Self-focused autonomy, other-focused pro-sociality, and well-being: a cross-national cluster analysis

Abstract

Through cluster analysis, this study seeks to identify various clusters that differ in the level of self-focused and other-focused caring (e.g., autonomy and pro-sociality) and to contrast the happiness and life satisfaction among them. This approach is based on the notion that unifying autonomy and pro-sociality is more advantageous than separating them for well-being, which follows the theories and empirical studies. The World Value Survey dataset (N = 76897; M_age = 43.02, SD = 16.37) is used, which uses random probability representative adult samples from 51 countries or territories. Results suggest that autonomy and pro-sociality both have distinct implications for happiness and life satisfaction. Four distinct clusters are identified: autonomous (high self-focused and low other-focused), prosocial (low self-focused and high other-focused), flourished (high self-focused and high other-focused), and indifferent (low self-focused and low other-focused). In terms of indicators of well-being, the flourished group has the highest levels of happiness and life satisfaction, followed by the autonomous group, the prosocial group, and the indifferent group. It appears that individuals who exhibit both high self-focused and high other-focused caring attain the greatest well-being. The implications, limitations, and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Autonomy
• cluster analysis
• happiness
• life satisfaction
• pro-sociality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data can be shared on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.