Impacts of Different Forms of Poverty Measurement on Variatons of the Personal Wellbeing Index

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of different forms of poverty measurement on variations of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) of poor and non-poor individuals. Comparative analyzes were performed with the Student's t-test and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) in a comparative perspective of different forms of poverty measurement. The sample consisted of 731 Brazilian subjects, 57% from a northeastern state and 43% form a southern state, with a mean age of 36,7 years (SD = 16,0). Monetary and multidimensional measures of poverty were used. The results indicate that, regardless of the form of poverty measurement, there is a negative impact on PWI. However, the use of the multidimensional perspective seems to have a greater capacity to identify the psychosocial impacts of poverty.