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This study examines whether the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D 8) measures depression as distinct from the subjective well-being (SWB) components emotional well-being (EWB) and life satisfaction (LS). Using data from the Swedish European Social Survey CRONOS-2 panel (N= 795), we employed confirmatory factor analysis for testing discriminant validity and examined associations with health, sociodemographic, and psychological correlates. Results showed strong correlations (r..70) between the latent depression factor (CES-D 8) and both latent EWB and LS factors. The depression factor furthermore failed the Fornell–Larcker tests for discriminant validity against LS and EWB, and health measures showed similar associations with CES-D 8, EWB, and LS. Limited support is thus obtained for depression being a distinct construct. CES-D 8 may primarily capture EWB rather than depression, prompting reconsideration of how depression is conceptualized and measured in relation to SWB in both research and clinical practice.

The relationship between economic development and emotional well-being is less well understood than the corresponding relationship with life satisfaction, partly because prior cross-national studies have often relied on brief dichotomous affect measures. Using four waves of the European Social Survey (2006, 2012, 2014, and 2023), we aggregated responses from 177,948 respondents in 33 countries to 97 country-round observations and linked these observations to real GDP per capita. We found strong positive associations between GDP and both emotional well-being and life satisfaction across countries. Longitudinal mixed models showed positive associations between GDP and both well-being components over time. Supplementary checks using separate affect components, quadratic GDP specifications, demographic-composition controls, contextual adjustment for social trust and income inequality, attenuation models with perceived income adequacy and unemployment, and growth-versus-decline tests broadly supported this pattern. Overall, the findings challenge previous conclusions that economic development is only weakly related to affect. When emotional well-being is measured with graded content-valid affect items, it shows a clear positive relationship with both GDP levels and changes in GDP.

This study investigates public expectations regarding the likelihood and timing of major artificial intelligence (AI) developments among Swedes. Through a survey of 1026 respondents, we examined expectations across six key scenarios: medical breakthroughs, mass unemployment, democratic deterioration, living standard improvements, artificial general intelligence (AGI), and uncontrollable superintelligent AI. Findings reveal strong consensus on AI-driven medical breakthroughs (82.6%), while expectations for other major developments are significantly lower, ranging from 40.9% for mass unemployment down to 28.4% for AGI. Timeline expectations varied markedly across scenarios, with medical breakthroughs most often expected within 6–10 years, while the modal response for AGI and uncontrollable superintelligent AI was that these developments would never occur. Latent class analysis identified three distinct groups: optimists (46.7%), ambivalents (42.2%), and skeptics (11.2%). The optimist group showed higher levels of self-rated AI knowledge and education. The study addresses a critical gap in understanding temporal expectations of AI development among the general public, offering insights for policymakers and stakeholders.

In several areas of emotion-related research, antecedents, associations, and outcomes differ if affect varies in both valence and activation. Aiming to show that this would likewise be true of common valence-activation measures of emotional well-being (EWB), this study tests how EWB would be related to antecedents if valence differs in low-to-high activation, moderate activation, and high-to-low activation. A random sample of Swedish citizens aged 15 years and older (n=901) answered a self-report questionnaire. In general agreement with the hypotheses, multivariate linear regression analyses showed that low-to-high activation valence is more strongly linked to information about security than information about success or opportunity, that moderate activation valence is more strongly linked to information about success than information about security or opportunity, and that high-to-low activation valence is more strongly linked to information about opportunity than information about success or security. Age and gender influenced the three EWB measures without altering the hypothesized results. 

This study examines the interplay between gender, height, and life satisfaction in the Swedish population. While height consistently shows a positive correlation with life satisfaction, gender effects on life satisfaction are typically null or inconsistent across studies, suggesting complex underlying mechanisms. Using data drawn from a representative cross-sectional sample (n = 990), we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. We investigated how five psychosocial factors assessed via multi-item scales (perceived safety, social trust, social support, social status, and financial satisfaction) mediate the effects of height and gender on life satisfaction. SEM results indicated that height and gender indirectly influence life satisfaction via the psychosocial factors, with no significant direct effects observed. Height demonstrated significant positive indirect effects on life satisfaction through perceived safety and financial satisfaction. Being female was associated with positive indirect effects on life satisfaction via social trust and social support (independent of height) but also showed negative indirect effects through height-mediated pathways involving safety and financial satisfaction. The findings suggest that height's positive association with life satisfaction operates indirectly via psychosocial factors, particularly perceived safety and financial satisfaction. Simultaneously, the lack of a direct gender-life satisfaction relationship may stem from counterbalancing indirect pathways, with some male advantages potentially operating through height. This study highlights the complex interplay of physical characteristics and psychosocial experiences in shaping well-being. 

