Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of Two Samples
| MIDUS II (n = 2,012)2 | MIDUS Refresher (n = 779) | Difference test3 | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M or % | SD | M or % | SD | |||
| Demographic and heath covariates | ||||||
| Age | 56.21 | 12.20 | 47.86 | 12.66 | 16.06 | <.001 |
| Sex, male | 43% | 44% | 0.64 | .424 | ||
| Race, White | 84% | 85% | 0.12 | .730 | ||
| Education1 | 7.26 | 2.52 | 8.01 | 2.44 | −7.16 | <.001 |
| Physical health | 3.56 | 1.01 | 3.57 | 1.09 | −0.10 | .917 |
| Main variables | ||||||
| Activity diversity | 71.72 | 14.48 | 73.35 | 12.82 | −2.92 | <.001 |
| Total activity time (in hours) | 11.61 | 4.71 | 12.40 | 4.22 | −4.28 | <.001 |
| Positive emodiversity | 95.79 | 7.75 | 94.98 | 8.00 | 2.47 | .013 |
| Mean positive emotions | 2.72 | 0.71 | 2.53 | 0.75 | 6.38 | <.001 |
| Total # of days with positive emotions | 7.24 | 1.39 | 7.30 | 1.58 | −0.82 | .415 |
| Negative emodiversity | 19.47 | 19.71 | 23.07 | 21.04 | −4.13 | <.001 |
| Mean negative emotions | 0.21 | 0.28 | 0.23 | 0.29 | −1.94 | .052 |
| Total # of days with negative emotions | 7.35 | 1.30 | 7.36 | 1.51 | −0.22 | .823 |
Notes: MIDUS = Midlife in the United States Study.
1Education was coded on a 12-level scale, where 7 means 3 or more years of college education (no degree yet) and 8 means graduated from 2-year college, vocational school, or have an associate degree.
2Of 2,012 MIDUS II sample, n = 179 (9%) were Milwaukee subsample. We controlled for Milwaukee subsample (vs not) in subsequent analyses using MIDUS II data. The nature of all effects was consistent with and without the Milwaukee subsample. There was no Milwaukee subsample who participated in the diary study of MIDUS Refresher.
3 t-Tests were used for continuous variables; chi-squared tests were used for categorical variables.