Most have assumed that conservatism antecedes well-being without considering the alternative—that well-being may predict conservatism; this study says conservatism did not predict well-being over time

A Longitudinal Test of the Conservative-Liberal Well-Being Gap. Salvador Vargas Salfate et al. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, July 7, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221096587

Abstract: In this article, we test if conservatism predicts psychological well-being longitudinally. We based the study on previous findings showing that conservatives score higher on different measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and happiness. Most explanations in the literature have assumed that conservatism antecedes well-being without considering the alternative—that well-being may predict conservatism. In Study 1, using multilevel cross-lagged panel models with a two-wave longitudinal sample consisting of data from 19 countries (N = 8,740), we found that conservatism did not predict well-being over time. We found similar results in Study 2 (N = 2,554), using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models with a four-wave longitudinal sample from Chile. We discuss the main implications of these results for the literature examining the association between conservatism and well-being.

Keywords: conservatism, well-being, longitudinal analysis, life satisfaction, happiness