ContentsComparative Evaluation of the Effect of Family Importance in Life on the Perception of Happiness in Two Groups of Countries with Different Levels of Per Capita Income

Family, which establishes the personality and intellectual values of individuals in a community, can have a vital role in creating happiness in individuals. In this study, using the statistical data of 11 countries with more than 20 thousand dollars per capita income and 25 countries with per capita income below 20 thousand dollars, over the period 1981-2014, the relationship between the family's importance in life and happiness has been studied. Per capita income, unemployment, life expectancy, and income inequality variables are entered as a control variable in the panel data regression. The results show that in both groups of the country, unemployment and income inequality variables have negative and significant effects, and variables of family importance, life expectancy and income have a positive and significant effect on happiness perception. Also, the family importance in life in countries with low per capita income, as compared to countries with high per capita income, hasn’t different impacts on perceptions of happiness. Therefore, the positive impact of the cultural value of the family's importance in life on the perception of happiness is not dependent on the promotion of per capita income in a country. Per capita income does not count as a catalyst for having a greater impact on the family's importance in life on the feeling of happiness.