The influence of holiday-taking on affect and contentment

•Over time, holiday-taking has a positive reciprocal relationship with the cognitive component of happiness.•Over time, holiday-taking is not related to the affective component of happiness.•The cross-sectional relationship between holiday-taking and happiness is concave.•Holidays may be instrumental in living up to individual or social standards.•Happiness most likely cannot be enduringly raised by increasing the holiday frequency.

This study addresses the question whether and to what extent holiday behavior and happiness influence each other over time. To capture these relationships a cross-lagged panel model is specified and estimated using data from a four-wave panel of Dutch respondents. The results show that, over time, holiday-taking has a positive reciprocal relationship with the cognitive component of happiness. However, holiday-taking is not related to the affective component of happiness. Hence, those who go on holiday judge the conditions of their lives as more optimal, but do not generally feel better. Theoretically, the results suggest that (in the long term) holidays trips may be instrumental in living up to certain individual or social standards, but are unable to enduringly raise happiness.