Personal Life Satisfaction as a Measure of Societal Happiness is an Individualistic Presumption: Evidence from Fifty Countries

Kuba Krys (), Joonha Park, Agata Kocimska-Zych, Aleksandra Kosiarczyk, Heyla A. Selim, Agnieszka Wojtczuk-Turek, Brian W. Haas, Yukiko Uchida, Claudio Torres, Colin A. Capaldi, Michael Harris Bond, John M. Zelenski, Vivian Miu-Chi Lun, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Christin-Melanie Vauclair, Iva Poláčková Šolcová, David Sirlopú, Cai Xing, Vivian L. Vignoles, Wijnand A. P. Tilburg, Julien Teyssier, Chien-Ru Sun, Stanislava Stoyanova, Ursula Serdarevich, Beate Schwarz, Ruta Sargautyte, Espen Røysamb, Vladyslav Romashov, Muhammad Rizwan, Zoran Pavlović, Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Yvette Osch, Ayu Okvitawanli, Azar Nadi, Martin Nader, Mustaffa Nur Fariza, Oriana Mosca, Tamara Mohorić, Pablo Eduardo Barrientos, Arina Malyonova, Xinhui Liu, J. Hannah Lee, Anna Kwiatkowska, Nicole Kronberger, Lucie Klůzová Kračmárová, Natalia Kascakova, İdil Işık, Eric R. Igou, David O. Igbokwe, Diana Hanke-Boer, Alin Gavreliuc, Ragna B. Garðarsdóttir, Márta Fülöp, Vladimer Gamsakhurdia, Carla Sofia Esteves, Alejandra Domínguez-Espinosa, Patrick Denoux, Salome Charkviani, Arno Baltin, Arévalo D. M. Mira, Lily Appoh, Isabelle Albert, Charity S. Akotia and Mladen Adamovic
Additional contact information
Kuba Krys: Polish Academy of Sciences
Joonha Park: NUCB Business School
Agata Kocimska-Zych: SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Aleksandra Kosiarczyk: SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Heyla A. Selim: King Saud University
Agnieszka Wojtczuk-Turek: Warsaw School of Economics
Brian W. Haas: University of Georgia
Yukiko Uchida: Kyoto University
Claudio Torres: University of Brasilia
Colin A. Capaldi: Carleton University
Michael Harris Bond: Hong Kong Polytechnic University
John M. Zelenski: Carleton University
Vivian Miu-Chi Lun: Lingnan University
Fridanna Maricchiolo: University of Roma Tre
Christin-Melanie Vauclair: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL
Iva Poláčková Šolcová: Czech Academy of Sciences
David Sirlopú: Universidad del Desarrollo
Cai Xing: Renmin University of China
Vivian L. Vignoles: University of Sussex
Wijnand A. P. Tilburg: University of Essex
Julien Teyssier: Université Toulouse II
Chien-Ru Sun: National Chengchi University
Stanislava Stoyanova: South-West University “Neofit Rilski”
Ursula Serdarevich: Universidad Nacional de La Matanza
Beate Schwarz: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Ruta Sargautyte: Vilnius University
Espen Røysamb: University of Oslo
Vladyslav Romashov: Polish Academy of Sciences
Muhammad Rizwan: The Delve Pvt Ltd
Zoran Pavlović: University of Belgrade
Vassilis Pavlopoulos: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Yvette Osch: Tilburg University
Ayu Okvitawanli: University Ngurah Rai
Azar Nadi: Polish Academy of Sciences
Martin Nader: Universidad ICESI
Mustaffa Nur Fariza: International Islamic University Malaysia
Oriana Mosca: University of Cagliari
Tamara Mohorić: University of Rijeka
Pablo Eduardo Barrientos: Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
Arina Malyonova: Dostoevsky Omsk State University
Xinhui Liu: Renmin University of China
J. Hannah Lee: Indiana University Northwest
Anna Kwiatkowska: Polish Academy of Sciences
Nicole Kronberger: Institute for Education and Psychology, Johannes Kepler University Linz
Lucie Klůzová Kračmárová: Palacký University
Natalia Kascakova: Palacky University
İdil Işık: Istanbul Bilgi University
Eric R. Igou: University of Limerick
David O. Igbokwe: Baze University Abuja, Federal Capital Territory
Diana Hanke-Boer: University of Koblenz-Landau
Alin Gavreliuc: West University of Timisoara
Ragna B. Garðarsdóttir: University of Iceland
Márta Fülöp: Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Vladimer Gamsakhurdia: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Carla Sofia Esteves: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL
Alejandra Domínguez-Espinosa: Iberoamerican University
Patrick Denoux: University of Essex
Salome Charkviani: University of Oslo
Arno Baltin: Tallinn University
Arévalo D. M. Mira: HULAB, Comprometidos con tu desarrollo
Lily Appoh: Nord University
Isabelle Albert: University of Luxembourg
Charity S. Akotia: University of Ghana
Mladen Adamovic: Monash University

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2021, vol. 22, issue 5, No 12, 2197-2214

Abstract: Abstract Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with individualism. Implications for happiness studies and for policy makers are signaled.

Keywords: Family happiness; Interdependent happiness; Life satisfaction; Self-construals; Individualism; Collectivism; Well-being; Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10902-020-00311-y

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