Societies value happiness and want their members to enjoy it. While this commitment from society sounds admirable, placing too much emphasis on positivity (as opposed to negativity) could lead to an unachievable emotional norm that paradoxically jeopardizes personal well-being. The connection between feeling pressured to be happy and not sad is somewhat strong.
This means there’s a similar factor in feeling pressured to stay positive and avoid feeling negative. It shows that both ideas are different from each other. Feeling pressure to be happy and not sad is linked to being less satisfied with life, having fewer happy moments but more sad ones, and experiencing more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Considering 40 nations, the Dejonckheere (et al.) study looked at how the pressure from society to be cheerful and not experience unpleasant emotions predicts subjective well-being. It examined clinical, emotional, and cognitive measures of well-being. Perceiving pressure to be joyful and suppress negative feelings was generally associated with lower well-being across national boundaries. It forecasted higher levels of negative emotions, less pleasant emotions, and a worse quality. of life, and an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms.
The strength of these associations, however, differed greatly among nations, particularly when it came to positive well-being markers like life satisfaction and pleasant feelings. Various nations’ World Happiness Index (WHI) happiness ratings reduced the connections. Happier countries were those with higher WHI scores, and feeling pressured to be happy was a stronger predictor of poorer well-being.
The WHI scores alone showed no correlation with the degree of social pressure individuals felt to be joyful or to suppress unpleasant feelings in their nation. Therefore, the WHI found that whereas pressure to be happy predicted lower well-being on average, this effect was exacerbated in the happiest countries. According to the study, happier countries might benefit from social comparisons.
Finally, the study revealed that, while societal emotional stresses can have a negative impact on well-being, these effects are influenced by cultural variables such as the WHI index’s measurement of a country’s overall level of happiness. Happier nations may be more adversely affected by these forces.
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