Isabel's Answers
Hello! This is Isabel Johnson, your intrepid reporter on the social issues of the day.
I run a small social research company, and we've just completed a comprehensive US study of women's attitudes. Here are some of the high points of what we've learned.
I run a small social research company, and we've just completed a comprehensive US study of women's attitudes. Here are some of the high points of what we've learned.
WHY ARE WOMEN'S HAPPINESS SCORES DECLINING?There's really good evidence from a reliable sources (like the US Census Bureau) that overall happiness scores among US women have been declining for decades. In our study, we asked them why. |
|
DO SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT WOMEN'S ATTITUDES?Absolutely they do. Many women in the study agreed that "When I use social media, I feel I don't share in the excitement others are having." |
My prediction for the reason that women’s happiness was declining was that it was mainly due to the fact that women feel more comfortable talking about how they feel than in the past. I believed this because recent activism such as the #Metoo movement have helped start conversations for women to talk about how they feel and relate to the experiences of others.
When analyzing the answers from the survey, we found that overall, women agreed that this was the main reason women’s happiness seems to be declining.
But then we decided to look more closely at a specific group of women whose happiness had declined the most in the past 5 years. The reason that most of these women gave for changes in their happiness was that they felt sad when comparing themselves to the people and models in the media. We found this incredibly interesting because these results were entirely different from the results in the overall sample.
If you'd like to take the survey yourself, please go to survey.
When analyzing the answers from the survey, we found that overall, women agreed that this was the main reason women’s happiness seems to be declining.
But then we decided to look more closely at a specific group of women whose happiness had declined the most in the past 5 years. The reason that most of these women gave for changes in their happiness was that they felt sad when comparing themselves to the people and models in the media. We found this incredibly interesting because these results were entirely different from the results in the overall sample.
If you'd like to take the survey yourself, please go to survey.