Wellbeing Dynamics Across Cultures During the Pandemic: A Five-Country Exploration

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Mental health research

Background:

• Global wellbeing concerns rose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Invariance and temporal stability of wellbeing measures across cultures remain under-examined.
• Previous research indicated potential instability in wellbeing measures post-pandemic onset.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine invariance parameters, factorial structure, and variability of wellbeing indicators across diverse cultural contexts.
• To assess the temporal stability of wellbeing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To investigate cross-cultural differences in wellbeing dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dataset of 4387 participants across five countries from 2020-2022 (13,161 total observations).
• Employed structural equation modeling to analyze wellbeing variables: life satisfaction, pandemic worries, anxiety, and depression.
• Assessed measurement invariance across time points and cultural groups.

Main Results:

• A three-factor model (life satisfaction, worry, distress) demonstrated optimal fit and parsimony.
• Scalar invariance was observed across time, indicating stable wellbeing measures within countries during the pandemic.
• Metric invariance was found across countries, but correlations between life satisfaction and distress weakened in lower-income nations.

Conclusions:

• Wellbeing levels generally remained stable throughout the pandemic within the sampled countries.
• Cross-cultural differences in wellbeing dynamics were identified, particularly concerning the relationship between life satisfaction and distress in lower-income contexts.
• Findings have implications for understanding and addressing global wellbeing disparities.