scholarly journals Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Levitt
Keyword(s):  
Major Life ◽  
Coin Toss ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D Levitt
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Coin Toss ◽  
Randomized Field Experiment ◽  
The Status ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Little is known about whether people make good choices when facing important decisions. This article reports on a large-scale randomized field experiment in which research subjects having difficulty making a decision flipped a coin to help determine their choice. For important decisions (e.g. quitting a job or ending a relationship), individuals who are told by the coin toss to make a change are more likely to make a change, more satisfied with their decisions, and happier six months later than those whose coin toss instructed maintaining the status quo. This finding suggests that people may be excessively cautious when facing life-changing choices.

scholarly journals Impact of COVID-19: Considerations for individuals with developmental disabilities across major life domains

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kathy Sheppard-Jones ◽  
Lauren Avellone ◽  
Phillip Rumrill ◽  
Hannah Seward
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Life Domains ◽  
Health Work ◽  
Educational Settings ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
To Receive

BACKGROUND: The impact of COVID-19 and other health pandemics disproportionately affects individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) across a multitude of life domains including health, work, and education. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to review some of the factors contributing to the unique impact of pandemics on individuals with DD. Not only are individuals with DD at a heightened risk of contracting a pandemic illness but are also more likely to receive inequitable care and thus the potential to experience more fatal outcomes if contracted. Challenges in receiving equitable services in times of a global crisis are observed in business and educational settings, as well. Many individuals with DD require individualized supports to meet learning and vocational needs. If the quality and continuity of those services are disrupted, individuals with DD risk termination from jobs or slowed progress in meeting educational goals. CONCLUSION: Strategies for addressing concerns related to the impact of a pandemic on different life domains for individuals with DD are discussed.

scholarly journals Testing Invariance of Measures of Internalizing Symptoms Before and After a Major Life Stressor: The Impact of COVID-19 in an Adolescent and Young Adult Sample

Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110153
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Olino ◽  
Julia A. C. Case ◽  
Mariah T. Hawes ◽  
Aline Szenczy ◽  
Brady Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Internalizing Symptoms ◽  
Adolescent And Young Adult ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Longitudinal Measurement Invariance ◽  
Longitudinal Measurement ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Life Stressor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Consistent Support

There are reports of increases in levels of internalizing psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these studies presume that measurement properties of these constructs remained unchanged from before the pandemic. In this study, we examined longitudinal measurement invariance of assessments of depression, anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in adolescents and young adults from ongoing longitudinal studies. We found consistent support for configural and metric invariance across all constructs, but scalar invariance was unsupported for depression and IU. Thus, it is necessary to interpret pandemic-associated mean-level changes in depression and IU cautiously. In contrast, mean-level comparisons of panic, generalized, and social anxiety symptoms were not compromised. These findings are limited to the specific measures examined and the developmental period of the sample. We acknowledge that there is tremendous distress accompanying disruptions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, for some instruments, comparisons of symptom levels before and during the pandemic may be limited.

Environment and ageing biology

2017 ◽  
pp. 317-322
Author(s):  
Arun S. Karlamangla ◽  
Teresa E. Seeman
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Functional Status ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
The Body ◽  
Major Life Events ◽  
Major Life ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Psychosocial factors over the life course and major life events are associated with the health, functional status, and survival of older adults. This chapter discusses the biological mechanisms through which these influences are thought to operate, and how life stresses might accelerate the usual ageing of biological systems. It starts with a brief description of psychosocial determinants of health and functioning before elaborating on the allostatic mechanisms by which the body adapts its internal physiological milieu in response to perceived stressors. The price paid for frequent and recurring adaptation is eventual dysregulation of the mediators of allostasis, or allostatic load. We close with a brief discussion of allostatic load links to health outcomes in older adults and potential interventions that might ameliorate the impact of psychosocial adversities on health.

scholarly journals Valuing time over money predicts happiness after a major life transition: A preregistered longitudinal study of graduating students

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. eaax2615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Whillans ◽  
Lucía Macchia ◽  
Elizabeth Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
University Students ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Transition ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Consumer Choices ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
Graduating Students

How does prioritizing time or money shape major life decisions and subsequent well-being? In a preregistered longitudinal study of approximately 1000 graduating university students, respondents who valued time over money chose more intrinsically rewarding activities and were happier 1 year after graduation. These results remained significant controlling for baseline happiness and potential confounds, such as materialism and socioeconomic status, and when using alternative model specifications. These findings extend previous research by showing that the tendency to value time over money is predictive not only of daily consumer choices but also of major life decisions. In addition, this research uncovers a previously unidentified mechanism—the pursuit of intrinsically motivated activities—that underlies the previously observed association between valuing time and happiness. This work sheds new light on whether, when, and how valuing time shapes happiness.

