TY - JOUR

T1 - National religiosity eases the psychological burden of poverty

AU - Berkessel, Jana B.

AU - Gebauer, Jochen E.

AU - Joshanloo, Mohsen

AU - Bleidorn, Wiebke

AU - Rentfrow, Peter J.

AU - Potter, Jeff

AU - Gosling, Samuel D.

N1 - Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Michal Kosinski and Wilhelm Hofmann for their comments on earlier drafts of this work. We acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation (Grants GE 2515/6-1) and from the German National Academic Foundation. This work was also supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017S1A3A2066611). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/9/28

Y1 - 2021/9/28

N2 - Lower socioeconomic status (SES) harms psychological well-being, an effect responsible for widespread human suffering. This effect has long been assumed to weaken as nations develop economically. Recent evidence, however, has contradicted this fundamental assumption, finding instead that the psychological burden of lower SES is even greater in developed nations than in developing ones. That evidence has elicited consternation because it suggests that economic development is no cure for the psychological burden of lower SES. So, why is that burden greatest in developed nations? Here, we test whether national religiosity can explain this puzzle. National religiosity is particularly low in developed nations. Consequently, developed nations lack religious norms that may ease the burden of lower SES. Drawing on three different data sets of 1,567,204, 1,493,207, and 274,393 people across 156, 85, and 92 nations, we show that low levels of national religiosity can account for the greater burden of lower SES in developed nations. This finding suggests that, as national religiosity continues to decline, lower SES will become increasingly harmful for well-being-a societal change that is socially consequential and demands political attention.

AB - Lower socioeconomic status (SES) harms psychological well-being, an effect responsible for widespread human suffering. This effect has long been assumed to weaken as nations develop economically. Recent evidence, however, has contradicted this fundamental assumption, finding instead that the psychological burden of lower SES is even greater in developed nations than in developing ones. That evidence has elicited consternation because it suggests that economic development is no cure for the psychological burden of lower SES. So, why is that burden greatest in developed nations? Here, we test whether national religiosity can explain this puzzle. National religiosity is particularly low in developed nations. Consequently, developed nations lack religious norms that may ease the burden of lower SES. Drawing on three different data sets of 1,567,204, 1,493,207, and 274,393 people across 156, 85, and 92 nations, we show that low levels of national religiosity can account for the greater burden of lower SES in developed nations. This finding suggests that, as national religiosity continues to decline, lower SES will become increasingly harmful for well-being-a societal change that is socially consequential and demands political attention.

KW - Economic development

KW - Religiosity

KW - Socioeconomic status

KW - Well-being

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2103913118

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2103913118

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34544863

AN - SCOPUS:85116008548

VL - 118

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SN - 0027-8424

IS - 39

M1 - e2103913118

ER -