Spotlights

[Research News] How Social Risk and “Happiness Inequality” Shape Well-Being Across Nations

Professor Ken’ichi Ikeda from the Faculty of Social Studies explains that happiness is shaped not only by perceived societal risk but also by inequality in happiness levels. Analyzing data from 32 countries in the World Values Survey, the study finds that when societal risk rises, overall well-being declines sharply, with more people clustering at the lower end of the happiness scale. These insights shed light on why some societies remain strong while others struggle when facing uncertainty. 

Reference
Ikeda, K., Akaeda, N. Perceived Societal Risk and Well-being Inequality: Exploring Political-psychological Correlates of Subjective Life Satisfaction. Applied Research Quality Life (2025).
10.1007/s11482-025-10509-y

For more details, please see the website of Organization for Research Initiatives and Development, Doshisha University. 
https://research.doshisha.ac.jp/news/news-detail-83/

This achievement has also been featured in the “EurekAlert!.”
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106813/

Title: Interaction effects of societal risk perception and social comparison on subjective well-being
Caption: The figure illustrates how predicted probabilities of reporting life satisfaction levels 7–10 vary across low (−1 SD), average, and high (+1 SD) perceived national/societal risk. Panel 1a shows results stratified by upward social comparison (Iu0), while Panel 1b shows results stratified by downward comparison (Id0). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Both forms of social comparison exert a stronger influence when perceived societal risk is high; and increases in risk generate steeper declines in predicted SWB in strong upward comparison, while keeping SWB level in strong downward comparison, indicating asymmetric psychological effects.
Image credit: Professor Ken’ichi Ikeda from Doshisha University, Japan
Image license: CC BY 4.0
Usage restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator
Image link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10509-y