The Effects of a Restless Night on Experienced Well-Being after Age 50: Does Marriage Matter?

Jacqui Smith, University of Michigan
Lindsay Ryan, University of Michigan
Sandra Becker, University of Michigan
Tara Queen, University of Michigan
Richard Gonzalez, University of Michigan

Recent reports about the benefits of collecting national accounts of subjective well-being (e.g., Krueger, 2009; OECD, 2013; National Research Council, 2013) have fueled interest in investigating the correlates of survey measures of global and experienced (hedonic) well-being. We use data from a short day reconstruction measure included in a 2009 mail survey of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the effects of a restless night, marital status, and gender on a day's activities and hedonic experiences. Previous work (Smith et al., 2014) indicated that responses to this HRS measure are reliable. Twenty-eight percent of HRS participants reported that they did not feel well-rested in the morning of the day reconstructed. Multiple regression and multilevel models controlling for physical health, depression, sociodemographic factors and characteristics of the day, revealed unique effects of feeling well-rested and interactions with marital status and gender.