Ch-10: Book and Success and Happiness Questionnaire (SHAQ) Research Conclusions

HQ Formula for happiness, depression, anxiety, anger, relationship success, and academic and career success

From You Can Choose To Be Happy,  Tom G. Stevens PhD
Go to book Contents  Go to Dr. Stevens' Home Page  

CHAPTER 10:

Success And Happiness Attributes Questionnaire (SHAQ)

 Research and Book Conclusions  

(and added SHAQ research-related excerpts from book)

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What are the most important factors for overcoming negative emotions and leading a happy life? I used four perspectives to discover these factors—philosophical-spiritual, scientific-psychological, psychotherapeutic, and personal. I wrote the first edition of this book to share those inner secrets of happiness. Since writing the first edition, new evidence about ideas in this book has impelled me to write this revision. I have received many emails from people worldwide telling me how reading this book has changed their lives. However, I also wanted scientific evidence. Therefore, I designed the Success and Happiness Attributes Questionnaire (SHAQ) by going through the book chapter-by-chapter and creating questions from the ideas in each chapter. Such a thorough scientific test of ideas in a self-help book is rare, but I think it is important. I then gathered data from more than 3400 people who completed SHAQ (free) on my website. The research results support SHAQ‘s reliability, validity, and utility as a questionnaire. More importantly, the results so strongly supported the ideas in this book that they surprised even me. It seems clear from the results that learnable, internal factors are the main determinants of people‘s happiness ratings.

As you have seen, I have included the research results side-by-side with their associated values, beliefs, and skills in each chapter. This chapter summarizes the main factors that the SHAQ data has linked to overall happiness, less negative emotions, good relationships, health, and other life success outcomes. Are demographic factors important? Do factors like sex, age, religion, occupation, and ethnicity have significant effects on happiness and other outcomes? I found only weak or non-significant correlations in almost all cases. However, some values and beliefs espoused by religions were important factors (see below and Appendix F).

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SHAQ has 81 scales and subscales reflecting the complexity of key cognitive factors influencing happiness and success. SHAQ‘s scales are reliable^.31 Overall happiness, depression, anxiety, anger, health, relationship outcomes, highest personal income, academic achievement, and other factors were measured by outcome scales that proved to be reliable and face valid.

The SHAQ scales had moderate to high positive correlations with almost all outcome measures. SHAQ‘s main 56 subscales had surprisingly high multiple correlations with the emotional outcomes: with Overall Happiness, R = .87, EffectSize32 = .75; with Low Depression, R = .73, EffectSize = .53; with Low Anxiety, R = .68, EffectSize = .43; with Low Anger-Aggression, R = .70, EffectSize = .49.33 For the subjects who completed all 70 subscales--including the academic scales34, R = .90, EffectSize = .81 for Overall Happiness. In addition, the 56 SHAQ subscales32 correlated with the Relationship Outcomes scale, R = .70, EffectSize = .47; with the Health Outcomes scale, R = .82, EffectSize = .67; with Highest Income, R = .49, EffectSize = .24; and with Educational Attainment, R = .46, EffectSize = .21. Behavioral measures used as outcomes also yielded good results. For example, for a Major Depression Checklist, R = .60, EffectSize = .36; Amount of Therapy for Depression, R = .45, EffectSize = .20; and Amount of Medication for Depression, R = .41, EffectSize = .17.

Important Note: Understanding the meaning of Correlations (R) and Effect Size. For those who aren‘t familiar with research or correlations, let me explain. Correlations range from 0 to 1.00. Zero means no relationship between two variables and 1.00 means a perfect relationship. For example the correlation between flipping a switch and the light going on would be near 1.00, because when the switch is up, the light is on and when down, off.
    The correlation squared (R2) measures the amount of effect or degree of predictive power (EffectSize). The light switch position might predict 99% of the time whether the light was on or off (EffectSize = .99). Another example is that some people think that IQ scores are about 40% caused by hereditary and 60% caused by learning/environmental factors (of a possible total effect of 100%). If that were true then the 40% causation by heredity would equal an EffectSize of 0.40 and the 60% causation by learning/environment EffectSize = 0.60.4  [ To find the EffectSize or predictive power of any correlation, find the mathematical square (R Square or R²) of the correlation.]  

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Determinates of our happiness and other emotions can be divided into four types—(1) heredity, (2) relatively stable personality factors, (3) situational-environmental factors, and (4) learned-cognitive factors. These four overlap.

Heredity and general personality traits resistant to dramatic change are important factors associated with happiness and negative emotions.36 Due to their stability, they‘re often not the best target for getting control of emotions. Researchers have also found strong evidence that we all have a happiness set-point that remains relatively stable irrespective of circumstances. For example people who win the lottery or suffer life-changing disabilities tend to return to the level of happiness near the one before these life-changing events. That is good news for those experiencing negative circumstances, but bad news for those experiencing good circumstances. Therefore, changing circumstances alone isn‘t the best way to change happiness levels.

Though this emotional set-point is important, both research and anecdotal-clinical evidence shows we can change that set-point. For example, as people age, they tend to get happier. 37 I have experienced set-point changes in my own life and have seen changes among many clients and acquaintances. Haven‘t you seen people become happier or unhappier for prolonged time periods? We can choose to be happy (and change our happiness set-point) best by learning how to change the learned-cognitive factors. This book and the SHAQ research have detailed many specific emotion-affecting values, beliefs, skills, and habits that we can learn and control. Step-by-step instructions were often provided. You can adopt these happiness-influencing factors if you choose. Even if you‘ve had chronic problems with anxiety, anger, or depression, using strategies such as adjusting goals-expectations, reframing with Higher Self beliefs, or even exercising regularly can provide means to ―rise above‖ these negative emotions. Thus, you really, really can choose to be happy. This isn‘t a choice you can make just once; you must make it over and over again to establish a new happiness set-point. Choice of ultimate concern and top values are primary factors. My research supported the book‘s assertion that time-honored, internally centered values are among the most important contributors to happiness, to lower negative emotions, to better relationships, to better health, and to other success factors. The more people valued mental or internally-centered values such as happiness and health for self and others; loving all people unconditionally; contributing to the world; integrity; self-development; seeking truth and knowledge; mental challenge; living a balanced life; and loving God (Higher Power), the happier and more successful they tended to be. Supportive values include honesty, beauty, kindness, playfulness, competency, efficiency, simplicity, creativity, diversity, cooperation, understanding, family, friendship, achieving goals, self-discipline, self-sufficiency, internal control, optimism, and others. My research (and that of others) shows significant moderate correlations between these values and happiness, low negative emotions, relationship success, income, health, and academic success (Stevens, 2009). Positive existentialist psychologists, such as Victor Frankl (1969), have long suggested that having positive goals, purpose, and meaning in life is essential to happiness and success. My data supports that assertion. The data show that people with stronger commitments to almost any values we listed were happier than people with weaker commitments. Lower value scores may reflect confusion or lack of thinking about one‘s values as Tillich and the existentialists suggest. (SHAQ didn‘t test any really negative values such as ―harming others‖ or ―revenge.‖)

In Chapter 1, I (following several philosophers) suggested that a good choice for an ultimate concern is happiness for self and others. Some have argued that since happiness is a by-product of other factors, to make it a goal is counter-productive. By the same argument, to make health a goal would undermine our ability to be healthy. However, people who make health a top goal tend to exercise more, eat healthier, not smoke, and follow other health practices that clearly increase one‘s odds of being healthy. It‘s a good analogy for making happiness for self and others a top goal. At age 16, I made happiness for self and others my top goal, and I first chose to be happy by thinking positive thoughts when feeling angry. For me, fifty happy years has validated that decision. The SHAQ research supports these assertions.

