engleski

Subjective well-being in Croatia: differences between the Adriatic coast and the continent

The scientific interest in exploring individual's well-being and its determinants is rising around the world. Many researchers nowadays use well-being indicators together with economic ones as measures of local, regional and/or national efficiency. In this research we compared several well-being measures (happiness, life satisfaction, satisfaction with life domains) between people living on the Adriatic coast and those living in continental parts of Croatia. Our aim was to examine the differences in well-being that could, after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, be attributed to the specific geo-climate locality. The survey was conducted within the project “Pilar’s barometer of Croatian society” in spring 2015 by face-to-face interviews on a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N=1000). For the purpose of this research we examined samples of participants living on the Adriatic coast (N=196) and those living in the continental parts of Croatia, excluding Zagreb (N=623). Socio-demographic characteristic such are age, education and income were controlled for in these analyses in order to make subsamples of participants comparable in this respect. Results showed that there are differences in well-being between people living on the coast and those living in the continent. Citizens of “Adriatic Croatia” were happier, more satisfied with their relationships, feelings of security and with the acceptance by the community in which they live than citizens of “continental Croatia”. However, both groups of citizens were equally satisfied with their lives. These results are interpreted in terms of specific geo-climate, economic and societal parameters.

SWB; happiness; life satisfaction; domain satisfaction

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