Cultural Values and the Well-Being of Future Generations: A Cross-National Study

Cultural values may influence the extent to which nations care about the well-being of current and future generations of children. The author used archival data to examine this possibility in a sample of 20 wealthy nations. As predicted, after controlling for national wealth, a general pattern was evident such that the more a nation prioritized Egalitarianism versus Hierarchy values and Harmony versus Mastery values, (a) the higher was children’s well-being in the nation, (b) the more generous were national laws regarding maternal leave, (c) the less advertising was directed at children, and (d) the less CO 2 the nation emitted. Potential causal pathways and future research directions are discussed.