WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Along with tepid signs of recovery in the housing market and improving consumer confidence in August, Americans' overall well-being improved last month. In fact, the August national Well-Being Index score of 67.0 ties the highest score in the 20-month history of this measure from February 2008.
The August high in well-being is the continuation of steady incremental improvements seen since March 2009, aside from a slight downtick in July. The increases have now erased the declines recorded beginning in November 2008, as the extent of the economic crisis set in. Additionally, the 2009 Well-Being Index scores for June, July, and August each show year-over-year improvement.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is an average of six sub-indexes, which together provide a comprehensive measure of Americans' emotional, physical, and fiscal health. The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 would represent fully realized well-being. (For more information on what each sub-index comprises, see page 2)
Just as Americans of all ages, income levels, and in every region of the country saw their well-being decline at the end of 2008, the current recovery in the nation's well-being is reflective of improvements across each of these demographic groups. Americans in the two youngest age cohorts are doing especially well, with their well-being scores soaring to new highs in August, easily surpassing levels from a year ago. Americans in the two oldest age groups, though their scores are improving, have not seen their well-being return to 2008 highs.
Similarly, Americans in every income group are reporting higher well-being in recent months compared with the lower scores recorded during the second half of 2008.
The same pattern of improving well-being can be seen throughout each region of the country, with Americans living in the East, West, Midwest, and South doing better than they were at the same time last year.
Bottom Line
Americans' collective well-being is on the mend, hitting an index-high in August, due particularly to younger Americans. The recovery in well-being is apparent across all income and age groups, as well as throughout every region of the country. Still, there remains room for continued improvement as Gallup and Healthways launched the Well-Being Index in January of 2008, one month after the economic recession officially began, the negative effects of which were likely reflected in initial well-being scores. Should the national well-being score soar to new heights in the months ahead, it could be seen as further evidence that the country is pulling out of recessionary times.
Read the complete Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index report for August.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with approximately 30,000 national adults each month, aged 18 and older, conducted January 2008 to August 2009 as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking. For results based on each monthly sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.5 percentage points for any given month.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index includes six sub-indexes:
· Life Evaluation Index
· Emotional Health Index
· Work Environment Index
· Physical Health Index
· Healthy Behavior Index
· Basic Access Index
Life Evaluation
The Life Evaluation Index includes a self-evaluation of two items (present life situation and anticipated life situation five years from now) using the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale with steps from 0 to 10, where "0" represents the worst possible life and "10" represents the best possible life. Taken together, respondents are then classified as "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering."
Emotional Health
The Emotional Health Index includes 10 items: smiling or laughter, learning or doing something interesting, being treated with respect, enjoyment, happiness, worry, sadness, anger, stress, and diagnosis of depression.
Work Environment
The Work Environment Index includes four items: job satisfaction, ability to use one's strengths at work, supervisor's treatment (more like a boss or a partner), and is it an open and trusting work environment.
Physical Health
The Physical Health Index includes nine items: sick days in the past month, disease burden, health problems that get in the way of normal activities, obesity, feeling well-rested, daily energy, daily colds, daily flu, and daily headaches.
Healthy Behavior
The Healthy Behavior Index includes four items: smoking, eating healthy, weekly consumption of fruits and vegetables, and weekly exercise frequency.
Basic Access
The Basic Access Index includes 13 items: access to clean water, medicine, a safe place to exercise, affordable fruits and vegetables; enough money for food, shelter, healthcare; having health insurance, having a doctor, having visited a dentist recently; satisfaction with the community, the community getting better as a place to live, and feeling safe walking alone at night.
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