NSU Research Contributions
Title : The Impact of Relationships on Subjective Well-being in the World
Authors : Gour Gobinda Goswami, Tahmid Labib, Samiha Khan, Mudassir Arafat
Abstract : Determining the subjective well-being of people living in a country is a key research question worldwide. Health, wealth, gender, age, employment status, career path, relationships, and other factors have been identified as the principal determinants of subjective well-being. Several studies have been conducted at the country level or regional level, and some global studies have been conducted on a limited scale. A comprehensive, global study encompassing a survey across nations, with a particular focus on relationships and their impact on subjective well-being, is scarce in the literature. This paper fills this gap in the existing literature by examining the role of four different types of relationships, such as marital status, family, the importance of family, and the importance of friends, in determining subjective well-being manifested by life satisfaction. We used survey data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Study (EVS) for 88 countries across six geographical regions of the world, based on individuals ranging in age from 16 to 82. The dataset contains 133,611 observations pooled over the years 2017-2022. Using the ordered logistic regression model, it has been found that all four types have a strong positive impact at a 1% level of significance globally, after controlling for gender, age, family size, number of children, and employment status. The result holds for six regions if we run six regional regressions. The results are also robust for the ordered probit model and linear probability model. The main policy implication is that nations should attempt to develop relationships among people to achieve a higher level of subjective well-being. Isolation is detrimental to human beings.
| Journal : North South Business Review | Volume : | Year : 2026 | Issue : |
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