Applied Positive Psychology and the 2024 World Happiness Report

April 1, 2024

By Scott Glassman, PsyD

Every year, the World Happiness Report offers a sweeping metric of global well-being, asking upwards of 100,000 people in 130 countries to rate their emotional states and overall life satisfaction.

Although based on survey rather than experimental data, the report focuses our attention on specific areas where positive psychology research and application can offer new insights, helping us understand the phenomenon of happiness from a global perspective. Its trends and rankings suggest intervention points from which we can begin expanding the reach and sustainability of well-being in a world too often consumed by conflict.

The 2024 report’s authors frame the data around stages of life, presenting a mix of hopeful and concerning findings. First, the more concerning points:

• Negative emotions of worry, sadness, and anger are more frequent almost everywhere in the world now than in 2006-2010.
• In every region, these negative emotions were more common for females than males, with the gender gap widening at older ages.
• In high-income countries, girls are experiencing lower life satisfaction than boys by around age 12, a gap that widens in subsequent years.
• A sharp decrease in happiness was observed in young people aged 15 to 24 in North America.
• There is a growing inequality of happiness in every part of the world except Europe, and especially among older individuals.
• Since 2006-2010, happiness fell in every age group in North America, South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

In contrast, there are a number of reasons for optimism and a variety of places to explore human flourishing:

• The top 10 countries in happiness have not changed in their happiness rankings since before COVID, which includes all the Nordic countries.
• Transition countries like Lithuania and Slovenia are rising in happiness.
• In Western Europe, happiness is similar across all ages.
• Those under 30 experience the highest frequency of positive emotions in every country surveyed.
• There has been a large increase in benevolence since the COVID pandemic, especially among those born after 1980.
• Social support is more than twice as common as loneliness in nearly every region.
• Social interactions of all types increase happiness.
• On average, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 reported improved life satisfaction between 2006 and 2019, despite declines in youth well-being in specific regions, such as North America, Western Europe, and the Middle East.
• Higher levels of well-being are associated with lower risk of future dementia.
• Among individuals with dementia, environmental changes and well-being activities improve happiness.
• Older age is associated with higher life satisfaction in India, contradicting the assumption sometimes made that older age is associated with lower well-being in lower-income countries.

The Promise of Positive Psychology Approaches

Interventions that aim to increase positive emotional experiences like laughter, enjoyment, meaning, and social connection become more necessary as the prevalence of negative emotionality increases around the world. In the United States, this need is magnified with the increasing stress of political polarization related to the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Adolescents and young adults may bear the brunt of living in a more negative world. The relative decline in well-being among young people in North America is likely symptomatic of the broader youth mental health crisis that has persisted since the pandemic. According to a CDC survey, in 2019, about 37% of high school students in the United States had chronic feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Globally, one in seven 10-19 year olds experiences a mental health disorder. Pairing positive psychology approaches with evidence-based treatment for these disorders may offer a novel two-pronged approach: reducing distress while providing tools for stimulating personal growth, life optimization, and positive affect.

We can also build on the momentum of societal generosity by developing local, national, and global kindness initiatives that span multiple age groups. Well-being programs could be informed by research in thriving older adult populations, such as those in Japan where higher levels of health, subjective well-being, and longevity are interconnected. Reducing the gender gap in well-being among female youth would be another important goal. Lastly, the consistently high life satisfaction in Scandinavian countries like Finland and Denmark suggest that we should study their individual, systemic, and cultural well-being sources for adaptation in other parts of the world.

MAPP Capstone Projects: Addressing Global Happiness Concerns

The Master of Applied Positive Psychology class of 2024 began their Capstone project development before the release of the 2024 World Happiness Report, however, many of their projects address key areas of need highlighted in the report.

Body dissatisfaction could help explain the finding of lower life satisfaction for girls at ages 13 and 15 in the report. In one international study, body dissatisfaction rates ranged from 19 to 84% among adolescent females aged 10 to 19. MAPP student Jordan Fenton is developing a 3-week mindfulness program to increase resilience and well-being among women in early adulthood, including components of self-compassion and body-focused gratitude. Her hope is that participants will experience higher levels of body satisfaction and self-esteem.

In light of increasing global levels of negative emotion, interventions that restore better balance between positive and negative emotional states may prove extremely valuable. Research suggests that expressing gratitude increases positive affect, especially when levels of positive affect are low. MAPP student Rachel Hutchins is exploring whether a project aimed at increasing patients’ expressions of gratitude to healthcare providers enhances provider well-being. Dylan Mitchell is looking at how gaming can enhance positive emotional states like connectedness, gratitude, and personal strengths awareness among adults with autism. Samantha Davis will be teaching self-compassion practices to survivors of intimate partner violence along with resistance exercise training, which together could promote feelings of empowerment and a greater sense of meaning in life. Laila Ojageer is creating a system of job accomplishment recognition, examining the impact on self-esteem, connectedness, and job satisfaction.

Family-based positive psychology interventions could address the drop in life satisfaction levels observed in youth between the ages of 15 and 24 in North America. Along those lines, Dina Ramadan is creating a virtual mindfulness-based parenting program tailored to parents who have experienced their own adverse childhood experiences. She hopes to strengthen the parent-child bond while creating a supportive space for parents to build better emotion regulation skills. Harrison Combs will be teaching mindfulness practices to sixth grade students to strengthen their well-being and help them increase their levels of dispositional mindfulness, the natural capacity to be mindful across situations.

Equitable Access to Well-Being

The 2024 World Happiness Report emphasizes how more equitable access to well-being and health-related activities can help create happier communities and nations. This effort could include increasing the number of safe public spaces for physical activity and social connection, widening the availability of health screenings, and making health care more affordable. Locally, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has expressed a commitment to enhancing safe, clean, and green spaces throughout the city, fostering greater environmental justice. Researchers have found that even just 20 minutes of time in a park can improve mood and boost happiness. It is clear that reversing the concerning trends around happiness will require a multi-faceted diversity and equity-informed approach that works simultaneously at individual and systemic levels. Collaboration between Nordic countries, where happiness is more common, and other parts of the world could be another key to increasing the likelihood of global thriving.

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