1. Family first
- Author
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Kuba Krys, June Chun Yeung, Brian W. Haas, Yvette van Osch, Aleksandra Kosiarczyk, Agata Kocimska-Zych, Claudio Torres, Heyla A. Selim, John M. Zelenski, Michael Harris Bond, Joonha Park, Vivian Miu-Chi Lun, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Christin-Melanie Vauclair, Iva Poláčková Šolcová, David Sirlopú, Cai Xing, Vivian L. Vignoles, Wijnand A. P. van Tilburg, Julien Teyssier, Chien-Ru Sun, Ursula Serdarevich, Beate Schwarz, Ruta Sargautyte, Espen Røysamb, Vladyslav Romashov, Muhammad Rizwan, Zoran Pavlović, Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Ayu Okvitawanli, Azar Nadi, Martin Nader, Nur Fariza Mustaffa, Elke Murdock, Oriana Mosca, Tamara Mohorić, Pablo Eduardo Barrientos Marroquin, Arina Malyonova, Xinhui Liu, J. Hannah Lee, Anna Kwiatkowska, Nicole Kronberger, Lucie Klůzová Kráčmarová, 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, Douglas Arevalo, Lily Appoh, Charity Akotia, Mladen Adamovic, Yukiko Uchida, Krys, Kuba, Chun Yeung, June, Haas, Brian W., van Osch, Yvette, Kosiarczyk, Aleksandra, Kocimska-Zych, Agata, Torres, Claudio, Selim, Heyla A., Zelenski, John M., Bond, Michael Harri, Park, Joonha, Lun, Vivian Miu-Chi, Maricchiolo, Fridanna, Vauclair, Christin-Melanie, Poláčková Šolcová, Iva, Sirlopú, David, Xing, Cai, Vignoles, Vivian L., van Tilburg, Wijnand A. P., Teyssier, Julien, Sun, Chien-Ru, Serdarevich, Ursula, Schwarz, Beate, Sargautyte, Ruta, Røysamb, Espen, Romashov, Vladyslav, Rizwan, Muhammad, Pavlović, Zoran, Pavlopoulos, Vassili, Okvitawanli, Ayu, Nadi, Azar, Nader, Martin, Mustaffa, Nur Fariza, Murdock, Elke, Mosca, Oriana, Mohorić, Tamara, Barrientos Marroquin, Pablo Eduardo, Malyonova, Arina, Liu, Xinhui, Lee, J. Hannah, Kwiatkowska, Anna, Kronberger, Nicole, Klůzová Kráčmarová, Lucie, Kascakova, Natalia, Işık, İdil, Igou, Eric R., Igbokwe, David O., Hanke-Boer, Diana, Gavreliuc, Alin, Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B., Fülöp, Márta, Gamsakhurdia, Vladimer, Esteves, Carla Sofia, Domínguez-Espinosa, Alejandra, Denoux, Patrick, Charkviani, Salome, Baltin, Arno, Arevalo, Dougla, Appoh, Lily, Akotia, Charity, Adamovic, Mladen, and Uchida, Yukiko
- Subjects
Cultural Studies ,family ,Social Psychology ,relational mobility ,Culture ,Happiness ,Interdependent happiness ,Well-being ,Relational mobility ,family, happiness, well-being, interdependent happiness, life satisfaction, culture, relational mobility ,culture ,well-being ,interdependent happiness ,Anthropology ,happiness ,Family ,Life satisfaction ,life satisfaction - Abstract
People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s wellbeing. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49), We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20 with country levels varying from -.02 to almost .48), but ubiquitous, i.e., direction presented in 98% of the studied countries, 73-75% with statistical significance and < 2% variance across countries. We also found that the size of this effect did vary somewhat across cultural contexts. In Latin American cultures highest on relational mobility, the idealization of family over personal happiness was very small (average Cohen’s ds for Latin America = .15 and .18), while in Confucian Asia cultures lowest on relational mobility, this effect was closer to medium (ds > .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country level individualism-collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers, and by progressive movements too.
- Published
- 2023