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Is the emotion-health connection a "first-world problem"?
Sarah D Pressman1, Matthew W Gallagher, Shane J Lopez
1Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. sarah.pressman@uci.edu
Psychological Science
|February 28, 2013
Summary
Positive and negative emotions significantly impact health globally, even more than basic needs. These emotion-health links are stronger in lower-income nations, highlighting universal well-being factors.
Area of Science:
- Global Health
- Psychology
- Socioeconomic Determinants of Health
Background:
- Limited research on emotion-health links exists, primarily in industrialized nations.
- Generalizability of emotion-health connections across diverse global regions remains unclear.
- Fundamental needs fulfillment may influence physical well-being in less-developed countries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the persistence of emotion-health associations across diverse global regions.
- To compare the impact of emotions versus basic needs on health outcomes worldwide.
- To explore the influence of national economic status on emotion-health relationships.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional survey of 150,048 individuals across 142 countries.
- Assessment of self-reported emotions, health status, hunger, shelter, and safety threats.
- Statistical analysis to determine the variance in health explained by emotions and basic needs, controlling for GDP.
Main Results:
- Both positive and negative emotions showed unique, moderate effects on self-reported health, explaining 46.1% of the variance.
- Emotion-health associations were stronger predictors of health than hunger, homelessness, or safety threats.
- The link between positive emotions and health was more pronounced in low-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) countries compared to high-GDP countries.
Conclusions:
- Emotions are a significant, universal factor influencing health outcomes globally.
- Emotion-health connections are robust and potentially more critical in less-developed regions.
- Findings challenge the notion that basic needs solely determine health in lower-income settings.
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