Psychological well-being and psychological distress: is it necessary to measure both?

Winefield, Helen R; Gill, Tiffany K; Taylor, Anne W; Pilkington, Rhiannon M

doi:10.1186/2211-1522-2-3

Psychology of Well-Being

Theory, Research and Practice

Table 3 Mean Overall well-being scores by demographic characteristics

From: Psychological well-being and psychological distress: is it necessary to measure both?

	n	Mean	SD	95% CI
Sex
Male	895	69.6	9.7	69.0 - 70.3
Female	954	70.2	10.2	69.6 - 70.9
Age group
18 to 24 years	227	69.4	8.3	68.4 - 70.5
25 to 34 years	300	69.3	10.3	68.2 - 70.5
35 to 44 years	356	70.5	10.3	69.4 - 71.5
45 to 54 years	339	69.3	10.8	68.2 - 70.5
55 to 64 years	279	71.2	10.5	69.9 - 72.4
65 to 74 years	174	70.6	9.7	69.2 - 72.1
75 years and over	174	69.1	8.4	67.8 - 70.3
Number of adults in household
1 adult	277	66.5	11.4	65.2 - 68.0*
2 adults	1079	70.7	9.7	70.2 - 71.0*
3 or more adults	493	70.1	9.2	69.3 - 71.0*
Area of residence
Metropolitan	1363	70.0	10.0	69.5 - 71.0
Regional	486	69.8	10.0	68.9 - 71.0
Children in household
No children	1137	69.5	10.1	68.9 - 70.0*
Children	711	70.7	9.8	70.0 - 71.0*
Country of birth
Australia	1442	69.8	10.1	69.3 - 70.0
England/Ireland	183	70.3	10.9	68.7 - 72.0
Other	224	70.4	8.5	69.2 - 71.0
Language spoken at home
English	1780	70.1	10.0	69.6 - 71.0*
Other	68	65.8	8.5	63.8 - 68.0*
Marital status
Married/de facto	1231	71.1	9.6	70.6 - 71.7*
Separated/divorced	140	65.1	11.9	63.1 - 67.0*
Widowed	111	68.0	9.7	66.2 - 69.8*
Never married	366	68.4	9.7	67.4 - 69.4*
Education
Secondary	842	68.9	10.1	68.3 - 70.0*
Trade/Certificate	592	70.1	9.8	69.3 - 71.0*
Bachelor degree or higher	415	71.7	9.8	70.8 - 73.0*
Work status
Full time employed	738	71.0	9.4	70.3 - 72.0*
Part time/casual employment	436	70.2	9.4	69.3 - 71.0*
Unemployed	39	63.3	11.5	59.6 - 67.0*
Home duties	111	68.3	11.2	66.2 - 70.0*
Retired	387	70.3	9.3	69.4 - 71.0*
Student	55	71.4	9.1	69.0 - 74.0*
Unable to work because of disability/Workcover/invalid	54	57.4	12.4	54.0 - 61.0*
Other	24	68.7	12.8	63.3 - 74.0*
Refused	5	77.0	4.7	71.5 - 82.0*
Income
Up to $20,000	229	66.7	11.9	65.2 - 68.0*
$20,001 to $40,000	287	68.3	10.0	67.2 - 70.0*
$40,001 to $60,000	221	68.6	10.4	67.3 - 70.0*
$60,001 to $80,000	244	70.8	9.4	69.6 - 72.0*
Over $80,000	589	72.1	8.7	71.4 - 73.0*
Not stated	287	69.9	9.8	68.7 - 71.0*
Dwelling
Owned or being purchased	1585	70.5	9.6	70.1 - 71.0*
Rent from Housing Trust	53	65.2	12.5	61.7 - 68.6*
Rented privately	162	66.0	11.9	64.2 - 67.9*
Retirement village	24	66.2	10.9	61.6 - 70.8
Other	20	68.8	6.8	65.6 - 72.0
Refused	5	73.9	6.4	65.5 - 82.2
Pension status
No	1175	70.7	9.4	70.1 - 71.2*
Yes	674	68.6	10.7	67.8 - 69.4*
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander^^†
No	1428	69.8	10.1	69.3 - 70.3
Yes	12	69.5	4.8	66.9 - 72.5

Note: The weighting of the data can result in rounding discrepancies or totals not adding.
* Mean difference is significant at p < .05, assessed using t-test and Anova, post-hoc testing using the Scheffe test.
^ Don’t know/refused category not included.
†Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status only asked of those born in Australia.

Back to article page