TY - JOUR
T1 - Vacations Over the Years
T2 - A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis of Tourism Experiences and Subjective Well-Being in the Netherlands
AU - Mitas, Ondrej
AU - Kroesen, Maarten
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Tourism experiences, also called vacations, are known to boost subjective well-being, although it has been argued that the effects are primarily affective in nature and short-lived. We argue that this is a methodological artifact due to the brief duration—1 year or less—of almost all extant longitudinal studies of tourism experience effects. Based on broaden-and-build and personal resource theories, we hypothesize that tourism experiences contribute to both affective and cognitive components of subjective well-being over a multi-year timespan. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models, we tested these hypotheses in 8 years of panel data based on a representative sample of the population of the Netherlands. We found both between- and within-individual effects of vacation frequency on cognitive as well as affective well-being. More frequent vacationers experienced higher life satisfaction and lower negative affect, while the average participant also experienced slightly higher life satisfaction and positive affect following a year with higher vacation frequency. Increases in life satisfaction also predicted more frequent vacationing in a following year, consistent with an “upward spiral” pattern of improving well-being based on accumulation of positive experiences, as suggested by the broaden-and-build theory.
AB - Tourism experiences, also called vacations, are known to boost subjective well-being, although it has been argued that the effects are primarily affective in nature and short-lived. We argue that this is a methodological artifact due to the brief duration—1 year or less—of almost all extant longitudinal studies of tourism experience effects. Based on broaden-and-build and personal resource theories, we hypothesize that tourism experiences contribute to both affective and cognitive components of subjective well-being over a multi-year timespan. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models, we tested these hypotheses in 8 years of panel data based on a representative sample of the population of the Netherlands. We found both between- and within-individual effects of vacation frequency on cognitive as well as affective well-being. More frequent vacationers experienced higher life satisfaction and lower negative affect, while the average participant also experienced slightly higher life satisfaction and positive affect following a year with higher vacation frequency. Increases in life satisfaction also predicted more frequent vacationing in a following year, consistent with an “upward spiral” pattern of improving well-being based on accumulation of positive experiences, as suggested by the broaden-and-build theory.
KW - Affect
KW - Cross-lagged panel model
KW - Experiences
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Panel data
KW - Tourism
KW - Vacations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076199282&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10902-019-00200-z
DO - 10.1007/s10902-019-00200-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076199282
SN - 1389-4978
VL - 21
SP - 2807
EP - 2826
JO - Journal of Happiness Studies
JF - Journal of Happiness Studies
IS - 8
ER -