Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

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 SARGAUYTE; 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 IŞIK; Eric R. IGOU; David O. IGBOKWE; Diana HANKE-BOER; Alin GAVRELIUC; Ragna B. GARÐARSDÓTTIR; Márta FÜLÖP; Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA; Carla Sofia ESTEVES; Alejandra DOMINGUEZ-ESPINOSA; Patrick DENOUX; Salome CHARKVIANI; Arno BALTIN; Douglas AREVALO; Lily APPOH; Charity AKOTIA; Mladen ADAMOVIC; Yukiko UCHIDA

doi:10.1177/00220221221134711

Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

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 TEYSSIERChien-Ru SUN, Ursula SERDAREVICH, Beate SCHWARZ, Ruta SARGAUYTE, 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 IŞIK, Eric R. IGOU, David O. IGBOKWE, Diana HANKE-BOER, Alin GAVRELIUC, Ragna B. GARÐARSDÓTTIR, Márta FÜLÖP, Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA, Carla Sofia ESTEVES, Alejandra DOMINGUEZ-ESPINOSA, Patrick DENOUX, Salome CHARKVIANI, Arno BALTIN, Douglas AREVALO, Lily APPOH, Charity AKOTIA, Mladen ADAMOVIC, Yukiko UCHIDA

^*Corresponding author for this work

Lingnan University

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family’s well-being. 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, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries .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.

Original language	English
Article number	002202212211347
Pages (from-to)	323-339
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Volume	54
Issue number	3
Early online date	23 Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221134711
Publication status	Published - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre under grant 2020/38/E/ HS6/00357; the Hungarian OTKA under grant K-135963; the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development –CNPq under grant 301298/2018-1; the Czech Science Foundation CSF under grant 20-08583S, by the NPO, Systemic Risk Institute, LX22NPO510, EU - Next Generation EU and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science RF FZEW-2020-0005.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Keywords

culture
family
happiness
interdependent happiness
life satisfaction
relational mobility
well-being

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/00220221221134711

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Cite this

KRYS, K., YEUNG, J. C., HAAS, B. W., VAN OSCH, Y., KOSIARCZYK, A., KOCIMSKA-ZYCH, A., TORRES, C., SELIM, H. A., ZELENSKI, J. M., BOND, M. H., PARK, J., LUN, V. M.-C., MARICCHIOLO, F., VAUCLAIR, C., POLÁČKOVÁ ŠOLCOVÁ, I., SIRLOPÚ, D., XING, C., VIGNOLES, V. L., VAN TILBURG, W. A. P., ... UCHIDA, Y. (2023). Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 54(3), 323-339. Article 002202212211347. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221134711

@article{780db0d9db34462d98f6147e7504a455,

title = "Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures",

abstract = "People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family{\textquoteright}s well-being. 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{\textquoteright}s ds = .20, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries .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.",

keywords = "culture, family, happiness, interdependent happiness, life satisfaction, relational mobility, well-being",

author = "Kuba KRYS and YEUNG, {June Chun} and HAAS, {Brian W.} and {VAN OSCH}, Yvette and Aleksandra KOSIARCZYK and Agata KOCIMSKA-ZYCH and Claudio TORRES and SELIM, {Heyla A.} and ZELENSKI, {John M.} and BOND, {Michael Harris} and Joonha PARK and LUN, {Vivian Miu-Chi} and Fridanna MARICCHIOLO and Christin-melanie VAUCLAIR and {POL{\'A}{\v C}KOV{\'A} {\v S}OLCOV{\'A}}, Iva and David SIRLOP{\'U} and Cai XING and VIGNOLES, {Vivian L.} and {VAN TILBURG}, {Wijnand A. P.} and Julien TEYSSIER and Chien-Ru SUN and Ursula SERDAREVICH and Beate SCHWARZ and Ruta SARGAUYTE and Espen R{\O}YSAMB and Vladyslav ROMASHOV and Muhammad RIZWAN and Zoran PAVLOVI{\'C} and Vassilis PAVLOPOULOS and Ayu OKVITAWANLI and Azar NADI and Martin NADER and MUSTAFFA, {Nur Fariza} and Elke MURDOCK and Oriana MOSCA and Tamara MOHORI{\'C} and {BARRIENTOS MARROQUIN}, {Pablo Eduardo} and Arina MALYONOVA and Xinhui LIU and LEE, {J. Hannah} and Anna KWIATKOWSKA and Nicole KRONBERGER and {KLŮZOV{\'A} KR{\'A}{\v C}MAROV{\'A}}, Lucie and Natalia KASCAKOVA and {\.I}dil I{\c S}IK and IGOU, {Eric R.} and IGBOKWE, {David O.} and Diana HANKE-BOER and Alin GAVRELIUC and GAR{\DH}ARSD{\'O}TTIR, {Ragna B.} and M{\'a}rta F{\"U}L{\"O}P and Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA and ESTEVES, {Carla Sofia} and Alejandra DOMINGUEZ-ESPINOSA and Patrick DENOUX and Salome CHARKVIANI and Arno BALTIN and Douglas AREVALO and Lily APPOH and Charity AKOTIA and Mladen ADAMOVIC and Yukiko UCHIDA",

note = "Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre under grant 2020/38/E/ HS6/00357; the Hungarian OTKA under grant K-135963; the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development –CNPq under grant 301298/2018-1; the Czech Science Foundation CSF under grant 20-08583S, by the NPO, Systemic Risk Institute, LX22NPO510, EU - Next Generation EU and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science RF FZEW-2020-0005. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2023.",

