An analysis of data from the World Values Survey of developing and developed countries found that national citizenship, national pride, and global citizenship all predict life satisfaction. Although the positive effect of national pride on well-being was weaker for individuals who strongly identified as global citizens, those high on both measures still reported the highest overall life satisfaction. The paper is scientific report.
Identity is an individual’s understanding of who they are, where they belong, and how they relate to others. It is shaped by individual characteristics, values, experiences, and membership in various social groups. An important aspect of identity is the relationship a person has with his or her country and with humanity as a whole.
There are several aspects to these relationships. National pride is the emotional attachment people feel to their country, its culture, history, and shared traditions. National citizenship is a more cognitive or thought-based form of civic identity based on membership in a political community.
On the other hand, people can also have a sense of belonging to humanity as a whole, which is called global citizenship. This broader identity is associated with greater empathy for people in other societies. It also involves fairer consideration of others and stronger support for cross-border cooperation.
Social identity theory suggests that identification with the nation may enhance self-esteem by allowing individuals to view themselves as members of respected social groups. However, national identity can be harmful if it relies on hostility toward outsiders or promotes xenophobia, prejudice against people from other countries. National citizenship and global citizenship may seem contradictory because one emphasizes national uniqueness and the other emphasizes universal inclusion.
Nevertheless, people can integrate these identities by caring deeply for their country, while at the same time recognizing their obligations to humanity and helping to solve global problems. Study author Glenn Spiteri and his colleagues wanted to investigate the relationship between national citizenship, global citizenship, and subjective well-being. The researchers noted that previous research has shown that both a stronger national identity and a stronger sense of oneness with all humanity are associated with better subjective well-being.
Theoretically, national identity and identification with all humanity should be based on contradictory psychological mechanisms. It may be somewhat surprising that both are positively associated with psychological well-being. The authors aimed to clarify these relationships by analyzing data from waves 5 and 6 of the World Values Survey. The World Values Survey is a large-scale international research program that examines people’s values, beliefs, attitudes, and social views across countries and over time.
The fifth wave of data was collected from 2005 to 2009, and the sixth wave was conducted from 2010 to 2016. In total, the data used in this study was obtained from 100,650 respondents from 69 countries. The number of participants in each country in wave 5 ranged from 479 in Morocco to 2,681 in Egypt. In wave 6, the smallest sample was again 150 participants from Morocco, while the largest sample was 3,218 participants from India.
In this analysis, the study authors used an assessment of participants’ perceptions of global citizenship and national citizenship. Participants rated statements such as “I consider myself a citizen of the world” and “I consider myself a citizen of a nation (such as France).” The researchers also looked at national pride, life satisfaction, and various demographic data. Life satisfaction was used as a proxy measure, or pragmatic proxy, for psychological well-being.
Results showed that all three indicators of identity, including global citizenship, national citizenship, and national pride, were associated with higher life satisfaction. But there was also an interplay between national pride and global citizenship. The association between national pride and life satisfaction tended to be lower for individuals who strongly identified as global citizens. Additionally, the link between global citizenship and life satisfaction tended to be weaker for individuals with strong national pride.
Nevertheless, individuals who experienced both high national pride and high global citizenship tended to report the highest overall life satisfaction. Furthermore, there was a positive interaction between national pride and national identity, meaning that their combined influence on life satisfaction was cooperative. The study authors concluded, “Our findings suggest that despite the seemingly competing nature of national and global identifications, their common effects on well-being remain additive. They point to the need for future research into the psychological mechanisms and behavioral consequences underlying these joint identifications.”
This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the link between psychological well-being and group identity. However, it should be noted that all data were self-reported, leaving room for reporting bias to influence the results. Although some may have felt high national pride, high global citizenship, and highest life satisfaction, participants who systematically selected the highest available ratings without sufficient consideration of content may have influenced the results.
Furthermore, the observational design of this study does not allow direct causal conclusions to be drawn from the results.
This paper, “The impact of national identity, global identity, and their interaction on life satisfaction,” was authored by Glen Spiteri, Seamus Kim, and Falk Lieder.