The Things that Help, the Things that Get in the Way: Working Together to Improve Outcome Following Acquired Brain Injury

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacinta M. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Brain Injury ◽  
Acquired Brain Injury ◽  
Life Changes ◽  
Major Life ◽  
The Family ◽  
Working Together ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

Working in neurological rehabilitation brings with it numerous opportunities to gain an understanding of the factors that contribute to shaping meaningful living and wellbeing for those tackling the major life changes encountered following acquired brain injury (ABI). These opportunities come in many forms: challenging and brave clients, wise and worrying families, questioning and inspiring colleagues, empowering and limiting work environments and rigid and advancing policy and legislative contexts.Our personal and collective understanding ofthe things that helpandthe things that get in the wayof effective rehabilitation continuously emerges from the convergence of the experience and knowledge afforded by these opportunities. The aim of this paper is to considerthe things that helpandthe things that get in the wayas they have been identified by people with ABI, their families and those who work with them and have been further evidenced through research targeted towards improving short, medium and long-term outcomes for those living with the consequences of ABI. Thesethingsas discussed in this paper capture the essential role of the self, the importance of rights and access to rehabilitation, the impact of the family and the contribution of social connection.

Cutting Through the Fog: Financial Literacy and Financial Investment Choices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Nieddu ◽  
Lorenzo Pandolfi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Ambiguity Aversion ◽  
Financial Education ◽  
Certainty Equivalent ◽  
Financial Asset ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Coin Toss ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Average Value ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This paper examines the impact of financial literacy on the individual propensity to invest in financial assets. In a laboratory experiment with a two-by-two design, we study how the certainty equivalent of a risky lottery changes when varying the lottery framing and the participants’ financial literacy level. We find that presenting the lottery as a financial asset—whose payoffs need to be computed from a given return rate—rather than as a simple coin toss reduces the average value participants assign to the lottery by approximately 20% and lowers their understanding of the lottery’s structure. Enhancing financial literacy by explaining the basic financial concepts involved in the description of the financial-asset lottery, offsets the negative effects of the financial framing: it improves respondents’ understanding of the lottery and increases the certainty equivalent. Our results—which can be rationalized by ambiguity aversion—shed new light on the linkages between financial literacy and financial investment behavior. Additionally, they highlight the importance of promoting financial education to stimulate households’ financial market participation.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF RETIREMENT ON VOLUNTEERING FREQUENCY: EVIDENCE FROM A NEW PANEL STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S129-S129
Author(s):  
Olga Grunwald ◽  
Marleen Damman ◽  
Kène Henkens
Keyword(s):  
Role Theory ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Life Transition ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
The Impact

Abstract OBJECTIVE: Retirement is a major life transition. People gain a considerable amount of free time, but also loose the benefits from work. Volunteering has been identified as a gratifying way to fill that time and to compensate some retirement-related losses, but is stratified by educational level. Research on how retirement changes volunteering behavior, particularly among different educational groups, is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap. Based on role theory, we hypothesize that the transition into retirement expands levels of volunteering, and that this effect will be relatively strong for the higher educated. METHODS: We use two-wave panel data that were collected in 2015 and 2018 among 5,312 Dutch individuals who were aged 60-65 and employed at baseline. Around half has retired at follow-up (N=2,618). RESULTS: Descriptive findings show that the share of frequent volunteers (i.e., at least once a week) was around 18% at baseline. At follow-up, the share of frequent volunteers rose to 36% among those who retired, but did not change among those who remained employed. Conditional change models show that transitioning into retirement significantly increases volunteering frequency, when controlling for demographic factors and individual resources. As hypothesized, the effect of retirement is relatively strong for the higher educated. DISCUSSION: To deal with the life changes upon retirement, volunteering appears to be an often-used strategy, in particular among the higher educated. Whether this is motivated by work role loss (compensation), or reflects having more time to ‘do good’ (opportunity) is an important question for future research.

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