Correlates of financial satisfaction

The objectives of this study are to 1) assess the effects of major correlates of global subjective well-being on financial satisfaction, and 2) use empirical data to present the consequences of violating basic regression assumptions. Analyzing data from the General Social Surveys, 1972-1996 (Davis & Smith, 1996a) this study found that among Americans age forty-five and above, most of the major correlates of global subjective well-being show similar effects on financial satisfaction. The study's findings confirm a nonlinear effect of income on financial satisfaction. Comparing results from different analytical methods, this study also alerts researchers to the importance of taking into account the level of measurements of study variables, which have tended to be overlooked by previous subjective well-being research.