According to the judgment model, general life satisfaction and positivity should have a greater influence on global domains of satisfaction than on specific aspects of satisfaction which are assumed to be more influenced by relevant objective information. Level of positivity varies from person to person and it has been established that societies differ in average disposition towards positivity (Diener, Napa Scollon, Oishi, Dzokoto and Suh, 2000). This paper presents the results of life satisfaction studies collected from 2009 to 2011 on a total sample of 1298 Croatian residents. All the participants rated satisfaction with life, satisfaction with global domains of relationship with other people and health as well as corresponding specific aspects of those domains. Participants also completed demographic data questionnaire. Factor analysis on the total sample and subsamples of participants from the coastal region (N = 448) and continental areas (N = 293) indicated a two-factor structure of the life satisfaction questionnaire, while factor analysis on the subsample of participants from Zagreb (N = 233) and from the islands (N = 258) revealed 3 and 4 significant factors respectively. By comparing satisfaction levels for global domains with corresponding specific aspects of satisfaction it is possible to assess disposition toward positivity. General satisfaction included as a predictor in the regression equation after satisfaction with specific aspects accounts for the statistically significant additional variance of satisfaction as a global domain of relationships with others for all regional subsamples. For the health domain, general satisfaction predicted a significant additional variance with general satisfaction with health for the Zagreb and island samples. Participants from Zagreb show positivity in assessing the health domain, while participants from the islands show a tendency toward negativity. Male participants from the majority of regional subsamples showed less pronounced positivity disposition, particularly for the health satisfaction domain.

life satisfaction, judgment model, positivity