The Prospective Association Between Life Satisfaction and Physical Pain: Evidence From Longitudinal and Cohort Data

Life satisfaction and physical pain are key aspects of human well-being. Yet, evidence on the direction of their association and potential explanatory factors is relatively scarce. We address these questions across two studies. In Study 1, we explore the cross-lagged association between life satisfaction and physical pain using 22 waves from Australian longitudinal data (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia; N = 233,854), individual fixed effects regressions, and Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models. We found a bidirectional relationship between life satisfaction and pain, which is virtually identical across both methods. In Study 2, we use data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (N = 4,002) and Ordinary Least Squares regressions with a wide set of covariates. We found that people who reported greater life satisfaction at age 26 (vs. lower) reported lower physical pain at age 46. We document factors that partially explain this link, including psychological distress and past unemployment.