Górski, MR and Costin, V and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Igou, ER and Joshanloo, M and Sokolov, B and Haas, BW and Bond, MH and Roczniewska, M and Yeung, VWL and Gjoneska, B and Chan, PS-F and Hussain, MA and Vauclair, C-M and Liu, J and Sánchez-Rodríguez, Á and Buźniak, A and Guemaz, F and Boussena, M and Iter, N and Vlasenko, O and Lun, VM-C and Li, LMW and Aminnuddin, NA and Işık, İ and Ndiaye, DG and Fülöp, M and Igbokwe, D and Adamovic, M and Garðarsdóttir, RB and Soboleva, N and Teyssier, J and Glückstad, FK and Park, J and Akaliyski, P and Akello, G and Almakaeva, A and Al-Zoubi, M and Andrade, L and Anić, P and Appoh, L and Bakyono-Nabaloum, R and Baltin, A and Czukor, G and Denoux, P and Domínguez Espinosa, A and El Sayed, V and Espinosa, A and Gamsakhurdia, V and Garvanova, M and Gavreliuc, A and Henk, K and Iqbal, N and Kascakova, N and Kazimzade, E and Kocimska-Bortnowska, A and Kronberger, N and Lauri, MA and Lee, JH and Lou, X and Malyonov, A and Malyonova, A and Mohammed, L and Mokadem, F and Mosanya, M and Mosca, O and Murdock, E and Myślińska-Szarek, K and Nader, M and Ochoa, D and Okvitawanli, A and Olechowski, M and Palikot, E and Pavlović, Z and Poláčková Šolcová, I and Reza-A-Rabby, M and Rizwan, M and Rocha, AM and Samekin, A and Selim, H and Sobhie, R and Sun, C-R and Tønnessen, M and Torres, C and Thanh Trà, KT and Turjačanin, V and Vergara-Morales, J and Wasiel, A and Xing, C and Yakhlef, B and Yang, J-W and Yau, EK and Yeung, JC and Zelenski, J and Krys, K (2026) Cultural variability in the link between affect and meaning in life: Evidence from 69 countries. Emotion. (In Press)
Górski, MR and Costin, V and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Igou, ER and Joshanloo, M and Sokolov, B and Haas, BW and Bond, MH and Roczniewska, M and Yeung, VWL and Gjoneska, B and Chan, PS-F and Hussain, MA and Vauclair, C-M and Liu, J and Sánchez-Rodríguez, Á and Buźniak, A and Guemaz, F and Boussena, M and Iter, N and Vlasenko, O and Lun, VM-C and Li, LMW and Aminnuddin, NA and Işık, İ and Ndiaye, DG and Fülöp, M and Igbokwe, D and Adamovic, M and Garðarsdóttir, RB and Soboleva, N and Teyssier, J and Glückstad, FK and Park, J and Akaliyski, P and Akello, G and Almakaeva, A and Al-Zoubi, M and Andrade, L and Anić, P and Appoh, L and Bakyono-Nabaloum, R and Baltin, A and Czukor, G and Denoux, P and Domínguez Espinosa, A and El Sayed, V and Espinosa, A and Gamsakhurdia, V and Garvanova, M and Gavreliuc, A and Henk, K and Iqbal, N and Kascakova, N and Kazimzade, E and Kocimska-Bortnowska, A and Kronberger, N and Lauri, MA and Lee, JH and Lou, X and Malyonov, A and Malyonova, A and Mohammed, L and Mokadem, F and Mosanya, M and Mosca, O and Murdock, E and Myślińska-Szarek, K and Nader, M and Ochoa, D and Okvitawanli, A and Olechowski, M and Palikot, E and Pavlović, Z and Poláčková Šolcová, I and Reza-A-Rabby, M and Rizwan, M and Rocha, AM and Samekin, A and Selim, H and Sobhie, R and Sun, C-R and Tønnessen, M and Torres, C and Thanh Trà, KT and Turjačanin, V and Vergara-Morales, J and Wasiel, A and Xing, C and Yakhlef, B and Yang, J-W and Yau, EK and Yeung, JC and Zelenski, J and Krys, K (2026) Cultural variability in the link between affect and meaning in life: Evidence from 69 countries. Emotion. (In Press)