Based on a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework, this study investigates the relationships between multiple components of socioeconomic status (income, occupation, and education), basic need fulfillment (autonomy, competence, relatedness, security, and respect), and subjective well-being (life satisfaction and emotional well-being). Using high-quality Swedish survey data, we applied Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. To address potential mood bias, we measured socioeconomic status, need fulfillment, and subjective well-being at different time points, reflecting the theorized sequential order of these constructs. Empirically, household income stood out as the strongest socioeconomic predictor of both need fulfillment and subjective well-being. However, higher occupational status was also positively associated with multiple types of need fulfillment and with greater subjective well-being. Educational level, by comparison, was linked only to greater fulfillment of competence in multivariate analyses. All five needs were positively associated with subjective well-being in bivariate analyses; however, only the fulfillment of autonomy and security remained significant predictors and mediators of the relationship between socioeconomic status and subjective well-being in structural equation models. The findings underscore the substantial influence of income, the additional benefits of occupational status, and the importance of autonomy and security needs in understanding subjective well-being and its socioeconomic gradient. 

Aims:Amidst the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, Denmark and Sweden adopted contrasting strategies despite their many cultural similarities. Denmark swiftly imposed strict governmental restrictions, while Sweden favoured a more gradual, voluntary approach. This study aims to analyse the disparities between the two nations in mental health indicators (depressive symptoms, sleep problems and loneliness), daily activities (shopping, going for a walk, visiting family and meeting other people) and medical care after the Covid-19 outbreak.

Methods:Data from adults aged ⩾50 years in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) wave 8 (2019/2020) and the two SHARE Covid-19 surveys (summer 2020/2021) were utilised. Multilevel logistic regression models assessed longitudinal and cross-sectional changes in Sweden and Denmark.

Results:Both countries witnessed reduced risk of depressive symptoms and sleep problems during summer 2020, albeit with a more significant decline in depressive symptoms observed in Denmark: 17.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 15.0–20.6) vs. 12.5% (95% CI 9.0–15.9). Swedish respondents were more likely to reduce their daily activities in the summer of 2020 (shopping: odds ratio (OR)=0.45, 95% CI 0.36–0.55; visit family: OR=0.76, 95% CI 0.60–0.97) and less likely to have medical appointments postponed (OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.46–2.28).

Conclusions:Minimal differences were observed between Sweden and Denmark in mental health and daily activities during the pandemic. Despite significant disruption to their daily routines, Scandinavians aged ⩾50 years old demonstrate remarkable resilience.

This study tested whether gender moderated links between extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and relationship outcomes: satisfaction in friendship, family, romantic domains, and partnership status. Data from 3780 adults in Australia, Denmark, and Sweden were analyzed. The clearest moderation involved partnership status: extraversion related more strongly to men’s partnering, whereas neuroticism and agreeableness showed negative associations for men and neutral to positive associations for women. For ongoing relationships, neuroticism was more strongly linked to lower satisfaction among men; extraversion related more positively to men’s family satisfaction and agreeableness related more positively to women’s. Links between traits and friendship satisfaction showed minimal gender differences. Partnership-status moderations remained after controlling for age and income, while family-domain moderations attenuated. Patterns were largely consistent across countries.

 This study examines the reliability of cross-national subjective well-being (SWB) survey data, by corroborating the persistently high SWB-rankings of Denmark through a comparison to Sweden and Australia, two countries with similar or superior social, economic, and health indicators. Our research focuses on both the affective and the cognitive component of SWB, with a special emphasis on the affective component. We investigate four potential measurement issues that could contribute to Denmark’s elevated SWB scores: linguistic inconsistencies in survey translations, variations in answering scale usage, recall bias of affect, and positivity bias in life satisfaction judgments. To address these concerns, we utilize multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, analyse emotion-focused anchoring vignettes, examine affect items across varying time frames, and contrast overall life satisfaction assessments with those of domain-specific satisfaction. Despite accounting for various potential measurement issues, our results reveal that Danes consistently report higher SWB than their Swedish and Australian counterparts, although the differences are small for several of the measures. This finding implies that the SWB survey-data is reliable in this case, and that Denmark's high SWB rankings are not attributable to measurement biases but may indeed signify genuinely high levels of SWB. This paper adds to the growing body of literature on cross-national SWB comparisons and might provide insights for researchers aiming to compare well-being across countries.

Objective: Previous research has shown that daily activities are crucial for mental health among older people, and that such activities declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. While previous studies have confirmed a link between stringent restrictions and an increase in mental ill-health, the role of daily activities as a mediator in this relationship remains underexplored. We analyzed whether reductions in daily activities mediated the impact of these COVID-19 restrictions on mental ill-health during the pandemic’s initial phase.

Methods: We used data from Wave 8 SHARE Corona Survey covering 41,409 respondents from 25 European countries and Israel as well as data on COVID-19 restrictions from the Oxford Government Response  Tracker  (OxCGRT).  Multilevel  regression  and  multilevel-mediation  analysis  were  used  to  examine the relationships between restrictions, daily activities and mental ill-health.

Results: Reductions in walking and shopping showed a notably stronger association with increases in mental ill-health compared to social activities. Furthermore, declines in walking could account for about  a  quarter  of  the  relationship  between  restrictions  and  increased  mental  ill-health,  but  the  mediating effects of the other activates were negligible.

Conclusions: The study highlights the essential role of maintaining daily activities, particularly walking, to  mitigate  the  negative  psychological  effects  of  pandemic-related  restrictions  among  older  populations in Europe.