Stress’s association with subjective well-being around the globe, and buffering by affluence and prosocial behavior

Abstract

ABSTRACT We tested the generality of stress’s association with lower subjective well-being in a large-scale, representative sample. We found that stress is associated with all three major forms of subjective well-being – life satisfaction, positive feelings, and low negative feelings – around the world. However, the associations were stronger with positive and negative feelings than with life satisfaction. Prosocial behavior was related to higher life satisfaction and positive feelings around the world, and also buffered the effects of stress on positive feelings, and depending on the world region, the other two components of SWB as well. Stress was less associated with lower life satisfaction in poorer (than richer) nations, but the opposite pattern held for positive and negative affect. Thus, prosocial behavior seems to generally raise well-being and buffer against stress, while higher affluence can both dampen and amplify the associations of stress and well-being.