Life satisfaction effects of national identity, global identity, and their interactions

Abstract

Abstract Expansive social identifications—including with one’s nation and the world—have been increasingly linked to psychological well-being. However, research has yet to examine how these effects interact. Although national and global identification are often assumed to be in conflict, it remains unclear whether strongly holding both diminishes or enhances overall well-being. We investigate this gap using Waves 5 and 6 of the World Values Survey (WVS; N  = 100,650, across developing and developed countries). First, we replicated prior findings via mixed models, finding that national citizenship and national pride (capturing national identity), as well as world citizenship (capturing global identity) each robustly predicted life satisfaction. We then tested interactions and estimated life satisfaction across different combinations of predictor strengths. Despite a negative interaction between national pride and world citizenship, those high on both still reported the highest life satisfaction. Our findings suggest that the joint effects on well-being of national and global identifications, despite their seemingly competing natures, remain additive. We point to the need for future research on the underlying psychological mechanisms and behavioral consequences of these joint identifications.