A strong Higher Self, Positive World View, Self-Worth, and Internal Control are important factors related to happiness and other positive outcomes. These four factors are the titles of four book chapters (3-6 respectively) and the titles of four SHAQ main scales. These factors are intimately related to choice of top values, but also need supportive cognitive belief-skill systems. For example, a person who makes happiness for self and others an ultimate concern will love himself/herself and others (self-worth), will tend to develop a more positive and optimistic world view, and will tend to focus on those goals despite outside pressure to do otherwise (internal control). Finally, this ultimate concern will be the center of developing a strong ―Higher Self‖ executive cognitive system. Over time with persistent, active learning and self-development, those cognitive centers will become stronger. The SHAQ research shows strong correlations between these four scales and happiness and low negative emotions. They also correlate significantly with health, good relationships, income, and academic success.

Overcoming generalized fears such as fears of poverty, failure, rejection, illness, and death. These fears are often the flip-side of one‘s top values and goals. For example people whose most important value is family may have the greatest fear of losing their family. Since our top values have both emotional and behavioral control over us, it is important to choose them carefully. Internally-centered values such as happiness, love, integrity, and learning usually provide us with more control over their satisfaction. Externally-centered values such as career success, being loved, or wealth are less controllable, and our lack of control over them increases uncertainty and anxiety. For example, we can control our loving someone and being kind to them, but we cannot control their loving us back or treating us well. In this sense, it is often better to give than receive. The SHAQ results show sizable correlations between these low fears and emotions (happiness and low negative emotions). Means of identifying and overcoming these fears are described in Chapters 2, 4, and elsewhere.

Life Skills: self-management, emotional coping, learning, and interpersonal skills are very important. SHAQ research results strongly support the importance of these key life skill areas. SHAQ results showed greater happiness, lower negative emotions, better relationships, and better health associated with each of the following skill areas. The areas discussed in detail were:

Self-management (Chapter 9). Values clarification and change, goal-setting, and the OPATSM self-management model skills were presented step-by-step.

Emotional coping skills (Chapter 8-elsewhere). Examples: CHUG-OF and LAPDS methods. Positive thinking, communication, action, and adjusting goals-expectations are some important types of positive coping skills examined. Learning skills (Chapter7) were not only associated with academic success, being happier, and having lower negative emotions but were among the best predictors of personal income. Many business leaders say continued learning and self-development were key factors in their success.

Interpersonal skills (Chapter 6, appendix E). I included detailed, key assertive intimacy and conflict-resolution beliefs and skills that our data show are important in all kinds of relationships—especially intimate ones.

Personal competency and self-confidence are important. The SHAQ research shows strong correlations between people‘s estimates of their competencies and outcome measures. This relationship was true for almost every type of competency measured. Self-confidence/competence is important for higher happiness and lower negative emotions. Life skills can affect emotions (1) via increased knowledge and confidence, (2) via goal success, and  (3) via creating more positive living environments (including work and social environments). Strengthen the university in your head (all areas of knowledge). The rich get richer—good correlates with good. The overwhelming majority of SHAQ scales and subscales had significant positive correlations with each other. If a person has one functional factor, it spreads its influence to other factors (possibly by generalization and reinforcement). In Chapter 3 I discussed how a fundamental value/goal change can have far-reaching effects on the personality and behavior.

Happiness and other emotions are determined directly by complex internal cognitive dynamics—the Harmonious Functioning Model. The Harmonious Functioning (HF) Model (Chapter 7) is my understanding of how complex cognitive and emotional factors work together. (The cognitive system is the entire ―higher‖ perceiving-thinking part of your brain.) The Harmonious Functioning (HF) model proposes that the ―goal‖ of the cognitive system is to maximize learning, development, internal harmony, efficiency, and control. The brain uses emotions as feedback-motivators to obtain these goals. If the cognitive system is processing harmoniously, then it produces positive emotions—if not, negative emotions. Cognitive subsystems constantly attempt to understand inputs by matching expectancies to them. If there is too much mismatch, then the cognitive subsystem searches for other understandings to match against the inputs. The cognitive system‘s search for answers creates stimulation. Too much confusion/stimulation produces overarousal emotions such as anxiety. On the other hand, if inputs contain too little new information, then the cognitive system is understimulated and produces underarousal emotions such as apathy, boredom, or depression. These dynamics are complex. For example a person may be overwhelmed (producing anxiety), then ignore or avoid the situation. The result would probably be understimulation, apathy, and/or depression. In this model the emotions are vital functional aspects of the cognitive system. Anxiety provides us with valuable feedback that our understandings, expectations, goals, or plans are confused or invalid and not able to adequately cope with the input situation. We need to find new ways to cope with the input. For example we may have inadequate plans to cope with an unexpected or difficult situation. Developing a good plan can immediately reduce anxiety. A lost and anxious driver who gets a good map can suddenly feel much better. On the other hand, boredom, apathy, or depression tells us we are underchallenged. The underchallenge may be because we have too much routine and too little challenge. The underchallenge could be because we failed or even completed an important goal and are now goalless. Alternatively, we may have lost an important person, job, or other part of our life and feel empty. Depression tells us we need to set new, optimally-challenging goals and/or create more optimally-challenging situations. Finding new interests, new people, new ways of thinking, or other new goals or situations can immediately reduce boredom, apathy, and depression. It may seem amazing how a depressed person can watch a good movie, listen to beautiful music, take on a challenging task, or get into a good conversation; and suddenly their depression lifts during that activity. The depression is a wake-up call that we need to make changes. Anxiety or depression can be catalysts for major life turning points. Anxiety and depression can be very uncomfortable; but that is their value. They motivate us to change our cognitions and life so that we can be happy.

