Abstract
Previous studies on the happiness levels of people in developing countries showed that urban areas had better healthcare conditions and residents were happier, whereas rural areas were more vulnerable and residents were less happy. Numerous studies have shown that residents of rural areas in developed countries are happier. However, a few studies have comprehensively examined the happiness of residents in rural areas of developing countries. Contrary to the aforementioned statement, people in rural areas may be happier, but this remains to be explored. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people worldwide showed clinically significant levels of depression, anxiety, and mental distress (Santomauro in Lancet 398(10312):1700–1712, 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02143-72021, 2021). Upon lifting lockdown measures and recovering economic activity, primarily due to mass vaccination programs, knowledge about happiness regarding the recovery processes of this mental distress was not enough. Furthermore, a few studies evaluated the mental health and happiness of residents in the rural areas of developing countries during the pandemic. Based on this background, this study analyzed the reality of urban and rural happiness during the pandemic in Bali, a developing country, and aimed to show that rural residents were happier. Higher levels of happiness among rural residents observed in the first survey was confirmed using a second survey. Both chronological surveys were conducted in the same region using the same questionnaire halfway through the COVID-19 pandemic until the near-endemic period. This survey was conducted from June to July 2022. The responses of 280 people from the same districts as the first survey were quantitatively compared. Based on these data, we performed a simple analysis, comparison of means, factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, canonical correlation analysis, and covariance structure analysis. The survey results showed that rural areas did not outperform urban areas in terms of happiness itself. Additionally, happiness levels were mostly unchanged in both areas compared to the previous survey. Residents in rural areas showed decreased medical concerns, better income recovery, and limited patience compared to the earlier results. Alternatively, residents in urban areas showed increased anxiety about medical care, decreased income, and higher levels of loneliness and depression. In other words, the recovery of income and reduced concern about medical care in rural areas were in contrast to the low level of happiness. These results also point to lower levels of happiness among residents in urban areas. Therefore, the happiness recovery level following the pandemic appears better in rural areas and slower in urban areas. That is, the hypothesis was proven correct. Interestingly, the results of this study differ from those of previous studies, which report higher happiness levels among urban residents in developing countries and lower happiness levels among rural residents.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Data availability
Raw data for this survey are not publicly available to preserve individuals’ privacy in an engagement with a counterpart who conducted the survey in Indonesia. Individuals with necessities can contact the author.
Notes
-
1 The postal method, Internet, and other communication-based methods are ineffective for collecting questionnaires from a wide age range in Bali. This is because of the poor postal infrastructure and the possibility of significantly lower collection rates due to lower literacy rates among older age groups and unfamiliarity with answering methods by correspondence. In addition, conducting a street survey requires permission from the municipality and the village self-help organization, and a briefing session for the residents. I am unable to perform this during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the local environmental foundation, with which I collaborate, negotiates directly with key persons in the target villages and selects the regions that are permitted to be surveyed. The survey method involves staff from the local environmental foundation visiting each house, reading the survey items in an interview format, and obtaining responses. We explain to the subjects that we would use the survey results only for academic reporting and obtain their consent.
-
2 GFI (Goodness-of-Fit Index): The GFI should be > .95 respectively.
AGFI (Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index): The AGFI should be > .90, respectively.
CFI (Comparative Fit Index): The Comparative Fit Index is a revised form of NFI. It should be > .90.
RMSEA (Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation): The RMSEA should be < .08 or < .05.
References
Ando A (2014) An empirical study on the applicability of “happiness” index to national land and urban planning policy. J City Plan Inst Jpn 49(3):561–566
Bajwa RS, Bibi H, Ali H (2016) Level of happiness and life satisfaction among married and unmarried females unmarried females. South Asian J Bank Soc Sci 2(1):1–7
Benke C, Autenrieth LK, Asselmann E, Pané-Farré CA (2020) Lockdown, quarantine measures, and social distancing: associa- tions with depression, anxiety and distress at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic among adults from Germany. Psychiatry Res 293:113462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113462
Benke C, Autenrieth LK, Asselmann E, Pané-Farré CA (2022) One year after the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany: long-term changes in depression, anxiety, loneliness, distress and life satisfaction. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-022-01400-0
Department of mental health and addiction services Connecticut US (2021) You matter: Covid-19 mental health impact survey. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DMHAS/Publications/You_Matter_COVID-19_Mental_Health_Impact_Survey_ENG_PP.pdf
Diener E, Oishi S, Tay L (2018) Advances in subjective well-being research. Natu Hum Behav 2(4):253–260. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0307-6
González-Sanguino C, Ausín B, Castellanos MÁ, Saiz J, López-Gómez A, Ugidos C, Muñoz M (2020) Mental health consequences during the initial stage of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Spain. Brain Behav Immun 87:172–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.040
Graupensperger S, Calhoun BH, Patrick ME, Lee CM (2022) Longitudinal effects of COVID-19-related stressors on young adults’ mental health and wellbeing. Appl Psychol Health Well-Being. https://doi.org/10.1111/APHW.12344
Henseke G, Green F, Schoon I (2022) Living with COVID-19: subjective well-being in the second phase of the pandemic. J Youth Adolesc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01648-8
Hettich N, Beutel ME, Ernst M, Schliessler C, Kampling H, Kruse J, Braehler E (2022) Conspiracy endorsement and its associations with personality functioning, anxiety, loneliness, and sociodemographic characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic in a representative sample of the German population. PLoS ONE 17(1): e0263301. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263301
Hills P, Argyle M (2002) The Oxford happiness survey is from personality and individual differences. 33(7):1080–1081 and developed by: from The Oxford Happiness Project, School of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Holden R (2009) Be happy!: 50 principles and exercises to help you enjoy more happiness now. Hay House, Inc, Carlsbad
Jalali Z, Heidari A (2016) The relationship between happiness, subjective well-being, creativity and job performance of primary school teachers in Ramhormoz city. Int Educ Stud 9(6):45–52. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v9n6p45
Kwong ASF, Pearson RM, Adams MJ, Northstone K, Tilling K, Smith D, Fawns-Ritchie C, Bould H, Warne N, Zammit S, Gunnell DJ, Moran PA, Micali N, Reichenberg A, Hickman M, Rai D, Haworth S, Campbell A, Altschul D, Flaig R, McIntosh AM, Lawlor DA, Porteous D, Timpson NJ (2020) Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in two longitudinal UK population cohorts. Br J Psychiatry 218(6):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2020.242
Luchetti M, Lee JH, Aschwanden D, Sesker A, Strickhouser JE, Terracciano A, Sutin AR (2020) The trajectory of loneliness in response to COVID-19. Am Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000690
Lyubomirsky S, Lepper H (1999) A measure of subjective happiness: preliminary reliability and construct validation. Soc Indic Res 46:137–155
Manwell LA, Barbic SP, Roberts K, Durisko Z, Lee C, Ware E, McKenzie K (2015) What is mental health? Evidence towards a new definition from a mixed methods multidisciplinary international survey. BMJ Open 5(6):e007079. https://doi.org/10.1136/BMJOPEN-2014-007079
McClelland H, Evans JJ, Nowland R, Ferguson E, O’Connor RC (2020) Loneliness as a predictor of suicidal ideation and behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. J Affect Disord 274:880–896
Ministry of Health, New Zealand, COVID-19 Health and Wellbeing Survey (2020)
Myers DG, Diener E (1995) Who is happy? Psychol Sci 6(1):10–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00298.x
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) (2021) Household pulse survey, mental health
Peterson C (2005) Authentic Happiness Inventory (AHI). University of Pennsylvania press, Philadelphia
Preetz R, Filser A, Brömmelhaus A, Baalmann T, Feldhaus M (2021) Longitudinal changes in life satisfaction and mental health in emerging adulthood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Risk Prot Factors 9(5):602–617. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968211042109
Prinzing MM, Zhou J, West TN, Le Nguyen KD, Wells JL, Fredrickson BL (2020) Staying ‘in sync’ with others during COVID-19: Perceived positivity resonance mediates cross-sectional and longitudinal links between trait resilience and mental health. J Posit Psychol 359:1–16
Pugno M (2004) The happiness paradox: a formal explanation from psyco-economics. Working paper, Department of Economics, University Trento
Radloff LS (1977) The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas 1(3):385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306
Robinson E, Sutin AR, Daly M, Jones A (2021) A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies comparing mental health before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Affect Disord 296:567–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.09.098
Santomauro DF, Mantilla Herrera AM, Shadid J, Zheng P, Ashbaugh C, Pigott DM, Abbafati C, Adolph C, Amlag JO, Aravkin AY, Bang-Jensen BL, Bertolacci GJ, Bloom SS, Castellano R, Castro E, Chakrabarti S, Chattopadhyay J, Cogen RM, Collins JK, Ferrari AJ (2021) Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet 398(10312):1700–1712. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02143-7
Settersten RA, Bernardi L, Härkönen J, Antonucci TC, Dyk- stra, P. A., Heckhausen, J., Kuh, D., Mayer, K. U., Moen, P., Mortimer, J. T., Mulder, C. H., Smeeding, T. M., van der Lippe, T., Hagestad, G. O., Kohli, M., Levy, R., Schoon, I., & Thomson, E. (2020) Understanding the effects of Covid-19 through a life course lens. Adv Life Course Res 45:100360. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ALCR.2020.100360
Shilpa SN, Prasad R (2017) Self-efficacy, perceived stress and hap- piness among students. In: 2017 international conference on advances in computing, communications, and informatics (ICACCI). IEEE, pp 2105–2109
Sommerlad A, Marston L, Huntley J, Livingston G, Lewis G, Steptoe A, Fancourt D (2021) Social relationships and depres- sion during the COVID-19 lockdown: longitudinal analysis of the COVID-19 social study. Psychol Med. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721000039
The Gallup World Poll and Lloyd’s Register Foundation (2020) The present annex to the World Happiness Report (WHR), chapter 4 of the WHR—urban-rural happiness differentials across the world, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Thoits PA (2010) Stress and health: major findings and policy implications. J Health Soc Behav 51(1_suppl):S41–S53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146510383499
Wetherall K, Cleare S, McClelland H, Oconnor RC (2022) Mental health and well-being during the second wave of COVID-19: longitudinal analyses of the UK COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing study (UK COVID-MH). Bjpsych Open 8(4):e103. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.58. (1–10)
Williams CY, Townson AT, Kapur M et al (2021) Interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness during COVID-19 physical distancing measures: a rapid systematic review. PLoS ONE 16:e0247139
Yildirim M, Arslan G (2020) Exploring the associations between re- silience, dispositional hope, preventive behaviours, subjective well- being, and psychological health among adults during early stage of COVID-19. Curr Psychol Adv Online Publ. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01177-2
Yildirim M, Güler A (2021) Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness. Pers Individ Differ 168:110347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110347
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The author declare that have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Because this study negotiates sampling with limited and maximum efficiency and effort in Bali, some urban and rural areas are surveyed. I cannot rule out the possibility that this may bias the recruitment sample, thus limiting the generalizability of the results of this study to the entire Bali Island population. However, this is a limitation of this study.
About this article
Cite this article
Mayuzumi, Y. After the COVID-19 pandemic, are residents in rural areas happier than those in urban areas?. Asia-Pac J Reg Sci 7, 1055–1090 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41685-023-00312-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41685-023-00312-8