Day-to-day affect is surprisingly stable: A two-year longitudinal study of well-being

Previous research suggests global assessments of cognitive well-being-life satisfaction-are relatively stable over time. Far fewer studies have examined the extent to which experiential measures of affective well-being-the moods/emotions people regularly experience-are stable, especially over extended periods of time. The present study used longitudinal data from a representative sample of Germans to investigate the long-term stability of different components of well-being. Participants provided global ratings of life satisfaction and affect, along with experiential measures of well-being up to three times over two years. Results indicated between one third and one half of the variance in people's daily affect was attributable to trait-like latent variables. Replicating meta-analytic findings, 50% of the variance in global measures of well-being was attributable to trait-like latent variables.