Advancing Happiness with Need Gratification in

among Older Community Dwellers in Hong Kong

Jacky Chau-kiu CHEUNG Raymond Man-hung NGAN

City University of Hong Kong

Sponsored by Pok Oi Hospital

Nov 24, 2011

1

Predicting happiness by gratification of

need/aspiration/dream

2

Aspirations Happiness

Gratifications

Backgrounds

Theory and extant research concerning the

contribution of need gratification on happiness

Humanistic theory, livability theory, need theory, need fulfillment theory, self-determination theory

Gratification of basic need (Maslow 1999)

Meeting inborn needs (Diener and Oishi 2000)

Fulfillment of basic, universal need (Arthaud-Day and Near 2005; Diener and Lucas 2000)

Need satisfaction: autonomy, relatedness, competence (Sheldon and Kasser 2000)

3

Extant research on need gratification (Guardiola and

Garcia-Munoz 2011)

Resource

Housing, land

Car

Income, work time

Education

Age

Commitment

Family size

Spouse

4

Data collection

406 community-dwelling older Hong

Kong Chinese

During April 2011

In the center or home

Largely relying on the membership list of

elderly centers of Pok Oi Hospital

5

Composite gratification: real self (self-

actualization)

Realizing talents

Showing wisdom, learning

Producing masterpieces

Obtaining others’ commendations and

praises to affirm abilities

Raising wisdom, increasing learning

6

Composite gratification: sensory

Tasting delicious meals

Increasing information

Realizing autonomy

Learning more knowledge about

safeguarding oneself

7

Composite gratification: social

Formal meeting with kin/kith

Leaving talents/skills to later

generations

Contributing to society

Traveling with old mates/kin/kith

8

DESCRIPTIVE FINDINGS

9

Sex, and marital status (%)

65.8

5.7

10.8

46.1

35.5

3.2 4.2

Female No family Marriage:

Unmarred

Married Widowed Separated Divorced 10

Income source (%)

30.1

1.3

9.8

0.5

41.6

18.8

3

Old age

allowance

Disability

allowance

Pension Insurance Family Savings

interest

Other 11

Current happiness (0-100)

32.2

44.1

56.5

61.7

65.5

67.1

69

69.6

69.9

57.7

59.5

Ability being the same as that during young age

(not) feeling decrepit

(not) feeling tired

Despite old age, being proud of what you are doing

What you do is meaningful all along

Now is the happiest time in life

Expecting to have something funny or joyful to

happen in future

Age (not) distressing

When reviewing your life, feeling satisfied

Happiness: one year before

Happiness

12

First 7 gratifications (times in past year)

3.7

4.1

4.3

4.6

5.3

5.4

7.2

Increasing information

Learning more knowledge about safeguarding oneself

Obtaining others’ commendations and praises to

affirm abilities

Tasting delicious meals

Realizing autonomy

Contributing to society

Formal meeting with kin/kith

13

Next 7 gratifications (times in past year)

1.1

1.8

2.1

2.6

2.6

3

3.2

Returning to the home village to pay homage to

ancestors

Producing masterpieces

Leaving talents/skills to later generations

Realizing talents

Showing wisdom, learning

Traveling with old mates/kin/kith

Raising wisdom, increasing learning

14

First 7 aspirations (0-100)

51.8

52.2

57

59

59.3

60.3

69.1

Realizing autonomy

Contributing to society

Learning more knowledge about safeguarding oneself

Traveling with old mates/kin/kith

Tasting delicious meals

Increasing information

Formal meeting with kin/kith

15

Next 7 aspirations (0-100)

25.9

33.9

34.3

34.8

35.5

47.2

49.2

Producing masterpieces

Leaving talents/skills to later generations

Returning to the home village to pay homage to

ancestors

Showing wisdom, learning

Realizing talents

Obtaining others’ commendations and praises to

affirm abilities

Raising wisdom, increasing learning

16

ANALYTIC FINDINGS

Regression analysis controlling for

background characteristics and happiness one

year before

17

Significant standardized effects of gratification on

happiness (β)

0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

0 1 SD Showing wisdom, learning

Obtaining others’ commendations and praises to affirm abilities 18

Significant separate standardized effects of composite

gratification on happiness (β)

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0 1 SD

Self-actualization Sensory gratification Affiliation 19

Bases for happiness

Significant gratifications

Real-self gratification or self-actualization (β =

.105)

Showing wisdom, learning (β = .079)

Obtaining others’ commendations and praises to

affirm abilities (β = .067)

Preference for self-determination theory to other

theories

20

Other influences on happiness

Positive

Income from family

Center member

Interviewing at the center

Happiness one year before

Negative

Disability allowance

Divorced

Self-care difficulty

21

References Arthaud-Day, Marne L., and Janet P. Near. 2005. "The Wealth of Nations and

the Happiness of Nations: Why Accounting Matters." Social Indicators

Research 74:511-548.

Diener, Ed., and Sheigehiro Oishi. 2000. "Money and Happiness: Income and

Subjective Well-being across Nations." Pp.185-218 in Culture and Subjective

Well-being, edited by Ed Diener and Eunkook M. Suh. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

Diener, Ed, and Richard E. Lucas. 2000. "Explaining Differences in Societal

Levels of Happiness: Relative Standards, Need Fulfillment, Culture, and

Evaluation Theory." Journal of Happiness Studies 11:41-78.

Guardiola, Jorge, and Teresa Garcia-Munoz. 2011. "Fulfillment of Basic

Needs from a Subjective Point of View in Rural Guatemala." International

Journal of Social Welfare.

Maslow, Abraham H. 1999. Toward a Psychology of Being (3rd ed.). New

York: John Wiley.

Sheldon, Kennon M., and Tim Kasser. 2000. "Goals, Congruence, and Positive

Well-being: New Empirical Support for Humanistic Theories." Journal of

Humanistic Psychology 41(4):30-50.

22

Welcome to queries

Chau-kiu Cheung: ssjacky@cityu.edu.hk

Raymond Man-hung Ngan: raymond.ngan@cityu.edu.hk

City University of Hong Kong

23