Subjective Well-Being in Times of Covid-19: Positivity Bias

Abstract

The present study was aimed at investigating subjective well-being before and during COVID-19 pandemic among Brazilian adults. Brazil was one of the worst affected countries of the world in number of COVID-19 cases and deaths . Adults from the five macro-regions of the country answered an online survey in 2018 (N = 616), in 2020 (N = 379) and in 2021 (N = 845). An additional sample of 75 respondents participated at all three times in the survey. Respondents evaluated their current life satisfaction by a single-item measure with a 11-point scale and 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) using a 7-point scale. They also evaluated how they felt about their lives now in comparison with a year ago and compared their quality of life against the lives of their parents. No differences were found as a function of the timing of the survey in all but one of the measures taken. There was a clustering of life satisfaction scores at around three-quarters of the measurement scale maximum as has been reported for Western and non-Western countries before the pandemic. Respondents’ positive outlook on life was also evidenced by their personal retrospectives, by the self-comparison to one year ago but most clearly by comparison to parents' lives. Our findings showed that they compared themselves to their parents in a way to feel better about themselves. This positivity trend may be an adaptive characteristic of human nature that helps people recover from the slings and arrows of lived experiences.