A cross-cultural study on the association between societal conditions and the idealization of happiness

Xiaobin Lou; Brian W Haas; John M Zelenski; Cai Xing; Vivian L Vignoles; Christin-Melanie Vauclair; Wijnand A. P van Tilburg; Yukiko Uchida; Julien Teyssier; Claudio Torres; Chien-Ru Sun; Stanislava Stoyanova; Maria Stogianni; Iva Poláčková Šolcová; David Sirlopú; Ursula Serdarevich; Heyla A Selim; Rūta Sargautytė; Espen Røysamb; Vladyslav Romashov; Muhammad Rizwan; Zoran Pavlovid; Vassilis Pavlopoulos; Joonha Park; Yvette van Osch; Ayu Okvitawanli; Azar Nadi; Martin Nader; Nur Fariza Mustaffa; Elke Murdock; Oriana Mosca; Tamara Mohoric; Pablo Eduardo Barrientos Marroquin; Fridanna Maricchiolo; Arina Malyonova; Magdalena Łużniak-Piecha; Vivian Miu-Chi Lun; Xinhui Liu; Liman Man Wai Li; J. Hannah Lee; Anna Kwiatkowska; Nicole Kronberger; Olga Kostoula; Aleksandra Kosiarczyk; Agata Kocimska-Zych; Lucie Klůzová Kračmárová; Natalia Kascakova; İdil Işık; Eric Raymond Igou; David O Igbokwe; Diana Boer; Alin Gavreliuc; Ragna B Garðarsdóttir; Vladimer Gamsakhurdia; Márta Fülöp; Carla Sofia Esteves; Alejandra Dominguez-Espinosa; Patrick Denoux; Michael Harris Bond; Arno Baltin; Douglas Arevalo; Lily Appoh; Isabelle Albert; Charity S Akotia; Mladen Adamovic; Kuba Krys

doi:10.1007/s11482-025-10462-w

Title	A cross-cultural study on the association between societal conditions and the idealization of happiness
Authors	Lou, Xiaobin ; Haas, Brian W ; Zelenski, John M ; Xing, Cai ; Vignoles, Vivian L ; Vauclair, Christin-Melanie ; van Tilburg, Wijnand A. P ; Uchida, Yukiko ; Teyssier, Julien ; Torres, Claudio ; Sun, Chien-Ru ; Stoyanova, Stanislava ; Stogianni, Maria ; Šolcová, Iva Poláčková ; Sirlopú, David ; Serdarevich, Ursula ; Selim, Heyla A ; Sargautytė, Rūta ; Røysamb, Espen ; Romashov, Vladyslav ; Rizwan, Muhammad ; Pavlovid, Zoran ; Pavlopoulos, Vassilis ; Park, Joonha ; van Osch, Yvette ; Okvitawanli, Ayu ; Nadi, Azar ; Nader, Martin ; Mustaffa, Nur Fariza ; Murdock, Elke ; Mosca, Oriana ; Mohoric, Tamara ; Marroquin, Pablo Eduardo Barrientos ; Maricchiolo, Fridanna ; Malyonova, Arina ; Łużniak-Piecha, Magdalena ; Lun, Vivian Miu-Chi ; Liu, Xinhui ; Li, Liman Man Wai ; Lee, J. Hannah ; Kwiatkowska, Anna ; Kronberger, Nicole ; Kostoula, Olga ; Kosiarczyk, Aleksandra ; Kocimska-Zych, Agata ; Kračmárová, Lucie Klůzová ; Kascakova, Natalia ; Işık, İdil ; Igou, Eric Raymond ; Igbokwe, David O ; Boer, Diana ; Gavreliuc, Alin ; Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B ; Gamsakhurdia, Vladimer ; Fülöp, Márta ; Esteves, Carla Sofia ; Dominguez-Espinosa, Alejandra ; Denoux, Patrick ; Bond, Michael Harris ; Baltin, Arno ; Arevalo, Douglas ; Appoh, Lily ; Albert, Isabelle ; Akotia, Charity S ; Adamovic, Mladen ; Krys, Kuba
DOI	10.1007/s11482-025-10462-w
Full Text
Is Part of	Applied research in quality of life.. Springer Science and Business Media B.V.. 2025, vol. 20, iss. 3, p. 1289-1313.. ISSN 1871-2584. eISSN 1871-2576
Keywords [eng]	family happiness ; happiness idealization ; interdependent happiness ; random forests ; religiosity ; Satisfaction with Life
Abstract [eng]	Although most people aspire to be happy, the extent to which people pursue or idealize experiencing high levels of happiness does differ according to sociocultural context. This study was designed to elucidate which societal and cultural indicators are the most conducive to fostering high levels of happiness idealization. To accomplish this goal, we measured levels of happiness idealization for 11,170 participants residing in 43 different countries. We utilized machine learning (random forests approach) to examine how well an array of 18 different societal and cultural-level indicators were associated with country-level happiness idealization. We found robust and consistent evidence that greater cultural religiosity was associated with reduced idealization of happiness across four different types of happiness, including life satisfaction and interdependent happiness. These findings demonstrated that how much happiness is pursued varies considerably according to sociocultural context and highlights the role of cultural religiosity in shaping how people think about high levels of happiness.
Published	Springer Science and Business Media B.V
Type	Journal article
Language	English
Publication date	2025
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„A cross-cultural study on the association between societal conditions and the idealization of happiness“