Life Satisfaction is More Strongly Correlated with Flourishing Than Cantril's Ladder.

R Noah Padgett, Chris Felton, Brendan Case, Tim Lomas, Byron Johnson, Tyler VanderWeele

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Applied research in quality of life, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

R Noah PadgettDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA.

Chris FeltonInstitute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, USA.

Brendan CaseHuman Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.

Tim LomasHuman Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.

Byron JohnsonInstitute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, USA.

Tyler VanderWeeleDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Policymakers and scholars alike seek an informative single-item measure of subjective well-being. While single-item measures are inherently limited, a single-item indicator can be time-sensitive, reliable, and valid if well-constructed for a particular purpose. Such as providing a population level summary of evaluative aspects of subjective well-being. We compare two measures of evaluative well-being: life satisfaction ( Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-026-10623-5.

Indexed as

Cantril's ladderEvaluative well-beingLife satisfactionMeasurementWell-being

Identifiers

PMID42818770

DOI10.1007/s11482-026-10623-5

PMCPMC13624039

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.