Abstract
Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People’s felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.
Highlights
Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy
Unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels
Feeling social pressure to be happy and not sad is associated with reduced life satisfaction, experiencing less frequent and intense positive, but more frequent and intense negative emotions, and more symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress (|r|s ≥ 0.05, ps ≤ 0.050)
Summary
Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an Scientific Reports | (2022) 12:1514. Unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). The cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some. For nations more broadly, social indicators research consistently illustrates that happy inhabitants indicate societal flourishing on economic, social, and political fronts[18] Together, these favorable outcomes explain people’s natural tendency to value happiness, both for themselves and their fellow man
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