Fragility of happiness moderates the influence of negative predictors of subjective well-Being.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Valuing happiness, negative life circumstances, and neuroticism have been found to negatively predict subjective well-being (SWB). It was hypothesized that holding fragility of happiness beliefs (the belief that happiness is fleeting and may easily turn into less favorable states) would moderate the relationships between these predictors and SWB.

METHODS: The sample consisted of 338 Korean participants who responded to an online survey (Mage  = 26.19). Multiple regression with centered variables was used to test the hypotheses.

RESULTS: Consistent with the hypotheses, the results showed that fragility of happiness had an exacerbating effect on these negative associations. That is, the negative relationships between the predictors and SWB were stronger for individuals who reported higher fragility of happiness.

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that people's notions of the nature of well-being may come to exacerbate the impact of negative predictors of SWB.