The Sainsbury's Living Well Index - A landmark study carried out by Oxford Economics and the National Centre for Social Research
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WAVE 3 FINDINGS
The Sainsbury’s
Living Well Index
A landmark study carried out by Oxford Economics
and the National Centre for Social Research
WAVE 3 FINDINGS
SEPTEMBER 2018Contents UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 0.01 TUESDAY
WAVE 22 MAY 2018
3 FINDINGS
03 1 Headline findings
04 2 Overview
06 3 Deeper insightsWAVE 3 FINDINGS
1. Headline findings
The UK’s overall wellbeing score is unchanged from the last survey (carried out in January
2018), and still 0.5 points below the Living Well Index’s first score when it launched one
year ago.
This is despite seasonal effects that might have been expected to be particularly strong
for a survey carried out during July 2018, given this year’s summer heatwave and World
Cup festivities.
Increased scores:
The biggest positive change from the previous survey is in the amount of leisure time people
reported spending outdoors.
Time spent chatting to neighbours also shows a significant increase.
A longitudinal analysis1 of the responses suggests that switching from renting to owning a home,
is a key factor associated with the increase in people interacting more with their neighbours.
Decreased scores:
The new Index also shows some significant decreases in people’s perceived wellbeing,
particularly in the ‘relationships’ and ‘social connections’ categories.
The most notable relationship decrease is in the perceived strength of respondents’ support
networks, with an across-the-board decline in the strength of their responses to questions
about the people they rely on most.
There is also a surprising drop in the ‘frequency of eating socially’ score, despite this survey
taking place during the summer barbeque season.
A longitudinal analysis of these responses shows that people who had become single over
1
A longitudinal analysis is
the past six months were significantly more likely to now be eating socially less regularly than
the study of responses to the
the national average. same questions obtained
from the same respondents
over a series of time periods.
The Sainsbury’s Living Well Index 3WAVE 3 FINDINGS
2. Overview
The UK’s sense of wellbeing has fallen since the launch of the Living Well Index a year ago.
The overall Index score of 60.7 is still 0.5 points below the launch score, which was based on
surveys conducted in April-May 2017. And the latest Index shows no change in the nation’s
mood since the previous (January 2018) survey, despite the record breaking heatwave this
summer, a World Cup and a royal wedding.
The national wellbeing score is derived from survey questions covering 23 topics across six
broad themes: social connections; finances; relationships; health; lifestyle; and environment.
The UK’s sense
of wellbeing
Getting outdoors and chatting to neighbours led to positive increases has fallen
since the
The biggest increase over the January 2018 survey is seen in the environment category,
driven in part by a large rise in the amount of leisure time people spent outdoors (which our
launch of the
model shows has a significant positive independent association with people’s wellbeing). Living Well
Forty four per cent of the respondents in July said they spent time outdoors ‘at least Index a year
several times a week’, compared to 31 per cent in January – a seasonal result presumably ago
enhanced by the sustained good weather the UK has experienced this summer.
Chatting to neighbours also showed a considerable increase, with the number of people
who reported such interactions ‘at least once or twice a week’ rising from 41 to 49 per cent.
However, significant decreases in some respondents’ perceived wellbeing counteracted these
increases. The key positive and negative factors are summarised in Fig.1.
Getting
outdoors and
chatting to
neighbours
led to
positive
increases
The Sainsbury’s Living Well Index 4WAVE 3 FINDINGS
Fig. 1. Key factors determining the new overall Index score, relative to Wave II2
Wave III Wave II
Contribution to Index score, 0-100 scale
5.0
4.5
4.3
4.0
4.1
4.0
3.8
3.5 3.7
3.5 3.6
3.4
3.0
2.5
2.4
2.0
2.1
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Support network Sex life Eating socially Leisure time Chatting to
outdoors neighbours
Source: Oxford Economics
Changes in relationships and social connections led to negative declines
The latest wave of the Living Well Index shows significant declines in the average scores for
two of the six major themes: ‘relationships’ and ‘social connections’.
The most notable relationship decrease is in the perceived strength of respondents’ support 2
Alongside factors illustrated
networks. This is reflected in an across-the-board decline in the strength of responses to in the chart the contribution
from all other factors in the
questions about the people we rely on most, whether to make us feel happy and loved, to
Living Well Index rose from
support and take care of us, or simply to accept us for who we are. 43.3 in wave II to 43.4 in wave
III ensuring that the headline
Within the relationships category, we also see a modest decline in the number of people in score remained unchanged.
relationships and a decline in the number of people reporting they’re satisfied or very satisfied
with their sex lives.
Within the social connections category, there is a surprising drop in the ‘eating socially’ score
(down by 0.25 points from January 2018), despite this survey having been carried out during
the summer ‘barbeque season’. Overall, 29 per cent of adults reported eating alone most or
all of the time, compared to 26 per cent six months earlier; whether this is a lasting trend is a
matter for future surveys.
The Sainsbury’s Living Well Index 5WAVE 3 FINDINGS
3. Deeper insights
Why are people eating socially less often?
We can shed further light on the factors behind behavioural changes revealed in the survey
by dividing our longitudinal sample for each question into three buckets of answers: ‘I do it People who are
less frequently’; ‘There’s been no change’ and ‘I do it more frequently’. We map each of these no longer in a
groups against other reported changes in that person’s life over the same period.
relationship
A longitudinal analysis of the ‘eating socially’ responses across Waves II and III finds that
were
people who are no longer in a relationship were significantly more likely to eat alone more significantly
often, while those who started a relationship over the past six months (having previously been more likely
single) were more likely to eat socially more regularly, bucking the national trend (see Fig. 2). to eat alone
more often
Overall, a quarter (24.8 per cent) of respondents in the longitudinal analysis said they ate
socially less often in July than they did in January, while 17.6 per cent of respondents reported
eating socially more often.
Fig. 2. Reported changes in social eating habits between Waves II and III
More frequent Stayed the same Less frequent
Share of respondents by change in frequency of social eating and change in parenting status
Now in a
relationship
27.9% 45.7% 26.4%
but previously
were not
National 17.6% 57.6% 24.8%
average
Were previously
in a relationship 11.4% 42.9% 45.7%
but no longer are
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Source: Oxford Economics anlysis of NatCen data
The Sainsbury’s Living Well Index 6WAVE 3 FINDINGS
Why are people chatting to their neighbours more often?
Once again, we used a longitudinal analysis of Wave II and III responses to shed light on
factors associated with the overall increase in the ‘chatting with neighbours’ Index score.
Our analysis reveals that:
People who became homeowners over the past six months were significantly more likely A third more
than average to report chatting to their neighbours more frequently. How often we chat people chatted
to our neighbours is positively independently associated with our sense of wellbeing,
to their
potentially capturing a wider sense of “belonging” in our local environment.
neighbours
Overall, the national trend was for a third more people to chat more frequently to their more
neighbours in July than in January – a finding that is likely to have been largely driven by frequently
the improved weather. in July than
January
Fig. 3. Frequency of neighbourly interactions compared with changes in life situation between Waves II and III
More frequent Stayed the same Less frequent
Share of respondents by change in frequency of chatting to neighbours
National
average 33.0% 50.3% 16.7%
Became an 41.9% 48.2% 9.9%
active parent
Became a
46.0% 32.0% 22.0%
home owner
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Source: Oxford Economics anlysis of NatCen data
Take part in a simplified version of the Sainsbury’s Living Well Index, get a
personal Living Well score, and receive simple suggestions on how to close your
own living well gap by visiting www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/living-well-index
The Sainsbury’s Living Well Index 7WAVE 3 FINDINGS
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