My data is consistent with the Harmonious Functioning Model. I have also shown how the HF model (1) integrates ideas from the field of learning with the field of motivation and emotions and (2) provides a simple way to think about both good learning strategies and powerful emotion-altering tactics. For example, Chapter 7 describes learning strategies and Chapter 8 describes methods of ―adjusting your emotions like adjusting a thermostat.‖ SHAQ data supports the effectiveness of these learning methods and emotional control methods. Aristotle understood the close connection between our cognitive system and our emotions. About mental harmony, long ago he said,

Happiness, therefore, must be some form of contemplation…
He who exercises his intellect and cultivates it seems to be both in the best state and most dear to the gods…
so that in this way too the wise man will more than any other be happy.
 

Religions have taught millions of people how to be happy. Philosophers, psychologists, books, self-help groups, and others have taught millions more. People can learn to be happier! Maslow (1954, 1962) led a movement focusing on positive human factors and self-actualization. American Psychological Association (APA) president Martin Seligman edited the classic American Psychologist Special Issue on happiness and positive psychology (2000) launching the new millennium in a positive direction. The resulting positive psychology research is partially incorporated in this edition. The SHAQ data did not find any single earthshaking factor that creates happiness alone; instead, my data paints a comprehensive picture of the multitude of cognitive factors involved. A person scoring high on these factors--a high Happiness Quotient (HQ)--will have a high chance of being happy. The good news: if only one factor were involved, our happiness would be entirely tied to that factor. The more factors involved, the less we are affected if something goes wrong with one. Thus, the more strengths we have, the greater our chances for happiness--no matter what happens to us. A higher HQ increases our ability to ―rise above‖ negative emotions or to avoid them altogether. SHAQ data supports the conclusion that this robust multitude of cognitions are not only important for achieving a good emotional life, they are important for achieving health, good relationships, and academic and career success. Because of their specificity, most of these cognitions are learnable and teachable beliefs and skills, and not general, heritable traits. I have described many in detail in this book; and you can complete SHAQ (free) on my website to test yourself. Then you can begin raising your own HQ and help others too. My SHAQ research paper has been read by experts looking for alternative explanations of the data; but currently there is no reason to believe that the data aren‘t what they appear to be—strongly supportive of the ideas presented here. I have described in detail--and the SHAQ results have supported in detail—that these controllable factors are associated with happiness and success. The key factors are not money, status, or other external factors; they are what‘s inside—your values, beliefs, knowledge, skills, and habits. Top values such as happiness for self and others, love, truth, knowledge, growth, health, beauty, integrity, and productivity are central. Developing beliefs, skills, and habits supporting these values in each life area gives you a robust set of personality factors that shields you against misfortune and bad circumstances. They increase your chances for rising above difficulty to find happiness. These positive internal factors can also help you create or gravitate toward environments and people who will contribute to your happiness and success.

When I was 16, I made a decision to make happiness a top goal in my life and wrote my first ―How to be Happy‖ guidelines. Over 50 years later, those happiness guidelines have been transformed into this book, and I‘m very grateful for a happy, blessed life. I am convinced that if you follow these guidelines through the years, you can be happy and help the world become a little happier place. Start Your Choose to be Happy Self-Development Program 1. Use the Choose To Be Happy Checklist (Appendix A). Put it in a central place and review it regularly. Use this book as a reference manual. 2. Use the OPATSM system weekly. Examine your top values and goals, and organize your time and your life focused upon them. 3. Complete SHAQ and examine the results and your values, beliefs, and skills. Pick a few self-development goals to focus on. Then start testing new beliefs, goals, and actions/activities to improve your life. Save your complete results and HQ score. 4. Be persistent, learn from results, and don’t give up. Practice rising above difficult circumstances. Read, find role models, regularly analyze your own beliefs, thoughts, and actions related to their happiness effects and other outcomes. These are the first steps after reading this book to take for maximizing your happiness, health, and success.

Notes:

³¹ Cronbach alphas were > .80 for almost all main scales and subscales > 5 items. 32 EffectSize (R2) is the effect percentage accounted for. Example: if factor X is 100% the cause of factor Y, the EffectSize=1.00; 50% of the effect is EffectSize=.50. 33 Number of subjects (N) = 1123 for those analyses—users taking all scales. Correlations with Ns near 3400 were consistent with those from the smaller sample of 1123 users taking all the scales. 34 Number of subjects (N) =224. 35 Varimax rotation; non-orthogonal factors.

³⁶ A meta-analysis of 137 studies found several general personality factors to be significantly associated with happiness and/or negative emotions. These include the Big 5 traits of low neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness; self-esteem; internal control; and hardiness (DeNeve & Harris, 1998).

³⁷ See Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005, about set point and adaptability.

Factor analyses demonstrated the scales‘ and subscales‘ relative autonomy from each other.35 Users rated the interest and usefulness of SHAQ with a mean of 6.1 of a possible 7.0 rating.

More specific results of SHAQ‘s scales and subscales are found near the end of each chapter and in other locations--see the Index of SHAQ results below for page numbers. (For more research detail, see Stevens, 2009.)

 I wish you a healthy, happy life; and I hope you help spread happiness wherever you go.

(End of Chapter 10)

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Other Research Results Citations
Copied from the Revised 2010 Edition of
 Dr. Stevens' book, You Can Choose To Be Happy
(To see a free pdf copy of the actual book, click here)

Citation 1, page 26    Research evidence for choosing to make happiness a top goal. My research supports the proposition that making happiness as a top goal leads to being happier; having less depression, anxiety, and anger; having better relationships; being healthier; and being more successful in some ways. Out of almost 3400 people tested, making happiness a top goal correlated .45 with happiness, .22 with Low Depression, .19 with Low Anxiety, .32 with Low Anger-Aggression, .30 with Health Outcomes, and .40 with good Relationship Outcomes (Stevens, 2009). In addition, there is a great deal of evidence that people who are happier tend to be more successful in many life areas (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005).

Citation 2, page 30     What is our Happiness Quotient (HQ)?

In his book, Your Erroneous Zones, Dr. Wayne Dyer uses a concept he calls your "Happiness IQ.‖ One well-accepted definition of intelligence is an ability to learn from experience and solve problems effectively.

Dr. Dyer points out that abilities to solve math problems or other difficult intellectual problems can be very useful. However, they are not nearly as important as the ability to solve the basic life problems necessary for finding happiness. Dr. Dyer calls this concept our "Happiness IQ" and asserts that it is the most important type of intelligence. Salovey and Mayer‘s (1990) concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) also stresses the importance of learned skills for getting control of emotions. Goleman‘s popular book about EQ helped garner a great deal of research support. Martin Seligman, as president of the American Psychological Association (APA), renewed a Positive Psychology movement in our country. Seligman stressed learned optimism and other learned cognitive factors for helping individuals and society become happier and more productive (Seligman and Csikzentmihalyi, 2000). His efforts triggered a new round of positive psychological research. Before writing the first edition of this book, my own study (Stevens, 1987) of more than 4,000 college students found that many key cognitive, self-management, and interpersonal skills correlated significantly with their happiness and other success factors. Now I use the term Happiness Quotient (HQ) to mathematically summarize a host of personal factors identified by our research as strongly predicative of happiness, other emotional outcomes, and some life success measures. A goal of this book is to help you increase your HQ.