Górski, MR and Costin, V and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Igou, ER and Joshanloo, M and Sokolov, B and Haas, BW and Bond, MH and Roczniewska, M and Yeung, VWL and Gjoneska, B and Chan, PS-F and Hussain, MA and Vauclair, C-M and Liu, J and Sánchez-Rodríguez, Á and Buźniak, A and Guemaz, F and Boussena, M and Iter, N and Vlasenko, O and Lun, VM-C and Li, LMW and Aminnuddin, NA and Işık, İ and Ndiaye, DG and Fülöp, M and Igbokwe, D and Adamovic, M and Garðarsdóttir, RB and Soboleva, N and Teyssier, J and Glückstad, FK and Park, J and Akaliyski, P and Akello, G and Almakaeva, A and Al-Zoubi, M and Andrade, L and Anić, P and Appoh, L and Bakyono-Nabaloum, R and Baltin, A and Czukor, G and Denoux, P and Domínguez Espinosa, A and El Sayed, V and Espinosa, A and Gamsakhurdia, V and Garvanova, M and Gavreliuc, A and Henk, K and Iqbal, N and Kascakova, N and Kazimzade, E and Kocimska-Bortnowska, A and Kronberger, N and Lauri, MA and Lee, JH and Lou, X and Malyonov, A and Malyonova, A and Mohammed, L and Mokadem, F and Mosanya, M and Mosca, O and Murdock, E and Myślińska-Szarek, K and Nader, M and Ochoa, D and Okvitawanli, A and Olechowski, M and Palikot, E and Pavlović, Z and Poláčková Šolcová, I and Reza-A-Rabby, M and Rizwan, M and Rocha, AM and Samekin, A and Selim, H and Sobhie, R and Sun, C-R and Tønnessen, M and Torres, C and Thanh Trà, KT and Turjačanin, V and Vergara-Morales, J and Wasiel, A and Xing, C and Yakhlef, B and Yang, J-W and Yau, EK and Yeung, JC and Zelenski, J and Krys, K (2026) Cultural variability in the link between affect and meaning in life: Evidence from 69 countries. Emotion. (In Press)
Abstract
People tend to evaluate their lives as more meaningful when they experience more positive affect and less negative affect. However, most evidence for this association comes from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies, which are culturally distinctive in their strong emphasis on happiness. To assess the cross-cultural generality of the affect-meaning link, we conducted the largest cross-cultural investigation of this association to date. Between 2022 and 2024, we collected data from 18,672 individuals across 69 countries spanning all inhabited continents. Across cultures, the association between affect and meaning was largely robust: positive affect was positively related to meaning in life in 62 countries, and negative affect was negatively related to meaning in 57 countries. At the same time, substantial cross-cultural variation emerged. Multilevel analyses indicated that both associations were, on average, somewhat stronger in WEIRD countries than in most other regions. Moreover, a cross-level interaction showed that the links between affect (both positive and negative) and meaning were stronger in countries that more strongly idealize happiness, even after accounting for national differences in wealth, religiosity and life satisfaction. Cross-cultural differences were more pronounced for the association between negative affect and meaning than for the association involving positive affect. Meaning was consistently associated with all eight discrete emotions. However, cultural valuation of happiness moderated only the associations with fear, shame, sadness, anger, and gratitude, with weaker evidence for relaxedness and excitement, and no moderation observed for love. Together, these findings suggest that while affective experiences are a widespread basis for evaluating meaning in life, their psychological significance is amplified in WEIRD cultural contexts that place greater emphasis on happiness.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | meaning in life, positive affect, negative affect, happiness idealization, culture |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health > Psychology, Department of |
| SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
| Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jun 2026 10:21 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jun 2026 10:21 |
| URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43442 |