Subjective Well-being and Life Values: Their Relations andDifferences among Czech, Maltese, South African, Indian, andNew Zealand University Students

According to the World Database of Happiness (Veenhoven, 2013) New Zealand and Malta are among the happiest countries, whereas Czech Republic, South Africa and India belong to middle ranking countries. In our study we explore links between life values and subjective well-being among university students from five countries. Our sample consists of 165 Czech, 115 Maltese, 110 South African, 168 Indian and 131 New Zealand respondents (69% females, 31 % males, mean age 21.3). We measured life satisfaction (SWLS, Diener et al., 1985) and life values (VLQ, Wilson et al., 2002). Online data collection took place in 2012-2014. We used SPPS for data analysis. Results show no significant differences between life satisfaction (LS) of Czech, Maltese, Indian, and New Zealand students. LS is significantly higher only in South African students. Their LS is associated with perceived importance of life values Marriage and Citizenship and personal satisfaction with value Career. The importance of life values Family and Friends are closely linked with LS of Czech, Maltese and New Zealand respondents. Importance of value Citizenship significantly correlates with LS only in Indian and South African samples. Detailed analysis revealed further results on links between life values and well-being based on cross-cultural differences.