Why are conservatives happier?
Notes
1
There was no significant random variation in the slopes of meritocratic beliefs predicting
subjective well-being (σ
2
= .00, p > .40), so we fixed the variance of this slope to zero in order to test
for mediation (e.g., Kenny, Korchmaros, & Bolger, 2003).
2
We also considered additional measures of macro-economic inequality, including the
household income distribution ratio of the 90
th
percentile to the 10
th
percentile (HHI 90/10); the
household income distribution ratio of the 80
th
percentile to the 20
th
percentile (HHI 80/20); Theil
entropy measure; and the mean logarithmic deviation of income (MLD; see U.S. Census Bureau,
2005). The identical pattern of results was observed for all of these measures: inequality was
significantly and negatively related to happiness, conservatives were significantly happier than liberals,
and there was a significant, positive interaction between ideology and inequality, such that the effect of
inequality on subjective well-being was stronger for liberals than for conservatives.
27
Convention