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In happier countries, citizens who perceive social pressure to be happier report worse well-being than those in countries with lower national happiness, according to a study published in
«Scientific Reports».
The researchers of the
university of tilburg
(Netherlands) analyzed how perceived social pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive, and clinical indicators of well-being and how this relationship changes with countries’ national happiness scores (World Happiness Index).
They surveyed 7,443 people from 40 countries regarding their emotional well-being, life satisfaction (cognitive well-being), and mood complaints (clinical well-being) and asked them to report their perception of social expectations of feeling positive.
The authors found that social pressure to be happy and not sad was common in all the countries analyzed. Such pressure was correlated with citizens reporting poor well-being, but there were variations when comparing between countries.
Poor well-being included lower life satisfaction, experiencing fewer and less intense positive emotions, and more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. For most well-being indicators, the relationship between social pressure to be happy and poor well-being was nearly twice as strong in countries with higher scores on the World Happiness Index than in countries with lower national happiness scores.
The countries included in the study that were rated as happier in the World Happiness Index included the Netherlands and Canadawhile countries rated least happy included Uganda and Senegal.
The level of happiness that people feel pressured to achieve can be unattainable and reveal differences between the emotional life of a person and the emotions that society approves of. This discrepancy between an individual and society can create a perception of failure that can trigger negative emotions.
In countries where all citizens seem to be happy, deviations from the expected norm are probably more evident, which makes them more distressing”, Egon Dejonckheere, says the author of the research.
The authors conclude that high levels of national happiness may not necessarily indicate greater well-being for all people within a country.
