Academics Find Conservatives Have Purpose In Life

And they’re scratching their heads trying to figure out why. “Researchers found that people who identified as conservatives were happier, more satisfied, and have a greater purpose in life, according to a study published by Social Psychological and Personality Science on June 15,” Gabrielle Okun reported in a dispatch distributed by The Daily Signal. “Study author David Newman from University of Southern California came to conclusions based on five separate studies that pooled 19,051 people from the European Values Survey; another 3,222 people from a separate survey; 1,595 people from the Baylor Institute of Religion survey; 1,252 people who partook in a survey that evaluated their happiness, purpose in life, and stress; and another study that uncovered daily diary entries of 114 undergraduate students, according to PsyPost on July 8.”

Moreover, so-called social issue conservatives, who tend to be more religious, tend to be more purposeful than economic conservatives, although the authors of the study discount religion as a factor. “A question that still needs to be addressed is why conservatives find more meaning in life than liberals,” Newman said. “Our results showed that it can’t be completely explained by the fact that conservatives are more religious than liberals and religious people find more meaning in life than nonreligious people.”

Gabrielle Okun was an intern in the American Journalism Center training program run jointly by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.

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