Citation 3, page 30    RESULTS OF RESEARCH TESTING THIS BOOK’S IDEAS

The Success and Happiness Attributes Questionnaire (SHAQ). My previous research with the Life Skills Questionnaire (LSQ) and Stevens Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ) was a partial basis for ideas in the first edition of this book (Stevens, 1987; Stevens and Stevens, 1995). Though I received many emails telling how much the book had helped people, I wanted to more thoroughly test its contents. So I developed a free online questionnaire, the Success and Happiness Attributes Questionnaire (SHAQ). I systematically went through each chapter, taking each main idea, and turning it into questions. Thus, SHAQ is able to test the ideas in this book in a detailed way rarely found in other self-help books. SHAQ is also used as a self-development tool and can be coordinated with the book contents so readers can get feedback about their progress and improve individual personal attributes and their overall Happiness Quotient (HQ).

Who took SHAQ? When I analyzed this data, more than 3400 users had taken SHAQ on the Internet (free). They were a diverse group with a wide variety of ages, occupations, locations (27% outside the U.S.), ethnic groups, religions, and other factors. When asked what they wanted from SHAQ, 72% wanted to learn more about themselves and 63% said they wanted help with a problem.

The SHAQ scales. SHAQ is composed of 81 scales and subscales consisting of those questions taken directly from statements in this book. For example the chapter on self-worth and self-confidence is represented by two scales—one with each name. Each of the nine Self-Development Plan parts listed in the box below is represented by one or more SHAQ scales.

What was tested—the happiness and success outcome scales. I wanted to test how specific values, beliefs, and skills taught in this book are related to people‘s happiness and success. To assess happiness and success outcomes I created the following scales: Overall Happiness, Low Depression, Low Anxiety, Low Anger, Relationship Outcomes, and Health Outcomes. 3 The highest personal income and academic achievement measures were also used.

Understanding the meaning of correlations and predictive power. For those who aren‘t familiar with research or correlations, let me explain. Correlations range from 0 to 1.00. Zero means no relationship between two variables and 1.00 means a perfect relationship. For example the correlation between flipping a switch and the light going on would be near 1.00, because when the switch is up, the light is on and when down, off.

What if you could combine the predictive power of all of the SHAQ scales together to predict people‘s chances of being happy and successful? I created the Happiness Quotient (HQ) to mathematically combine all SHAQ‘s scales. The HQ yields a score analogous to an IQ score (which measures intelligence). The research results show that the SHAQ-based HQ is a powerful predictor of happiness, depression, anxiety, and anger. SHAQ users can obtain their HQ score free on my website and improve it by reading this book.

I used a combined score5 similar to the HQ score to test SHAQ‘s (and the book‘s) overall predictive power. The SHAQ scales had moderate to high positive correlations with almost all outcome measures. SHAQ‘s scales had surprisingly high correlations with the emotional outcomes. SHAQ‘s 56 subscales correlated with Overall Happiness, R = .87. SHAQ‘s EffectSize of .75 means SHAQ can predict Overall Happiness with about 75% accuracy. That high degree of predictive power is very unusual for psychological factors and supports the book‘s premise that happiness is largely determined by learnable cognitive factors. You can choose to be happy! SHAQ also correlated with Low Depression, .73 (EffectSize, .53); with Low Anxiety, .67 (EffectSize, .43); and with Low Anger-Aggression, .70 (EffectSize, .49). These numbers are also high for psychological research. Some people believe that they cannot choose to be happy. They think that biological or environmental factors are so powerful, they cannot influence their own emotions. That belief alone can become a self-fulfilling prophesy—helping doom them to unhappiness. Our evidence strongly contradicts their belief.

No one can be happy all the time. However, we can all choose to maximize our happiness—given our unique biological and environmental situations. Thus, we can all choose to be happy and then try our best to maximize our happiness. You may truly not know how to influence your own happiness right now. However, you can learn how to maximize your happiness—as many others have. This learning strengthens your cognitive system and gives it more control over your emotions. Read this book and apply what you learn! The evidence from SHAQ strongly supports these statements, as does evidence from many other sources.

NOTE:  To find the EffectSize or predictive power of any correlation, find the mathematical square (R Square or R2) of the correlation. NOTE: Often the sum of several predictor variables‘ correlations with an outcome variable is greater than 1.0 because the predictor variables correlate with each other. They share some of predictive power. I will use the term ―EffectSize‖ instead of ―R Square". 5 The scales were mathematically combined using a linear regression equation such as 3x + 2z to predict y. In this case the dependent variable ―y‖ is actually an outcome variable such as happiness and the x and z predictor variables are variables such as ―Positive World View‖ or ―Self-Worth.‖ The ―weights‖ 2 and 3 are examples only. The actual values were determined mathematically by a regression analysis.

SHAQ‘s correlation with the Relationship Outcomes scale was .69. The predictive power (EffectSize) was 47%. The factors identified in this book that make people happier also tend to help them have better relationships, which in turn help people be happier. SHAQ correlated with the Health Outcomes Scale R = .82. The predictive power (EffectSize) was 67%. So the implication is that living by the same factors that make you happier also makes your healthier!

Citation 4, page 31 SHAQ’s Predictive Power for Income and Academic Success

Summary: the factors identified in this book proved to be strong predictors of happiness, health, and success. Several thousand correlations were computed in this study, which in some respects is one of the most comprehensive studies ever undertaken on the relationship between cognitive factors and human emotions. SHAQ‘s non-academic scales consist of 71 independent scales-subscales.7 Of the several thousand correlations computed, almost every one was statistically significant in the direction predicted by this book—a remarkable consistency not often found in research. The size and predictive power of the relationships was surprisingly high--even to me. In each chapter, I will summarize research results for the scale(s) developed from that chapter‘s contents. You may want to complete SHAQ yourself (free) to test yourself as a pretest before you read this book. You may

Citation 4 p39  How we choose to react to upsetting emotions has a major effect on our happiness. When you feel upset what are your most likely responses? Do you eat, drink, blame it on someone else, withdraw, avoid dealing with it, or just worry? Or, do you make better emotional coping responses such as solving the problem, discussing it, giving yourself a pep talk, or taking constructive action to help yourself feel better? The emotional coping scale first used on the Life Skills Questionnaire and later on SHAQ contains both negative and positive coping responses. The Life Skills Questionnaire (LSQ) was my first questionnaire to study the relationship between thinking/learning, self-management, and interpersonal skills on life outcomes like success in college, career, and personal life. Over a four-year period, it was given to more than 4,000 college students and 385 people established in the community (Stevens,1986). Some of the conclusions in the first edition of this book were partially based upon the research using the LSQ. SHAQ incorporated most of the LSQ items. Overall, the LSQ was quite successful at predicting outcomes–especially happiness. One of the most interesting findings was how strongly the Emotional Coping Skills scale correlated with life success. The correlation between the coping score and overall grade point average was .25. That‘s almost as good a predictor as college aptitude test scores such as the SAT! Higher scorers also tended to have more and happier close relationships. The correlation with happiness in various life areas was as follows: as a student, .45; in job and career, .41; in sexual relationship, .31; in friendships, .40; in family, .42. The correlation with overall happiness in their life for the past three years was .57. I believe that this data speaks for itself! How we typically react when we feel upset has a powerful effect on our overall happiness and success in life. We found very similar results with SHAQ‘s Emotional Coping scale about 15 years later (see later in chapter).

