The economic well-being of nations is associated with positive daily situational experiences

People in economically advantaged nations tend to evaluate their life as more positive overall and report greater well-being than people in less advantaged nations. But how does positivity manifest in the daily life experiences of individuals around the world? The present study asked 15,244 college students from 62 nations, in 42 languages, to describe a situation they experienced the previous day using the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ). Using expert ratings, the overall positivity of each situation was calculated for both nations and individuals. The positivity of the average situation in each nation was strongly related to the economic development of the nation as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). For individuals’ daily experiences, the economic status of their nation also predicted the positivity of their experience, even more than their family socioeconomic status. Further analyses revealed the specific characteristics of the average situations for higher HDI nations that make their experiences more positive. Higher HDI was associated with situational experiences involving humor, socializing with others, and the potential to express emotions and fantasies. Lower HDI was associated with an increase in the presence of threats, blame, and hostility, as well as situational experiences consisting of family, religion, and money. Despite the increase in a few negative situational characteristics in lower HDI countries, the overall average experience still ranged from neutral to slightly positive, rather than negative, suggesting that greater HDI may not necessarily increase positive experiences but rather decrease negative experiences. The results illustrate how national economic status influences the lives of individuals even within a single instance of daily life, with large and powerful consequences when accumulated across individuals within each nation

Indigo: an international doctorate for health systems research

This article looks at the International Doctorate in Global Health (Indigo), an innovation programme in 2009 and coordinated by the Centre for Global Health at Trinity College, Dublin, with partners from Africa, Europe and North America. Indigo aims to produce doctoral-level graduates who have the ability to address global health problems using a systems framework, utilizing interdisciplinary research to provide the effectiveness of public health services, particularly in Africa. By developing the interface between biological science, social sciences and public health, the programme seeks to create more effective and efficient platforms for service delivery, in the context of a region challenges by HIV/AIDS and a range of many other serious health problems. The programme's distinctive contribution is to strengthen genuine interdisciplinary capacity, rather than to pursue solutions along multiple, albeit sometimes interlocking, disciplinary pathways. While the approach is global, the main focus is currently on sub-Saharan Africa. By working collaboratively with universities in Africa, Indigo seeks to enable them to become regional centres of excellence in interdisciplinary health research, producing research leaders who will develop the evidence base for health systems capable of developing and implementing effective treatment strategies and technologies.

Indigo: An International Doctorate for Health Systems Research

The abstract is included in the text

Indigo: An International Doctorate for Health Systems Research

The abstract is included in the text

Indigo: An International Doctorate for Health Systems Research

The abstract is included in the text

Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations

Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries' national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People's felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some