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This study explores the determinants (demographic, personal, behavioural, and social) by which happy and unhappy people differ. The primary sample from which the participants were chosen was a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4000). On the basis of the distribution of overall happiness the sample of the highest (the happy group) and the lowest 10 % of participants (the unhappy group) were selected. The happy group (N = 400) represented the upper end of the happiness distribution, while the unhappy group (N = 400) represented the lower end of the distribution. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics (age, gender, income, and education), ratings of subjective health status, satisfaction with specific personal and national domains (IWI-International Wellbeing Index), trust in people, and trust in institutions. Frequency of various leisure activities, and involvement in the community life were also reported. The differences in examined variables were analysed between the two groups. Results showed that the happy individuals were younger, with higher income, and with higher education than unhappy ones. After controlling for age, income, and education level, the happy people were found to be more satisfied with personal and national wellbeing domains, of better subjective health status, reported higher trust in people and institutions, and were more engaged in leisure activities and community life than the unhappy ones.

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The study examined the relationships between physical activity levels and satis-faction with physical appearance, perceived health and affective well-being. Data were collected from the research project on well-being in Croatia (CRO-WELL project). The sample, N=2751 aged 19-81, consisted of adult Internet users who completed an on-line survey. Participants rated their satisfaction with physical appearance and their health status. Well-being was assessed by The Scale of positive and negative experience and participants reported how much they experienced positive (6 items) and negative feelings (6 items) over the last month. Two physical activities frequency measures included how many days a week participants were engaged in a vigorous physical activity such as fitness and sport, as well as in moderate physical activity such as walking and gardening. Personality traits, socio-demographic characteristics, and objective health measures were reported and controlled in analyses. The results of regression analyses showed that satisfaction with physical appearance was predicted positively by both measures of physical activities. Satisfaction with health was pre-dicted positively only by engagement in a vigorous physical activity. Concerning the affective well-being, both vigorous and moderate physical activities had a predictive role in experiencing positive feelings over the last month. Experiencing more negative feelings over the last month was predicted by less vigorous physical activities, howe- ver, the predictive value was small. The findings of the study highlight the differential role of vigorous and moderate levels of physical activity in a person’s life and help in understanding their relationships with different measures of well-being, perceived physical appearance and health. Key words: physical activity, physical appearance, affective well-being, health