01 Mar 10

Real World Wellbeing

The term ‘wellbeing’ is a very general term for what people collectively agree makes ‘a good life’.

We had a hunch that the recession would not only affect the finances of the average household but would also impact on their general wellbeing, so we set about testing this theory using our Real World Street. 

To re-cap, our Real World Street comprises of ten ‘average’ households within one neighbourhood in Livingston, West Lothian. Essentially it is a qualitative research panel that enables us to observe people in their natural environment which provides a more deeply illuminating picture of how they go about everyday life than the one dimensional format of the TGI screen or in the artificial environment of the viewing lab. The findings below have been drawn from the initial phase of our Real World Wellbeing study.

In the Indulgence Era (pre-recession), the mindset and behaviour of the average household was driven, both socially and individually, by an ambition to trade-up. The general consensus was that to have ‘a good life’ you strived to be happy, healthy and, most importantly, prosperous. As a result, wellbeing was closely associated with material possessions and status. Households were under a lot of pressure and at times lived beyond their means on cheap credit.

However, the impact of the recession has fundamentally changed how the average household approaches their wellbeing. Over the past year we suspected that ‘value’ had become increasingly important and our findings support this belief:

• Real World Street households have been reviewing their current situation (e.g. financial position, work-life balance, physical health, to name but few) and re-evaluating what matters most.

• These households are now more likely to try to minimise their exposure to risk by paying more attention to the consequences of their choices that can affect a wide array of their lifestyle issues e.g. “Job security is nice but I never take this for granted any more…”, “I will continue to shop carefully as I have discovered that I can save quite a lot through shopping online.”.

• Our households are starting to employ the use of opportunity-cost analysis for decisions affecting their wellbeing. Whilst they still have material aspirations they are now looking for trade-offs to help avert any untoward consequences - balance has become the new mantra for the average household.

To explore these concepts further keep an eye out for Real World Wellbeing’s full report, coming shortly.