Citation 5, page 87 SHAQ Research Results: The Higher Self

 I created a scale to summarize the main values corresponding to the idea of Higher Self presented in this chapter. The Higher Self scale consists of the following values-beliefs: Self-happiness, others‘ happiness; balance present-future, self-others‘ happiness; base decisions on maximizing happiness for self-others; value/love self and all unconditionally; accept all parts of self; gratitude-abundance thinking; integrity; develop personal philosophy; learning, self-development; exploration/truth; competence, be best I can be; complete all important goals; independence; self-sufficiency; self-discipline; health and longevity; life balance; beauty; goodness; and fun and playfulness.

Citation 6, page 104   SHAQ Research Results: Overcoming Worst Fears

 Because I suspected that people‘s underlying worst fears were important causes of their emotions, I created the SHAQ Low Greatest Fears scale and subscales. The Low Greatest Fears (LowGF) scale had a strong relationship to the Overall Happiness scale. The correlation was r = .55. The LowGF scale correlated .48 with Low Depression, .45 with Low Anxiety, and .38 with the Low Anger/Aggression scale. The LowGF scale also correlated with good Relationship Outcomes, .31; Health Outcomes, .32; Highest Personal Income, .18; Highest Education Completed, .10; and College GPA, .19. Greatest Fears Subscales. The four subscales of the GF scale and their correlates to outcomes are:

1. Low Fears of Illness and Death: Happiness,.22; Low Depression, .22; Low Anxiety, .31; Low Anger, .30; Good Relationships, .09; Health, .25; Income, .08; Education level, .07; college GPA, .05.

2. Low Fears of Failure and Poverty: Happiness, .38; Low Depression, .31; Low Anxiety, .30; Low Anger, .27; Relationships, .16; Health, .23; Income, .19; Education, .07; College GPA, .07.

3. Low Rejection/Social-Related Fears: Happiness, .49; Low Depression, .44; Low Anxiety, .37; Low Anger, .28; Relationships, .32; Health, .26; Income, .14; Education, .08; College GPA, .06. 4. Low Self-Related Fears: Happiness, .57; Low Depression, .48; Low Anxiety, .43; Low Anger, .38; Relationships, .33; Health, .28; Income, .12; Education, .08; College GPA, .11. It should be clear that these underlying fears are substantially related to happiness and success and that working to overcome them should be a high priority for anyone who chooses to be happy, healthy, and successful in relationships and other areas of life. Use the self-exploration techniques (Ch-2), planning, reframing, and other methods suggested in this book to overcome your worst fears. ---------------------- Note: All correlations, p < .0001 and N‘s ranged from 2048 to 3199.

Citation 7, page 114   SHAQ Research Results: Positive World View

Compared to other factors researchers have studied, SHAQ‘s Positive World View (PWV) scale had a strong relationship to the Overall Happiness scale. The correlation was r = .72 and the EffectSize was .52. That means that the PWV scale alone can predict with 52% accuracy our users‘ Overall Happiness score. The PWV correlated .55 with Low Depression, .47 with Low Anxiety, and .42 with the Low Anger/Aggression. scale (predicting 30% of the Low Depression scale score, 22% of the Low Anxiety scale score, and 18% of the Low Anger-Aggression scale score). The PWV scale also correlated with good Relationship Outcomes, .48; Health Outcomes, .39; Highest Personal Income, .18; Highest Education Completed, .09; and College GPA, .10. Positive World View Subscales. The three subscales of the PWV scale and their correlates to the outcomes are:

1. Optimism about Self and World. Happiness, .54; Low Depression, .35; Low Anxiety, .28; Low Anger, .26; Good Relationships, .37; Health, .30; Income, .08.

2. Gratitude and Abundance Thinking. Happiness, .72; Low Depression, .57; Low Anxiety, .45; Low Anger, .36; Relationships, .46; Health, .33; Income, .13; Education, .09; College GPA, .11.

3. Not Entitlement Beliefs: Happiness, .16; Low Depression, .16; Low Anxiety, .19; Low Anger, .27; Relationships, and .08; Income, .20. Here is strong evidence that one way to choose to be happy and overcome these negative emotions is to develop a positive world view. Developing optimism for self and the world, gratitude and abundance thinking, and not having entitlement beliefs are key factors for being happier and all the other outcomes we measured. ---------------------- Note: All correlations, p < .0001 and N‘s ranged from 2541 to 3173.

Citation 8, page 130    SHAQ Research Results: Forgiveness

 The Forgiveness subscale correlated with Happiness, .34; with Low Depression, .27; with Low Anxiety, .35; with Low Anger-Aggression, .49; with good Relationships, .23; with Health, .34; and with Income, .12. (For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2093 to 2328.) SHAQ research (and that of others) supports the value of forgiveness for helping people have better relationships and find more happiness. Forgiveness gives to the giver at least as much as it gives to the receiver. Again, the control of your happiness lies within in your mind.

Citation 9, page 136    SHAQ Research Results: Self-Worth

 The Self-Worth Scale correlated with Happiness, .59; with Low Depression, .45; with Low Anxiety, .42; with Low Anger-Aggr, .48; with good Relationships, .39; with Health, .36; with Income, .11; with Education, .09; and with college GPA, .10. The three Self-Worth subscales’ results were:

1. Love self and others; maximize and balance happiness correlated with Happiness, .57; with Low Depression, .33; with Low Anxiety, .25; with Low Anger-Aggr, .36; with Relationships, .43; and with Health, .31.

2. Unconditional self-worth (not dependent upon anything) correlated with Happiness, .36; with Low Depression, .34; with Low Anxiety, .38; with Low Anger-Aggr, .43; with Relationships, .21; with Health, .29; with Income, .14; with Education, .11; and with college GPA, .08.

