WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' Well-Being Index score of 66.5 in November is identical to October -- essentially matching the 2010 low recorded in September -- and still down from the three-year high of 67.4 in May. The nation's wellbeing, however, continues to remain well above the levels measured from late 2008 to early 2009, during the worst of the economic crisis, and is similar to what Gallup measured for the latter part of 2009.
These findings are based on approximately 30,000 interviews conducted each month with Americans, aged 18 years and older, as a part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. The index is composed of six sub-indexes that include 55 individual items that collectively measure Americans' physical, emotional, and fiscal wellbeing.
Healthy Behaviors Main Source of Wellbeing Decline Since May Peak
Fewer Americans have been exercising and eating healthily since May of this year. This is a typical seasonal pattern the Healthy Behavior Index measures and is the primary reason for the decline in the nation's overall Well-Being Index score in November.
Americans have also been evaluating their lives less positively since May -- a trend unrelated to seasonality -- causing the Life Evaluation Index to drop slightly to 49.7 in November from 50.7 in May.
Americans Practicing Poorer Health Habits Across All Metrics
The Healthy Behavior Index tracks four specific health habits, each of which has worsened since May, most notably weekly exercise. Significantly fewer Americans exercised for at least 30 minutes three or more days per week in November (50.5%) than did in May (53.6%). Americans have also been less likely to eat healthy foods and more likely to smoke.
Bottom Line
Although some of the decline in Americans' healthy behaviors as winter approaches is likely because of seasonal effects, past data from the same two time periods reveal that the cold weather may not be the sole cause. In 2009, for example, there was virtually no decline in the Healthy Behavior Index between May (63.1) and November (63.0). A comparison of the same two months in 2008, however, finds a larger 3.6-percentage-point decline in healthy behaviors, but that came at the same time as the global economic crisis, which had a notable impact on wellbeing generally. Seasonal or not, the drop in healthy behaviors from May to November of this year, while not ideal, is not so great as to affect overall wellbeing relative to previous years, as the composite score continues to track similarly to what Gallup and Healthways found in 2009.
For complete November results by sub-index and demographic group, read the Gallup-Healthways Monthly U.S. Well-Being Report.
About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks U.S. wellbeing and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com.
Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey Jan. 2-Nov. 30, 2010, with a random sample of more than 1 million adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling.
The total sample for the month of November 2010 was 27,218. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.6 percentage point.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each daily sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone respondents and 850 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, cell phone-only status, cell phone-mostly status, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2009 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.
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