year = "2023",

month = may,

doi = "10.1177/00220221221134711",

language = "English",

volume = "54",

pages = "323--339",

journal = "Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology",

issn = "0022-0221",

publisher = "Sage Publications",

number = "3",

}

KRYS, K, YEUNG, JC, HAAS, BW, VAN OSCH, Y, KOSIARCZYK, A, KOCIMSKA-ZYCH, A, TORRES, C, SELIM, HA, ZELENSKI, JM, BOND, MH, PARK, J, LUN, VM-C, MARICCHIOLO, F, VAUCLAIR, C, POLÁČKOVÁ ŠOLCOVÁ, I, SIRLOPÚ, D, XING, C, VIGNOLES, VL, VAN TILBURG, WAP, TEYSSIER, J, SUN, C-R, SERDAREVICH, U, SCHWARZ, B, SARGAUYTE, R, RØYSAMB, E, ROMASHOV, V, RIZWAN, M, PAVLOVIĆ, Z, PAVLOPOULOS, V, OKVITAWANLI, A, NADI, A, NADER, M, MUSTAFFA, NF, MURDOCK, E, MOSCA, O, MOHORIĆ, T, BARRIENTOS MARROQUIN, PE, MALYONOVA, A, LIU, X, LEE, JH, KWIATKOWSKA, A, KRONBERGER, N, KLŮZOVÁ KRÁČMAROVÁ, L, KASCAKOVA, N, IŞIK, I, IGOU, ER, IGBOKWE, DO, HANKE-BOER, D, GAVRELIUC, A, GARÐARSDÓTTIR, RB, FÜLÖP, M, GAMSAKHURDIA, V, ESTEVES, CS, DOMINGUEZ-ESPINOSA, A, DENOUX, P, CHARKVIANI, S, BALTIN, A, AREVALO, D, APPOH, L, AKOTIA, C, ADAMOVIC, M & UCHIDA, Y 2023, 'Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures', Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, vol. 54, no. 3, 002202212211347, pp. 323-339. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221134711

TY - JOUR

T1 - Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

AU - KRYS, Kuba

AU - YEUNG, June Chun

AU - HAAS, Brian W.

AU - VAN OSCH, Yvette

AU - KOSIARCZYK, Aleksandra

AU - KOCIMSKA-ZYCH, Agata

AU - TORRES, Claudio

AU - SELIM, Heyla A.

AU - ZELENSKI, John M.

AU - BOND, Michael Harris

AU - PARK, Joonha

AU - LUN, Vivian Miu-Chi

AU - MARICCHIOLO, Fridanna

AU - VAUCLAIR, Christin-melanie

AU - POLÁČKOVÁ ŠOLCOVÁ, Iva

AU - SIRLOPÚ, David

AU - XING, Cai

AU - VIGNOLES, Vivian L.

AU - VAN TILBURG, Wijnand A. P.

AU - TEYSSIER, Julien

AU - SUN, Chien-Ru

AU - SERDAREVICH, Ursula

AU - SCHWARZ, Beate

AU - SARGAUYTE, Ruta

AU - RØYSAMB, Espen

AU - ROMASHOV, Vladyslav

AU - RIZWAN, Muhammad

AU - PAVLOVIĆ, Zoran

AU - PAVLOPOULOS, Vassilis

AU - OKVITAWANLI, Ayu

AU - NADI, Azar

AU - NADER, Martin

AU - MUSTAFFA, Nur Fariza

AU - MURDOCK, Elke

AU - MOSCA, Oriana

AU - MOHORIĆ, Tamara

AU - BARRIENTOS MARROQUIN, Pablo Eduardo

AU - MALYONOVA, Arina

AU - LIU, Xinhui

AU - LEE, J. Hannah

AU - KWIATKOWSKA, Anna

AU - KRONBERGER, Nicole

AU - KLŮZOVÁ KRÁČMAROVÁ, Lucie

AU - KASCAKOVA, Natalia

AU - IŞIK, İdil

AU - IGOU, Eric R.

AU - IGBOKWE, David O.

AU - HANKE-BOER, Diana

AU - GAVRELIUC, Alin

AU - GARÐARSDÓTTIR, Ragna B.

AU - FÜLÖP, Márta

AU - GAMSAKHURDIA, Vladimer

AU - ESTEVES, Carla Sofia

AU - DOMINGUEZ-ESPINOSA, Alejandra

AU - DENOUX, Patrick

AU - CHARKVIANI, Salome

AU - BALTIN, Arno

AU - AREVALO, Douglas

AU - APPOH, Lily

AU - AKOTIA, Charity

AU - ADAMOVIC, Mladen

AU - UCHIDA, Yukiko

N1 - Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre under grant 2020/38/E/ HS6/00357; the Hungarian OTKA under grant K-135963; the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development –CNPq under grant 301298/2018-1; the Czech Science Foundation CSF under grant 20-08583S, by the NPO, Systemic Risk Institute, LX22NPO510, EU - Next Generation EU and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science RF FZEW-2020-0005. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023.

PY - 2023/5

Y1 - 2023/5

N2 - People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family’s well-being. 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, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries .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.

AB - People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family’s well-being. 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, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries .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.

KW - culture

KW - family

KW - happiness

KW - interdependent happiness

KW - life satisfaction

KW - relational mobility

KW - well-being

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149537802&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/00220221221134711

DO - 10.1177/00220221221134711

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

SN - 0022-0221

VL - 54

SP - 323

EP - 339

JO - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

JF - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

IS - 3

M1 - 002202212211347

ER -

Family First : Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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