Knowing what makes us happy is one of humanity’s greatest quests. Throughout our history, we have produced volume after volume of related theories, and the search for answers continues today.

In the modern context, a fresh study published by local authors suggests that living in Gozo and avoiding politics are two factors which contributed to better levels of well-being.

The authors looked into self-reported levels of life satisfaction and found out that the sister island consistently scored higher.

Conversely, negative factors for life satisfaction included an interest in politics and living overseas.

The research – part of a larger study by University of Malta academics Marie Briguglio, Gilmour Camilleri and Melchior Vella – has been published in the International Journal of Well-Being.

Explaining their findings, Briguglio said: “Being a returned migrant (having lived abroad and recently returned to Malta) is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction.

“Other studies find differing results, depending on whether the person is a short- or long-term migrant, as well as the receiving country.”

Briguglio discussed the link they discovered between following politics and lower life satisfaction, arguing that it merits further investigation.

She said that it would be interesting to know “whether this was associated with the particular time the survey was conducted or whether politics really is a negative determinant of life satisfaction.”

In the same way, further research needs to be held to discover what makes Gozo more alluring.

Engaging with the environment increases satisfaction

The study also reported that environmental engagement leads to better levels of life satisfaction.

Briguglio was quick to point out that by extension, “this suggests that environmental degradation and lack of access to nature harm life satisfaction in the long term.”

Less surprisingly, quality education and physical fitness were reported as important determinants of well-being.

Religious engagement also leads to a more positive outlook, while unemployment and ill health lead to a negative one.

The research’s main focus on artists and artistic engagement revealed that those who do engage in music and literature report higher overall satisfaction.

However, many in the local context prefer to stick to traditional forms of expression, the local feast being a prime example.

On the other hand, due to reasons such as a lack of interest, time or choices, events that include art exhibitions or dance performances are much less popular.

Results of the research were identified by building a statistical model based on local data. Over 1,000 respondents had answered questions related to their lifestyles and what makes them feel satisfied (NSO – Cultural Participation Survey, 2017).

Applying this trove of data, the researchers used the different variables to predict how life satisfaction is influenced by people’s lifestyles.