Cultural differences in subjective well-being and hierarchy of life values among Czech and Maltese university students
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | According to the World Database of Happiness (Veenhoven, 2016), the Czech Republic belongs to mid-ranking countries by its level of happiness, whereas Malta ranks among the happiest countries in the world. In our cross-cultural comparative study, we compared the level of subjective well-being (SWB) among Czech and Maltese university students and explored the link between life values and cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being. The research sample (N = 280, aged 18 to 30 years, M = 21.58, SD = 2.6) consisted of 165 Czech and 115 Maltese university students, who completed The Satisfaction with Life Scale, The Happiness Measure, and The Valued Living Questionnaire. The data were analysed using the IBM SPSS 18. The results of correlation analysis showed that Czech and Maltese samples do not significantly differ in the level of life satisfaction and happiness. However, differences in both hierarchy of life values and predictors of subjective well-being between the two cultural groups were explored. The analysis of the relationships between life values and subjective well-being revealed that interpersonal values were of particular importance across two cultures. Our study has shown that cultures might differ in the amount of importance they assign to various life values, and that cognitive and affective components of SWB might be predicted by unique variables. |