Explaining Differences in Subjective Well-Being Across 33 Nations Using Multilevel Models: Universal Personality, Cultural Relativity, and National Income

This multinational study simultaneously tested three prominent hypotheses—universal disposition, cultural relativity, and livability—that explained differences in subjective well‐being across nations. We performed multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships at b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of personality Vol. 84; no. 1; pp. 46 - 58
Main Authors:	Cheng, Cecilia, Cheung, Mike W.-L., Montasem, Alex
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-02-2016
Subjects:	Adult Cross-Cultural Comparison Extraversion Female Humans Income Income - statistics & numerical data Individual differences Interpersonal Relations Life satisfaction Male Models, Psychological National income Negative emotions Neuroticism Personal Satisfaction Personality Personality psychology Positive emotions Psychological aspects Quality of life Self Concept Selfconstrual Social Behavior Social Identification Students - psychology Students - statistics & numerical data Undergraduate students Universities Well being Young Adult
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Summary:	This multinational study simultaneously tested three prominent hypotheses—universal disposition, cultural relativity, and livability—that explained differences in subjective well‐being across nations. We performed multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships at both individual and cultural levels in 33 nations. Participants were 6,753 university students (2,215 men; 4,403 women; 135 did not specify), and the average age of the entire sample was 20.97 years (SD = 2.39). Both individual‐ and cultural‐level analyses supported the universal disposition and cultural relativity hypotheses by revealing significant associations of subjective well‐being with Extraversion, Neuroticism, and independent self‐construal. In addition, interdependent self‐construal was positively related to life satisfaction at the individual level only, whereas aggregated negative affect was positively linked with aggregate levels of Extraversion and interdependent self‐construal at the cultural level only. Consistent with the livability hypothesis, gross national income (GNI) was related to aggregate levels of negative affect and life satisfaction. There was also a quadratic relationship between GNI and aggregated positive affect. Our findings reveal that universal disposition, cultural self‐construal, and national income can elucidate differences in subjective well‐being, but the multilevel analyses advance the literature by yielding new findings that cannot be identified in studies using individual‐level analyses alone.
Bibliography:	Hong Kong Research Grants Council's General Research Fund - No. HKU742312H ArticleID:JOPY12136 Doris Zimmern HKU-Cambridge Hughes Hall Fellowship istex:0BC56E402A421FC80714E42D4BD3EC81E1F3FBEA Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research - No. 201211159079 ark:/67375/WNG-1ZCVDG0Q-D ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0022-3506 1467-6494
DOI:	10.1111/jopy.12136