Gallup Study Shows Well-Being in Decline Across America | Hacker News Reader

Gallup Study Shows Well-Being in Decline Across America

citylab.com

62 pointschmaynard24 comments

It's interesting that at the same time well being is going down, obesity, diabetes and depression are increasing according to this study. I wonder how much negative well being is being driven by the obesity epidemic. We already know that obesity has a measurable impact on healthcare spending, does it not stand to reason that it could cause other society wide problems?

I would think it's the other way around. People are less well off, so they find comfort in cheaper and unhealthier foods.

This chart shows dental care going up a lot. A lot of dental work is more or less discretionary spending. I'd say this shows people care about how they look (also probably why exercise is increasing), but aren't willing to cut back on unhealthy foods.

Further median income has been increasing in the U.S. If poverty causes obesity to increase, I'd expect that since the U.S. economy is rebounding that obesity would start decreasing.

The US real median income rate has only just now surpassed levels seen in 2007 and, before that, 1999; you can read that as, "median income is now higher than ever before", or you can read that as, "US working families lost two full decades worth of wage increases". Both statements would be true.

Furthermore, while median income has increased, the bulk of economic gains are still not making their way into the average household. This is so broadly accepted as true that there's an entire Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite...

Opioid and other drug abuse probably correlates well with poverty (example https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/joblessne...), and that problem has become a national conversation recently.

Even if you try to eat healthy, the way foods are built and marketed today makes it difficult. Stuff that looks like it should be healthy is sometimes the worst thing you could put in your mouth. Short of eating only meals produced yourself from directly purchased raw ingredients, you're almost guaranteed to fall into the trap.

I'm not advocating for gov't regulation to come save us, but on the other hand it's foolish not to recognize that there is a tremendous amount of manipulation going on in the grocery world. There is a lot less variety there than it looks like.

This data seems weird to me because it look like positive well-being is correlated with suicide. The states in their top quintile like Montana and Colorado are also top states for suicide. So either their survey method biases against people who are about to kill themselves, or well-being as they define it isn't enough to live for.

Or well being isn’t evenly distributed.

Obviously well-being itself isn't what life is lived for. Relationships, meaning, community...some things seems inherently better than access to nature. These things seem obvious to most people I know, even if they aren't measurable or publishable.

I associate rural activities with increased wellbeing. Living in or visiting nature. I also associate guns with rural activities. I wonder how those states correlate with gun control.

Suicidal thoughts are often strong but momentary. If there is a gun available, one can take action on the feelings before they pass makeing a momentary thought permanent. Heartbreaking.

So my hypothesis is that the same restrictions on society and or culture that decrease the chance of suicide also reduce wellbeing.

I associate urban living with more daily physical exercise. Rural residents, non-ranching and non-farming residents, drive everywhere and walk little. If they aren't doing a daily exercise like running or hiking, the carless urban dweller is getting more daily walking in. I know I certainly did when I lived in Tokyo. It was way more easy getting a gym trip under my belt in Tokyo.

I recall reading a study correlating elevation with suicide. It might explain the suicide rates in MT/WY/CO.

Found it!

http://theconversation.com/the-curious-relationship-between-...

Or maybe people who feel suicidal are more likely to commit suicide if surrounded by happy people?

You are using one statistic to question a massive (2.5 million people), multiple year study by two well-respected firms. Perhaps it's complicated?

Or there are multiple factors at play here.

For instance, Wyoming has an abnormally high per-capita suicide rate, so it's not hard to find articles that attempt to investigate the reasons for it (e.g. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/suicide-in-wyoming/). In this case, local culture and the higher rate of per-capita gun ownership is mentioned as likely reasons.

You also have the differences in the rate of death by drug overdose in different states (https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html). In a different culture, without access to firearms, people who commit suicide by firearm might otherwise turn to opioids to relieve their pain.

Questions like this lead to complicated answers, but fortunately we have access to more data than ever before and, with some effort, a few answers can be teased out for anyone that's curious enough.

There are some studies that show that suicide rates are the higher than normal in areas where manufacturing jobs have dried up. Surprised nobody even mentions that on HN, although on second thought, it's probably not that surprising.

My first question off the bat is why didn't they at least explain why they didn't just try using the same type of data that the UN nation study did - the UN study shows the same marked decline in America over time.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/finland-happie...

"We did this study that's similar to another, less detailed study because we wanted to focus on our country and differences between states within our country and, because, that's what scientists do."

I hesitate to trust umbrella measurements of the health of our economy when I know I cannot trust so much else of I read. Corporate advertising and public relations will reasonably generate an environment of cynicism.

Why do I trust this article’s claims? I don’t necessarily. But, it reflects what I observe and my understandings of how humans live with one another.

America is a society optimized for individualism, but humans are social beings. This is basic stuff, but it’s undermined through propaganda and shame.

To your last point, America is also so large and diverse it's going to be hard to come up with too many sweeping conclusions from data like this. There's always going to be a few success stories about individualism but that doesn't help the median person who is just making ends meet, barely, and the homelessness issue that is worse in America than probably anywhere on earth especially given our cumulative wealth. The UN does have a happiness measure for what it's worth, it's probably better for smaller more homogenous countries. It interesting to compare what the UN study measures versus the American only one here. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/finland-happie...

I don't think the homogeneous part is accurate. Four of the top eleven countries in the happiness ranking are Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Those are among the least homogeneous of any western countries. All have over 25% of their populations who are immigrants.

If anyone else is wondering how subjective wellbeing, aka happiness, is measured...

"how people feel in their day-to-day lives across key dimensions of well-being, including physical health and wellness; having supportive personal and family relationships; financial and economic security; having a sense of purpose; and connection to one’s community."

Why do you think it's less interesting or important because it's subjective data?

Was the comment changed, or are you inferring something from the comment you replied to?

I might have misunderstood it. I thought they were saying, "If you're wondering how subjective this is..." (implying that it's not an informative measurement)

is it so surprising?

the slightly less than average person is suffering to some degree (most likely minor), and that suffering is escalating to the point where average people feel it.

Wow, my home state of South Dakota at the top of the rankings.

Snow days must have something to do with it.

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