3. Accepting all of self correlated with Happiness, .16; with Low Depression, .28; with Low Anxiety, .19; with Education, .07; and with college GPA, .07. According to my research, a person with high Self-Worth--who loves all of himself or herself unconditionally, cares for all others unconditionally, and attempts to maximize and balance happiness for self and others--is more likely to be happy, have good relationships, and have success in life. Consequently, developing your self-worth is an important part of choosing to be happy. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2593 to 3199.

I developed the LSQ to measure the relationship between life skills and life success. I used both self-rated life skills and more objective measures. More than 4,000 people were given the LSQ to see how well it correlated with life success criteria and happiness (Stevens, 1987). One study compared the relationship between life skills of 384 adults in their mid-twenties through fifties and their life success. We found significant correlations between life skills (cognitive, self-management skills, and interpersonal skills) and life success (college success, career success, and relationship success). For example overall cognitive skills correlated .37 with college grade average and learning skills correlated .43 with job status. Overall self-management skills correlated .30 with job status and .24 to number of relationships. Overall interpersonal skills correlated with both career status .30 and interpersonal success, and intimacy skills correlated .27 with relationship commitment level.

The LSQ, SRQ, and happiness. I believe the most important type of success is overall happiness. The LSQ and SRQ had even better correlations with happiness than it did with these other types of success. Overall personal happiness was correlated most with self-management skills, .51. However, personal happiness was also correlated to cognitive skills, .32 and interpersonal skills, .34. 140 / Dr. Tom G. Stevens

Citation 10-13, page 140:

Self-management skills. The SHAQ Self-Management scale correlated with Happiness, .66; with Low Depression, .40; with Low Anxiety, .32; with Low Anger-Aggression, .38; with good Relationships, .50; with Health, .47; with Income, .10; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .20. These are impressively high correlations, and show the importance of self-management skills for life happiness and success. See Chapter 9 for a more in-depth analysis of self-management.

Emotional coping skills. The SHAQ Emotional Coping scale correlated with Happiness, .66; with Low Depression, .60; with Low Anxiety, .51; with Low Anger-Aggression, .49; with good Relationships, .42; with Health, .49; with Income, .13; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .14. Emotional coping also seems to be a fundamental skill set that is substantially related to happiness and success. See Chapter 8 for detail on emotional coping.

Interpersonal skills. The original SRQ had such good results that it was copied almost verbatim into SHAQ, and became the SHAQ Interpersonal Skills scales. The nine Interpersonal skills scales combined correlated with Happiness, .59; with Low Depression, .39; with Low Anxiety, .38; with Low Anger-Aggr, .59; with good Relationships, .49; with Health, .40; and with Income, .21. Interpersonal skills are discussed in greater depth in Chapter 6 and Appendix E.

Learning skills and academic motivation. Since I was very concerned about college student success, I designed 14 special SHAQ scales to assess learning skills and academic motivation. Combined, they correlated with Happiness, .67; with Low Depression, .49; with Low Anxiety, .46; with Low Anger-Aggression, .42; with good Relationships, .46; with Health, .43; with Income, .37; with Education level, .36; and with college GPA, .45; and with happy work relationships, .60. (For income, education level, and college GPA, only ages over 25 or 30 included.) Most of the rest were college students. Learning skills are discussed in more depth in Chapter 7.

Citation14 page 146    SHAQ Research Results: Self-Confidence

 The Self-Confidence Scale correlated with Happiness, .69; with Low Depression, .46; with Low Anxiety, .43; with Low Anger-Aggr, .38; with good Relationships, .50; with Health, .39; with Income, .17; with Education, .15; and with college GPA, .19. The seven Self-Confidence/Life Skills subscales follow.

 1. Self-development, self-control, self-discipline. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .67; with Low Depression, .47; with Low Anxiety, .37; with Low Anger-Aggr, .32; with Relationships, .41; and with Health, .42; with Income, .17; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .21.

2. Positive achievement and coping. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .74; with Low Depression, .50; with Low Anxiety, .38; with Low Anger-Aggr, .35; with Relationships, .54; with Health, .30; with Income, .06; with Education, .05; and with college GPA, .08.

3. Learning. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .41; with Low Depression, .32; with Low Anxiety, .36; with Low Anger-Aggr, .33; with Relationships, .24; with Health, .31; with Income, .22; with Education, .25; and with college GPA, .25.

4. Interpersonal skills—focus management/marketing. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .58; with Low Depression, .38; with Low Anxiety, .40; with Low Anger-Aggr, .23; with Relationships, .45; with Health, .25; with Income, .19; with Education, .09; and with college GPA, .07.

5. Helping (interpersonal) skills. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .48; with Low Depression, .27; with Low Anxiety, .28; with Low Anger-Aggr, .34; with Relationships, .41; with Health, .27; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .14.

6. Natural science. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .32; with Low Depression, .23; with Low Anxiety, .22; with Low Anger-Aggr, .22; with Relationships, .20; with Health, .29; with Income, .16; with Education, .06; and with college GPA, .10.

7. Creativity and art. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .35; with Low Depression, .20; with Low Anxiety, .18; with Low Anger-Aggr, .22; with Relationships, .31; and with Health, .18. It should be clear from these results that self-confidence and/or actual life skills in these life areas are important factors associated with happiness, low negative emotions, and some life success outcomes. Developing these life skills at higher levels can take many years of education and/or study. However, any progress you make may help. It may be especially important to make an honest self-assessment and begin working on areas that are either low or more central to your personal goals. Reading, taking courses, and learning through experience and role-models are all important ways of improving life skills. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2531 to 3196.

Citation 15, page 179    SHAQ Research Results: Interpersonal Skills

 The Interpersonal Skills scales focused upon intimate relationship skills. Combined, they correlated with Happiness, .59; with Low Depression, .39; with Low Anxiety, .38; with Low Anger-Aggr, .59; with good Relationships, .40; with Health, .49; with Income, .21; with Education, .15; and with college GPA, .19. The eight Interpersonal Skills subscales follow.

 1. Assertive conflict resolution. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .46; with Low Depression, .24; with Low Anxiety, .20; with Low Anger-Aggr, .36; with Relationship Outcomes, .37; and with Health, .31; and with college GPA,.08.

 2. Open, honest communication. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .50; with Low Depression, .29; with Low Anxiety, .23; with Low Anger-Aggr, .30; with Relationship Outcomes, and .44; with Health, .29.

3. Love and respect for other. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .48; with Low Depression, .29; with Low Anxiety, .27; with Low Anger-Aggr, .43; with Relationship Outcomes, .43; and with Health, .30.

4. Positive and supportive statements. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .42; with Low Depression, .28; with Low Anxiety, .27; with Low Anger-Aggr, .54; with Relationship Outcomes, .27; and with Health, .31.

5. Collaborative behavior. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .41; with Low Depression, .27; with Low Anxiety, .24; with Low Anger-Aggr, .33; with Relationship Outcomes, .27; and with Health, .32.

