Gender inequality and cultural values in explaining gender differences in positive and negative emotions: a comparison of 24 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic posed a major challenge to mental health. Existing evidence shows that COVID-19 is related to poor emotional well-being, particularly among women. However, most work on the subject uses single-country samples, limiting the ability to generalize the disparity or explain it as a function of societal variables. The present study investigates the expression of positive and negative emotions during the pandemic as a function of gender and across 24 countries (N = 49,637). Strong gender differences emerged across countries, with women reporting more negative emotions (anxious, depressed, nervous, exhausted) and less positive emotions (calm, content, relaxed, energetic) than men. The gender gap in positive emotions was significantly wider in countries higher in individualism and narrower in countries higher in power distance. For instance, differences in emotions were larger in Western countries high in individualism, such as the USA, the UK, Italy, and France, and smaller in countries with higher collectivism and power distance, such as China, Malaysia, and South Korea, with a few exceptions like Japan and Brazil. These gender differences across countries were not explained by country-level gender inequalities indicators (GGGI and GII). Interestingly, the national severity of the pandemic, an epidemiological factor, reduced gender differences in positive emotions. These results underscore the importance of considering cultural and national factors when assessing gender differences in well-being.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Wollast, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5395-9969 Lüders, A. Nugier, A. Guimond, S. Phillips, J.B. Sutton, R.M. Douglas, K.M. Sengupta, N.K. Lemay, E.P. Zand, S. Van Lissa, C.J. Bélanger, J.J. Abakoumkin, G. Khaiyom, J.H.A. Agostini, M. Ahmedi, V. Almenara, C.A. Atta, M. Bagci, S.C. Bernardo, A.B.I. Choi, H.-S. Cristea, M. Danyliuk, I. Enea, V. Fisher, A.N. Gómez, A. Greiff, S. Gützkow, B. Hamaidia, A. Han, Q. Hudiyana, J. Jeronimus, B.F. Jiang, D.-Y. Jovanović, V. Kende, A. Keng, S.-L. Koc, Y. Kovyazina, K. Kreienkamp, J. Kurapov, A. Lantos, N.A. Jaya Lesmana, C.B. Malik, N.I. Martinez, A.P. McCabe, K.O. Milla, M.N. Molinario, E. Moyano, M. Muhammad, H. Mula, S. Myroniuk, S. Nisa, C. Nyúl, B. O’Keefe, P.A. Osuna, J.J.O. Osin, E.N. Park, J. Pierro, A. Rees, J. Reitsema, A.M. Rullo, M. Ryan, M.K. Samekin, A. Schumpe, B.M. Selim, H.A. Stanton, M.V. Tseliou, E. vanDellen, M. Vázquez, A. Weaving, M. Yahiiaiev, I. Yeung, V.W.L. Zheng, B. Zúñiga, C. Leander, N.P.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords:	COVID-19; Mental health; Gender; Emotions; Culture; Well-being
Dates:	8 November 2024 Published (online): 14 January 2025 Published: April 2025
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) > Clinical Psychology Unit
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	27 May 2025 14:38
Last Modified:	27 May 2025 14:43
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1007/s12144-024-06989-0
Related URLs:	Dataset
Sustainable Development Goals:
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:227139