Gender Attitudes at the In-dividual and Societal Level as Factors of Subjective Well-Being: Comparative Analysis

Monitoring Obshchestvennogo Mneniya: Ekonomichekie i Sotsial'nye Peremeny. 2026. No. 4. P. 3–24.

Догузов А. В., Almakaeva A., Nastina E., Legut K.

This paper examines the relation-ship between gender attitudes and subjec-tive well-being, focusing on life satisfaction as its core indicator. It covers both individual and country-level gender attitudes and tests whether a mismatch between them affects in-dividual well-being. The analysis draws on the 7th wave of the World Values Survey, covering 55 countries. Gender attitudes are captured by composite indices at the individual and so-cietal levels. Since our respondents are nest-ed in countries and determinants operate at multiple levels, we use multilevel regression modeling. On average, individuals with more egalitarian gender attitudes report higher life satisfaction. At the country level, more domi-nant egalitarian gender attitudes are also asso-ciated with higher levels of subjective well-be-ing. However, this individual-level association depends on the broader societal context. In so-cieties with high gender inequality the positive link is weaker, and in the most unequal con-texts egalitarian views are associated with low-er life satisfaction. Initially, the moderation ef-fect of public gender attitudes was not found, but additional analysis showed its presence for respondents with moderate and egalitari-an views. Overall, the results underscore the importance of person — culture fit for subjec-tive well-being and show that the well-being ef-fects of egalitarian gender attitudes vary with both the level of gender inequality and the pre-vailing normative climate.

Keywords: субъективное благополучие, многоуровневая регрессия, gender attitudes, гендерные установки, WVS, Multilevel regression, subjective well-being, person-culture fit, несоответствие личности и культуры, Всемирное исследованеие ценностей

Publication based on the results of: Comparative studies of culture and subjective well-being: differentiation and integration of societies in the context of global challenges (2025)