6. Supportive relationship independence. Support to pursue own interests, goals, time alone, etc. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .38; with Low Depression, .29; with Low Anxiety, .31; with Low Anger-Aggr, .39; with Relationship Outcomes, .14; with Health, .30; with Income, .06; with Education, .08.; and with college GPA, .06.

7. Romantic. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .39; with Low Depression, .17; with Low Anxiety, .12; with Low Anger-Aggr, .24; with Relationship Outcomes, .27; and with Health, .18.

8. Liberated roles. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .17; with Low Depression, .11; with Low Anxiety, .18; with Low Anger-Aggr, .29; with Relationship Outcomes, .14; and with Health, .13. The assertive, interpersonal skills guidelines in this chapter correspond closely to items on subscales 1-6 above. Follow them to improve relationships and happiness. Go to Appendix E and my website for more free self-help interpersonal and assertive skills training manuals. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2336 to 2906.

Citation 15, page 180    SHAQ Research Results: Internal versus External Control

The Internal vs. External (I-E) Control Beliefs scale correlated with Happiness, .49; with Low Depression, .42; with Low Anxiety, .46; with Low Anger-Aggression, .42; with good Relationships, .29; with Health, .38; with Income, .24; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .13. The three Internal-External Control subscales follow.

1. Autonomy, independence. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .55; with Low Depression, .44; with Low Anxiety, .43; with Low Anger-Aggr, .37; with Relationship Outcomes, .33; and with Health, .33; with income, .29; with Education, .15, and with college GPA, .13.

2. Not codependent. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .21; with Low Depression, .23; with Low Anxiety, .28; with Low Anger-Aggr, .24; with Relationship Outcomes, .09; and with Health, .25; with income, .09; and with Education, .11.

3. Not (adult) care provider. This subscale correlated with Happiness, .25; with Low Depression, .21; with Low Anxiety, .27; with Low Anger-Aggr, .31; with Relationship Outcomes, .18; and with Health, .23; with income, .10; and with college GPA, .06. Internal control can help people achieve integrity—living by what they value and believe. The opposite is external control—letting others determine what you will do or even think. No wonder I-E Control is so large a factor in happiness and success. The autonomy subscale had one of the highest correlations with income of any SHAQ scale (.29). This chapter gives detailed help how you can achieve more internal control of your life. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2001 to 2646.

Citation 16, page 194    SHAQ Research Results: Learning Skills

Three of the 14 Academic Success scales were based upon the ideas in the Harmonious Functioning (HF) model of learning (listed below). The combined scales correlated with college GPA, .29. All 14 scales together correlated with college GPA, .46. The three Harmonious Functioning-related learning scales follow:

1. Build mental structures (theories, models,etc.). This scale correlated with Happiness, .30; with Low Depression, .13; with Low Anxiety, .20; with Low Anger-Aggr, .13; with Relationships, .19; and with Health, .12; with Income, .17; with Education, .17; and with college GPA, .25.

2. Underlying, review, mental mapping. This scale correlated with Happiness, .36; with Low Depression, .16; with Low Anxiety, .27; with Low Anger-Aggr, .22; with Relationships, .25; and with Health, .21; with Income, .20; with Education, .27; and with college GPA, .27.

3. Math, science interest underlying principles. This scale correlated with Happiness, .22; with Low Depression, .18; with Low Anxiety, .09; with Low Anger-Aggr, .16; with Relationships, .10; and with Health, .12. with Income, .09; with Education, .10; and with college GPA, .18. Though most people think of academic learning and emotions as being very separate phenomena, the HF model posits that we have one brain that doesn‘t radically separate academic situations from situations that people associate more with emotions. So it is no surprise that cognitive learning skills are also related to emotional well-being. Thinking well helps solve problems and improve learning of all types—including personal ones. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 270 to 540.

Citation 17, page 251 SHAQ Research Results: Emotional Coping Habits

The Emotional Coping scale asks, how often do you respond to being upset with the following response? The users check the percentage of time they respond with a particular type of response (see subscales below). The Emotional Coping scale correlated with Happiness, .66; with Low Depression, .60; with Low Anxiety, .51; with Low Anger-Aggression, .49; with good Relationships, .42; with Health, .49; with Income, .13; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .14. Emotional Coping consists of the following six subscales.

1. Problem-solve, self-explore, talk subscale correlated with Happiness, .48; with Low Depression, .28; with Low Anxiety, .22; with Low Anger-Aggr, .29; with good Relationships, .42; with Health, .26; with Education, .10; and with college GPA, .11.

 2. Positive thoughts, philosophical view, pep-talk subscale correlated with Happiness, .57; with Low Depression, .50; with Low Anxiety, .36; with Low Anger-Aggr, .31; with good Relationships, .36; with Health, .28; with Income, .05; with Education, .08; and with college GPA, .05.

3. Positive acts, fun, exercise. subscale correlated with Happiness, .36; with Low Depression, .24; with Low Anxiety, .14; with Low Anger-Aggr, .21; with good Relationships, .25; and with Health, .29.

4. Not anger, blame, withdraw subscale correlated with Happiness, .49; with Low Depression, .53; with Low Anxiety, .48; with Low Anger-Aggr, .45 with good Relationships, .27; with Health, .26; with Income, .13; with Education, .08; and with college GPA, .09.

5. Not smoke, drugs subscale correlated with Happiness, .19; with Low Depression, .29; with Low Anxiety, .33; with Low Anger-Aggr, .26; with good Relationships, .07; with Health, .64; with Income, .07; with Education, .18; and with college GPA, .11.

6. Not eat item correlated with Happiness, .20; with Low Depression, .27; with Low Anxiety, .22; with Low Anger-Aggr, .21; with good Relationships, .07; with Health, .24; with Income, .10. Positive responses such as problem-solving, exploring, positive thoughts, reframing with Higher Self or other positive beliefs, doing positive engaging activities, and avoiding unproductive, hostile, damaging, or addictive thoughts and actions are some of the best ways to get control of emotions. As you can see, how we respond to daily negative emotions may have strong effects on our overall happiness, negative emotions, relationships, health, and is even related to income and educational achievement. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 2704 to 3226.

Citation 18, page 264    SHAQ Research Results: Health Habits

First, good health correlates well with happiness and other outcomes. The Health Outcomes Scale correlated with Happiness, .40; with Low Depression, .38; with Low Anxiety, .34; with Low Anger-Aggr, .39; with good Relationships, .21; with Income, .09; with Education, .12; and with college GPA, .12. While health was not a central focus of the SHAQ research, SHAQ did produce some interesting health-related data. I have already presented a great deal of data relating almost every SHAQ scale so far to the Health Outcomes scale. In this section I present data relating health habits to important outcomes. The five Health subscales follow:

1. Physical Conditioning correlated with Happiness, .43; with Low Depression, .30 with Low Anxiety, .25; with Low Anger-Aggr, .28; with Relationships, .28; with Income, .08; with Education, .06; and with college GPA, .06. Healthwise, physical conditioning correlated with Low Illness, .32 and with Low Weight, .43.

