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The Global Flourishing Study (GFS) is a longitudinal data collection and research collaboration between scholars at Harvard University and Baylor University, in partnership with Gallup and the Center for Open Science and with the support of a consortium of funders. The $43.4 million initiative will include data collection for approximately 240,000 participants from 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study will obtain nationally representative data within each country, with collection on the same panel of individuals annually for five waves of data.
The GFS will include a rich set of measures of well-being and health, religion and spirituality, and social, demographic, economic, political, and psychological variables. Much prior research on many of these topics has relied upon cross-sectional samples (a “snapshot” approach) and has often been limited to the United States and Europe. We propose to address present knowledge gaps with longitudinal data (a “film” approach), by examining the determinants of well-being in a global probability-based panel study that includes people of diverse geographical, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
The GFS will expand knowledge on the extent to which, and in what ways, many of the world’s largest nations are or are not flourishing, as well as why. Its longitudinal panel nature will supply evidence concerning the causes of flourishing, while the large panel size and multi-country and nationally representative coverage will give insights from around the world. The design of the GFS has benefited from extensive feedback from a globally diverse group of scholars. Preparation for the study began in 2018 and pilot work in each of the 22 countries took place between January and June of 2021. This process included a rigorous translation process, cognitive interviewing, and multiple waves of survey refinement.
One of the major outcomes of the GFS will be a publicly accessible data resource that can be used by scholars across disciplines around the world. Data will be made publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework in a branded registry, hosted by the Center for Open Science. This data set will provide an important new resource for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and educators.
In this article, we describe the statistical and design methodology of the demographic variation analyses used as part of a coordinated set of manuscripts for wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study (GFS)...
Relatively few studies have examined how self-rated physical health (SRH) varies across: (a) countries around the world and (b) demographic characteristics in diverse nations and cultures...
How might we cultivate a life imbued with purpose and meaning? Though common experience indicates purpose and meaning are inherently important, empirical evidence confirms they are also linked to improved health/wellbeing. However, childhood antecedents of purpose and meaning in adulthood are understudied...
Belief in life after death is among the oldest forms of spiritual belief, found in nearly every world civilization and religion. While several national surveys highlight differences in afterlife beliefs across countries, none have explored the sociodemographic factors associated with these beliefs...
Religion is an integral part of everyday life for billions of people, yet little is known about the developmental antecedents of religious belief outside of Western cultures. Using data from over 200,000 individuals across 22 countries, we evaluate several childhood predictors of belief in God, gods, and spiritual forces in adulthood...
Although prior research documents the importance of belief in God (e.g., for health and wellbeing), most of the research has focused on Western samples. Much less is known about how belief in one God, multiple gods, or spiritual forces differs across cultures and demographic groups within those cultures...
Few studies have examined how childhood experiences and characteristics shape daily prayer or meditation in adulthood across countries around the world using nationally-representative data. The current study addresses this limitation by analyzing data...
Cigarette use, a leading cause of preventable disease and millions of deaths worldwide each year, is not often studied separately from other tobacco use, and global data and previous studies on cigarette smoking are based mostly on its prevalence rather than quantity. To address these oversights, we analyze the first wave of data from Global Flourishing Study...
Prosocial behaviors play a vital role in promoting individual and societal well-being. Charitable giving and helping strangers are two important expressions of prosociality; yet we know little about how these behaviors differ across sociodemographic indicators cross-nationally. Using data from the Global Flourishing Study,
An orientation to promote good (i.e., a disposition to take actions that contribute to the good of oneself and others) has been associated with better health and wellbeing outcomes. However, less is known about how orientation to promote good differs across countries and across sociodemographic groups within different countries...
While prior work documents individual and societal benefits to volunteering, less is known about how childhood experiences shape volunteering in adulthood around the world. Using data from the Global Flourishing Study, a diverse and international sample...
While prior work documents the individual and societal benefits of prosocial behaviors, less is known about how childhood experiences shape prosociality in adulthood. Using data from the Global Flourishing Study, a diverse and international sample...
Prior research documents strong associations between higher educational attainment and improved health and wellbeing outcomes. Studies on educational differences, such as those conducted by OECD and UNESCO, have focused on national trends...
Belief in life after death is one of the oldest and most widespread spiritual convictions, and it has been shown to offer various psychological benefits. Understanding the predictors of afterlife beliefs is crucial for gaining insight into religious tenets...
Suffering has been identified as an important public health issue worthy of closer attention. This preregistered study takes an initial step toward developing an epidemiology of suffering by exploring the distribution of suffering...
Who shares their faith with people who have different religious views? This article examines ‘faith sharing’ across 22 religiously diverse countries. To our knowledge, this is the first study of ‘faith sharing’ across national and religious contexts...
Religious Centrality has been widely studied in Europe and North America and is generally associated with better psychological and social outcomes. It is often assessed as a measure of intrinsic religiosity...
This study presents a cross-national exploration of optimism, and its variations across sociodemographic groups. Using a sample of 202,898 adults from 22 diverse countries...
Little is known about early-life experiences that may lead to higher optimism levels in adulthood. Using data from 202,898 adults in 22 countries, childhood candidate antecedents of optimism were examined...
