated their future SWB in Quebec consistently lower than an unspecified future.