Comparing your income with those of family and friends is a recipe for unhappiness, a study has suggested.
Comparing your income with those of family and friends is a recipe for unhappiness, a study has suggested.
To evaluate the impact of comparing salary with those of family and friends, researchers used data from the European Social Survey covering 19,000 participants in 24 countries. The researchers surveyed the participants regarding their tendencies of comparing salaries with others and the participants' level of contentment and happiness from one's own salary.
It was found that those who compared their incomes with others tended to be less happy. The responses showed that the greater the importance people attached to such comparisons, the lower they ranked themselves on measures of satisfaction with life and standard of living, as well as on feeling depressed. There was no difference seen between men and women in how much they compare their income with those around them.
But limiting comparisons to work colleagues seems to be the most innocuous - as comparisons with friends appeared to be twice as painful as comparisons with colleagues. People in poorer countries were found to compare their incomes more than people in richer ones and, within countries, poorer people were more likely to compare their incomes than richer people.
To evaluate the impact of comparing salary with those of family and friends, researchers used data from the European Social Survey covering 19,000 participants in 24 countries. The researchers surveyed the participants regarding their tendencies of comparing salaries with others and the participants' level of contentment and happiness from one's own salary.
It was found that those who compared their incomes with others tended to be less happy. The responses showed that the greater the importance people attached to such comparisons, the lower they ranked themselves on measures of satisfaction with life and standard of living, as well as on feeling depressed. There was no difference seen between men and women in how much they compare their income with those around them.
But limiting comparisons to work colleagues seems to be the most innocuous - as comparisons with friends appeared to be twice as painful as comparisons with colleagues. People in poorer countries were found to compare their incomes more than people in richer ones and, within countries, poorer people were more likely to compare their incomes than richer people.
COMMENT
DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.
