Happy just because. A cross-cultural study on subjective wellbeing in three Indigenous societies
Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Social i Cultural)
Gallois, Sandrine (Leiden University. Faculty of Archaeology)
Pyhälä, Aili (University of Helsinki. Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS))
Díaz-Reviriego, Isabel (Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Faculty of Sustainability, Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI))
Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro (University of Helsinki. Global Change and Conservation (GCC), Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme)
Galbraith, Eric (McGill University (Canadà). Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences)
Miñarro, Sara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Napitupulu, Lucentezza (Universitas Indonesia. Department of Economics)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	While cross-cultural research on subjective well-being and its multiple drivers is growing, the study of happiness among Indigenous peoples continues to be under-represented in the literature. In this work, we measure life satisfaction through open-ended questionnaires to explore levels and drivers of subjective well-being among 474 adults in three Indigenous societies across the tropics: the Tsimane' in Bolivian lowland Amazonia, the Baka in southeastern Cameroon, and the Punan in Indonesian Borneo. We found that life satisfaction levels in the three studied societies are slightly above neutral, suggesting that most people in the sample consider themselves as moderately happy. We also found that respondents provided explanations mostly when their satisfaction with life was negative, as if moderate happiness was the normal state and explanations were only needed when reporting a different life satisfaction level due to some exceptionally good or bad occurrence. Finally, we also found that issues related to health and-to a lesser extent-social life were the more prominent explanations for life satisfaction. Our research not only highlights the importance to understand, appreciate and respect Indigenous peoples' own perspectives and insights on subjective well-being, but also suggests that the greatest gains in subjective well-being might be achieved by alleviating the factors that tend to make people unhappy.
Grants:	European Commission 261971 Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	PloS one, Vol. 16 (may 2021) , ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251551
PMID: 33984063

16 p, 757.3 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
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