Well-Being and Relational Goods: A Model-Based Approach to Detect Significant Relationships

A statistical framework for modelling subjective perceptions expressed through ratings is presented. The paper deals with the relationships between personal covariates and self-declared happiness, taking into account several social activities, such as spending time with family and friends, participating in groups and associations, and so on. Our setting concerns a class of statistical models able to measure the effects on life satisfaction of the relational goods which have been proved significant in a large sample of respondents. By means of these models, the proposal enhances the different contributions of subjects’ covariates on their response patterns. The selected approach is based on a mixture model to interpret the assessed perception of two unobserved components, denoted as feeling and uncertainty, respectively, as a blend of real beliefs and indecision. Empirical evidence to support the usefulness of this methodological perspective is provided by a recent observational survey concerning happiness and relational goods.