Examining the relationship between different dimensions of subjective well-being and savings behaviour: insights from UK panel data

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

April 12, 2025

Summary:

This paper examines the relationship between different dimensions of subjective well-being and savings behaviour. A conceptual framework based on Van Praag et al.’s (2003) two-layer model of well-being was empirically tested to investigate relationships among general life satisfaction, domain-specific satisfaction (health, income, leisure time, and job), and various measures of savings behaviour. Using panel data from the Understanding Society Survey covering British households between 2010 and 2018, this research determined that while general satisfaction positively correlates with savings behaviour, different satisfaction domains show varying relationships. Income and job satisfaction demonstrate positive associations with savings behaviour, whereas health and leisure time satisfaction show negative correlations. The core relationships remain stable even when the analysis is extended to include the non-linear effect of health satisfaction or the COVID-19 period, suggesting persistent patterns in how different aspects of well-being relate to financial decision-making. These findings suggest that approaches to understanding savings behaviour might benefit from considering multiple dimensions of well-being rather than relying on unified measures of general satisfaction.

Published in

Applied Research in Quality of Life

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10447-9

ISSN

18712584

Subjects

Notes

Online Early

Open Access

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

#588621

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest