The Interplay of Education and Age on Happiness: Bridging Analysis with Islamic Values
Main Article Content
Abstract
Building upon the growing interest in the determinants of subjective well-being (SWB), this study analyzes the interaction between education and age on subjective well-being (SWB) in Indonesia. The novelty of this research lies in the finding that the relationship between age and SWB depends on education. This finding has yet to be widely discussed in the literature on the relationship between age and SWB, which mostly concludes that age and SWB exhibit a U-shaped pattern. Happiness, the dependent variables, is used as proxy for SWB. The data is the latest wave of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), provided by RAND Corporation. Generalized ordinal logistic regression, or the partial proportional odds model, is employed as the estimation method, considering the ordinal nature of the dependent variables in this study and the violation of the proportional odds assumption. The findings indicate that increased level of education strenghten the positive the relationship between age and SWB, up to a certain point. However, the results suggest that for individuals with higher levels of education, the probability of feeling very unhappy may increase with age, particularly after age 70. Based on the findings, it is recommended that policies aim to provide educational opportunities for individuals, especially in their earlier years, to promote well-being and reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes such as feeling very unhappy in later life. From an Islamic perspective, the balance between worldly knowledge and spiritual well-being is emphasized. As individuals age, particularly those with higher education, managing expectations becomes crucial. Islam encourages individuals to be content (shukr) with their life circumstances and to find peace in their trust in Allah (tawakkal). This study found that religiosity and contentment significantly influence happiness. Therefore, policies should focus on educational opportunities and integrate support for spiritual well-being, helping individuals cultivate gratitude and inner peace as they age.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
License
This journal is based on the work available at http://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/ijief/ under a license from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms, which include the following:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Abdelali, B. Z., & Tarshany, Y. M. (2020). The Concept of Intellect in the Noble Quran and the Ways of Preserve It: A Qur’anic Study. Jurnal Al-Turath, 5(2), 85–102. http://spaj.ukm.my/jalturath
Agrawal, S., Sharma, N., Dhayal, K. S., & Esposito, L. (2024). From economic wealth to well-being: exploring the importance of happiness economy for sustainable development through systematic literature review. Quality and Quantity, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-024-01892-z
Araki, S. (2022). Does Education Make People Happy? Spotlighting the Overlooked Societal Condition. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(2), 587–629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00416-y
Baetschmann, G. (2012). Heterogeneity in the relationship between happiness and age: Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel. SOEPpapers on Multidiciplinary Panel Data Research, 472, 393–410. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12015
Bartram, D. (2024). To Evaluate the Age–Happiness Relationship, Look Beyond Statistical Significance. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(1–2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00728-9
Beja, E. L. (2018). The U-shaped relationship between happiness and age: evidence using world values survey data. Quality and Quantity, 52(4), 1817–1829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0570-z
Bertermann, A., Kamhöfer, D. A., & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch. (2023). More Education Does Make You Happier-Unless You Are Unemployed (16454). https://www.diw.de/documents/dokumentenarchiv/17/diw_01.c.44985.de/soep_cnef_access_procedures_2014.pdf.
Blanchflower, D. G. (2021). Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries. Journal of Population Economics, 34(2), 575–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-020-00797-z
Blanchflower, D. G., Graham, C., & Piper, A. (2023). HAPPINESS AND AGE - RESOLVING THE DEBATE. National Institute Economic Review, 263, 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/nie.2023.1
Chapra, M. U. (2008). The Islamic Vision of Development in the Light of Maqāsid Al-Sharī’ah. The Islamic Research and Teaching Institute (IRTI). https://www.kau.edu.sa/GetFile.aspx?id=136524
Cosco, T. D., Howse, K., & Brayne, C. (2017). Healthy ageing, resilience and wellbeing. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 26(6), 579–583. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796017000324
Dang, T. N. H., & Sukontamarn, P. (2020). Education and Subjective Well-Being among Older Vietnamese: Exploring Gender Differences. Journal of Population and Social Studies, 28(1), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.25133/jpssv28n1.002
Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The economics of happiness. Daedalus, 133(2), 26–33. https://doi.org/10.1162/001152604323049361
Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002). What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2), 402–435. https://doi.org/10.1257/002205102320161320
Frijters, P., & Beatton, T. (2012). The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 82(2), 525–542. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2012.03.008
Halstead, J. M. (2004). An Islamic concept of education. Comparative Education, 40(4), 517–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305006042000284510
Helliwell, J. F., Norton, M. B., Huang, H., & Wang, S. (2018). Happiness at Different Ages: The Social Context Matters. http://www.nber.org/papers/w25121
Hou, T., Zhang, R., Xie, Y., Yin, Q., Cai, W., Dong, W., & Deng, G. (2022). Education and subjective well-being in Chinese rural population: A multi-group structural equation model. PLoS ONE, 17(3 March), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264108
Kadi, W. (2006). Education in Islam - Myths and truths. Comparative Education Review, 50(3), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1086/504818
Khayat, M. H. (1997). Health: an Islamic Perspective. World Health Organization.
Klausen, S. H. (2020). Understanding Older Adults’ Wellbeing from a Philosophical Perspective. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(7), 2629–2648. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10902-019-00197-5
Kristoffersen, I. (2018). Great expectations: Education and subjective wellbeing. Journal of Economic Psychology, 66, 64–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2018.04.005
Krueger, A. B., & Schkade, D. A. (2008). The reliability of subjective well-being measures. Journal of Public Economics, 92(8–9), 1833–1845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.12.015
Liu, X., & Koirala, H. (2012). Ordinal regression analysis: Using generalized ordinal logistic regression models to estimate educational data. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 11(1), 242–254. https://doi.org/10.22237/jmasm/1335846000
Moirangthem, S., & Panda, S. (2018). Happiness across Age Groups: Findings Based on Three Measures. International Journal of Health Sciences & Research (Www.Ijhsr.Org), 8(10), 15–25. www.ijhsr.org
Ndayambaje, E., Nkundimana, B., Pierewan, A. C., Nizeyumukiza, E., & Ayriza, Y. (2020). Marital status and subjective well-being: Does education level take into account? Cakrawala Pendidikan, 39(1), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.21831/cp.v39i1.29620
Nikolaev, B., & Rusakov, P. (2016). Education and happiness: an alternative hypothesis. Applied Economics Letters, 23(12), 827–830. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2015.1111982
Pratiwi, N. M., & Kismiantini. (2019). Implementing ordinal regression model for analyzing happiness level in Indonesia. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1320(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1320/1/012015
Rasciute, S., Downward, P., & Simmons, N. (2023). Valuation of subjective wellbeing and the role of marital status: Linear versus ordinal estimators. Economic Modelling, 123, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106260
Schneider, L., & Schimmack, U. (2009). Self-Informant Agreement in Well-Being Ratings : A Meta-Analysis. Social Indicators Research, 94(3), 363–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/sU205-009-9440-y
Spuling, S. M., Huxhold, O., & Wurm, S. (2017). Predictors of self-rated health: Does education play a role above and beyond age? Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 72(3), 415–424. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbv057
Stack, S., & Ross Eshleman, J. (1998). Marital Status and Happiness: A 17-Nation Study. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(2), 527–536. https://www.jstor.org/stable/353867
Taufik, T., Dumpratiwi, A. N., Prihartanti, N., & Daliman, D. (2021). Elderly Muslim Wellbeing: Family Support, Participation in Religious Activities, and Happiness. The Open Psychology Journal, 14(1), 76–82. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874350102114010076
Tran, D. B., Pham, T. D. N., & Nguyen, T. T. (2021). The influence of education on women’s wellbeing: Evidence from Australia. PLoS ONE, 16(3 March), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247765
Wang, Z., & Sohail, M. T. (2022). Short- and Long-Run Influence of Education on Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Information and Communication Technology in China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.927562
Yew-Kwang Ng. (2021). Happiness—Concept, Measurement and Promotion. In Happiness—Concept, Measurement and Promotion. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4972-8
Zhang, L., Zhu, N., Li, W., Li, C., & Kong, F. (2022). Cognitive-affective structure of gratitude and its relationships with subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 196, 1–7. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111758
Zhang, Z., Zhao, Y., Du, H., Adelijiang, M., & Zhang, J. (2024). Educational Quality of the University of the Third Age and Subjective Well-being: Based on a Perspective of Self-determination. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 19(4), 2103–2123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10323-y