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Happiness levels in SA took a dive after latest alcohol ban – Study

Researchers say happiness levels in South Africa have improved since the beginning of the lockdown, writes Riaan Grobler for News24. But the 12 July ban on the sale of alcohol led to an immediate decrease in happiness levels.

The research is being conducted by Gross National Happiness, which measures the real-time sentiment of a country by analysing tweets.

Initial research had seen happiness levels increase since the beginning of the lockdown, but the re-imposed ban on alcohol, the prolonged ban on tobacco products, as well as a fear of job losses and economic uncertainty, have had an adverse effect on happiness.

On 26 March South Africa went into lockdown, Grobler writes for News24. There is conclusive evidence of substantial happiness losses due to the lockdown. Happiness decreased from an average of 6.32 before COVID-19 to a low of 5.35 with the announcement of the lockdown regulations – a happiness loss of more than 15%.

Happiness levels recovering

The team found that as the lockdown progresses (115 days under lockdown by 20 July), people are adapting to the changed circumstances, and happiness levels are recovering, notwithstanding the lockdown regulations.

The Gross National Happiness team comprises Professor Talita Greyling of the University of Johannesburg and Dr Stephanié Rossouw of the Auckland University of Technology, in collaboration with Afstereo, according to News24.

The happiness index is constructed by monitoring and extracting the tweets of South Africans, New Zealanders and Australians, and analysing the sentiment of these tweets. A sentiment score is allocated to each tweet, classifying the tweet as either negative, neutral or positive. The sentiment scores are then used in a sentiment balance algorithm to derive Gross National Happiness (GNH). The GNH is measured on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being very unhappy and 10 being very happy.

The researchers found that on the upside of the lockdown, staying at home, though previously negatively related to happiness, is now positively related to happiness, thus interestingly the staying-at-home order in itself increases happiness.

Alcohol ban decreases happiness

On the downside, the alcohol ban (tobacco ban) and the fear of losing jobs decrease happiness, continues Grobler for News24. Interestingly, neither the number of Covid-19 cases nor the number of Covid-19 deaths have any effect on happiness.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s re-imposition of the alcohol ban on Sunday 12 July ned to an immediate decrease in happiness levels, which reached an all-time per hour low of 4.2 at 20:00 on Sunday evening.

Further decreases in happiness are due to a fear of job losses and the general economic deterioration. Analysing the tweets, the researchers found that a fear of what the future holds on an economic front is a major concern.

 

[link url="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/happiness-levels-in-sa-took-a-dive-after-alcohol-ban-reimposed-study-20200720"]Happiness levels in SA took a dive after alcohol ban reimposed – Study[/link]

 

 

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