This project is examining whether Americans are living higher quality as well as longer lives and whether sub-groups based on gender, race, and socioeconomic status differ in the number of quality years. This study aims to address these questions by developing conceptual and analytic frameworks for using global indicators of well-being to examine length of quality life at the population level in the U.S.  Professor Yang Yang is constructing measures of happy life expectancy (HLE) by combining data on subjective well-being and mortality, drawing on government-collected vital statistics, Census data, and data from large surveys, including the General Social Survey (GSS) and the Americans Changing Lives study. We will estimate temporal changes in HLE in the U.S. from 1970 to 2004.

The two-year study, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, will estimate temporal changes in HLE in the U.S. from 1970 to 2004 and also will examine socio-economic differentials of HLE and compare gender, racial, educational, and marital differences in changes in HLE over time.

NORC will provide management and analytical support to Professor Yang.