2. Good Nutrition Habits correlated with Happiness, .39; with Low Depression, .25 with Low Anxiety, .23; with Low Anger-Aggr, .26; with Relationships, .24; with Income, .10; with Education, 18, and with college GPA, .14. Healthwise, good diet correlated with Low Illness, .21, with low weight, .26; and with physical conditioning, .43.

3. Hours Sleep correlated with Happiness, .33; with Low Depression, .19 with Low Anxiety, .14; with Low Anger-Aggr, .27; and with Relationships, .31. Healthwise, hours sleep correlated with Low Illness, .22, with low weight, .19; with physical conditioning, .35; and with healthy diet, .29.

4. Low Weight correlated with Happiness, .22; with Low Depression, .19 with Low Anxiety, .09; with Low Anger-Aggr, .17; with Relationships, .13; and with college GPA, .06. Healthwise, low weight correlated with Low Illness, .15 and with physical conditioning, .43.

5. Low Addictive Habits (low alcohol, no cigarettes, no drugs) correlated with Happiness, .23; with Low Depression, .24 with Low Anxiety, .21; with Low Anger-Aggr, .24; with Relationships, .12; with Income, .03; with Education, .12; and with college GPA, .11. Healthwise, Low Addictive Habits correlated with Low Illness, .16 and with physical conditioning, .18. As we have found in all areas so far, good seems to correlate with good. Good exercise, diet, sleep, and non-addictive habits correlate not only with each other but with lower rates of illness, greater happiness, and lower negative emotions. In this case, it seems likely that there are strong mutually causative forces at play. People who value themselves and their own happiness tend to value health and have healthier habits. The resulting better health contributes to their happiness, continued health, and reinforces the underlying values and habits. ---------------------

Citation 19, page 280    SHAQ Research Results: Self-Management Habits

The Self-Management scale was designed to test the main aspects of the OPATSM system and some self-development habits. This scale correlated with Happiness, .66; with Low Depression, .40; with Low Anxiety, .32; with Low Anger-Aggr, .38; with good Relationships, .50; with Health, 47; with Income, .10; with Education, .14; and with college GPA, .20. The four self-management subscales follow.

1. OPATSM time-management habits correlated with Happiness, .41; with Low Depression, .20 with Low Anxiety, .11; with Low Anger-Aggr, .13; with Relationships, .35; with Health, .26 with Income, .02; with Education, .07; and with college GPA, .11.

2. Busy, efficient task accomplishment correlated with Happiness, .55; with Low Depression, .39; with Low Anxiety, .30; with Low Anger-Aggr, .28; with Relationships, .34; with Health, 29; with Income, .07; with Education, .06; and with college GPA, .08.

3. Self-health care correlated with Happiness, .46; with Low Depression, .27 with Low Anxiety, .22; with Low Anger-Aggr, .28; with Relationships, .33; with Health, .59; with Income, .09; with Education, .13; and with college GPA, .14.

4. Self-development, habit change correlated with Happiness, .56; with Low Depression, .30 with Low Anxiety, .23; with Low Anger-Aggr, .35; with Relationships, .42; with Health, 35; with Income, .09; with Education, .15; and with college GPA, .17. Self-management is a key factor associated with happiness and less negative emotions. It also has surprisingly high correlations with relationships and is associated with health, income, and educational outcomes. However, our data show that few people really follow all or even most of the OPATSM system practices. Therefore, I think that the data actually underestimates the value of putting all of those elements together—especially in the areas of career and academic success. --------------------- Note: For all correlations, p < .0001 and Ns ranged from 1448 to 3226.

Sex. The only significant findings were that females were a little happier (r =.09)40 and had better relationships (r =.15) while males had higher incomes (r =.18).

40 All correlations were significant at the .01 level or greater unless otherwise indicated. 41 ns = correlation not statistically significant. All N (number of subjests ) > 3000. 42 Other Asian = not Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, or Korean. 43 Other European language = not English, Spanish, French, or German.

Age. Higher age was mildly related to both low anxiety (r =.11) and low anger (r =.13). I didn‘t find a significant age-happiness correlation as some have. However, I found that people over 50 were slightly happier (r =.05). I also found significant relationships between being older and low depression (r =.05), low anxiety (r =.11), and low anger (r =.13). Age was one of the best predictors of income (r =.45); probably because students and younger people have not had time to advance in their careers. Similarly, higher age related to education completed (r =.25). Age was negatively related to health (r = -.07) and was not related to relationship outcomes.

Religion. Belonging to a particular religious group was only weakly related to outcome variables. Being Jewish (r =.06) or Methodist (r =.05) correlated the highest with happiness; being agnostic was most negatively related (r = -.09). Fundamentalist Non-Baptists were slightly less depressed (r =.08) and less anxious (r =.07) than other people. There were few other significant correlations. However, looking at values typically associated with religions, paints a different picture. Correlations with happiness, low depression, low anger, and low anxiety for Spiritual intimacy were .26, .12, and .05; for Giving to others’ happiness, were .36, .14, and .11; for Impact, change world, were .27, .12, and .09; for Obedience to God, were .23, .11, and .02ns41; and for Religion, were .28, .06, and .02ns. Thus, internalized values espoused by religions were important factors. This finding is consistent with other studies showing that the positive effects of religion are present primarily for people who internalize the teachings.

Ethnic group and nationality. Other Asian42 (r =.08) and Mexican (r =.08) had highest positive correlations with happiness; European had the most negative (r = -.05. People who spoke other European43 languages were unhappy (r = -.11). German (r = -.09) and other European (r = -.13) speaking people had higher anger/aggression scores. Depression was slightly less (r =.07) among Chinese language and other Asian (r =.07), but was mostly unrelated to language, ethnicity, or religion.

Occupational category. Students (r =.08), people professionals (r =.08), educators (r =.07), and managers (r =.06) were the happiest; only other occupation had a negative correlation (r = -.06). Others were also the most depressed (r = -.06) and least healthy (r = -.08). While students were the happiest, they were also the most anxious (r = -.07) and the healthiest (r =.08) of the occupational groups.

NEXT:   GO TO APPENDIX A:  The Choose To Be Happy Checklist.  This is a summary of the key guidelines for leading a happy, successful life. Use these daily, weekly, or montly to keep focused on your life goals and values.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHAQ RESEARCH ON HAPPINESS, LIFE SUCCESS, AND THIS BOOK,

1. Go to an extended version of this chapter that includes all the other research references in the book (click here).
2. Go to the professional research paper which provides much more detail about the research, theory behind it, and results not included in the book (click here).

Self-Help and other resources on this website (and site map)