Conservatives Report Greater Meaning in Life Than Liberals. Issue 4 (May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Newman, David B.; Schwarz, Norbert; Graham, Jesse; Stone, Arthur A.
• Is Part Of: Social psychological & personality science. Volume 10:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 494
• Page End: 503
• Publication Date: 2019-05
• Subjects: meaning in life -- well-being -- political orientation -- ecological momentary assessment -- satisfaction with life; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 155.2
• DOI: 10.1177/1948550618768241
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1948-5506

Abstract

Conservatives report greater life satisfaction than liberals, but this relationship is relatively weak. To date, the evidence is limited to a narrow set of well-being measures that ask participants for a single assessment of their life in general. We address this shortcoming by examining the relationship between political orientation and well-being using measures of life satisfaction, affect, and meaning and purpose in life. Participants completed well-being measures after reflecting on their whole life (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2), at the end of their day (Study 3), and in the present moment (Study 4). Across five studies, conservatives reported greater meaning and purpose in life than liberals at each reporting period. This finding remained significant after adjusting for religiosity and was usually stronger than the relationships involving other well-being measures. Finally, meaning in life was more closely related to social conservatism than economic conservatism.