@unpublished{theses_frw4404, title = {The Contextual Effects of Culture on Status Anxiety in Europe}, year = {2023}, author = {Daniel R{\"o}sler}, abstract = {The role of national cultural values in shaping individuals? status anxiety is so far underexplored. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by examining the influence of two Hofstede national dimensions of culture (2001), power distance and individualism, on individual status anxiety. I proposed that countries characterized by higher individualism and larger power distance have higher levels of status anxiety and a steeper gradient in status anxiety across income ranks. In addition, I developed an opposing theoretical explanation about the effect of power distance on status anxiety. To test these hypotheses, I performed linear multilevel regression analysis using a sample of 31,886 individuals from 29 European countries taken from data of the European Quality of Life Survey 2016. According to the results, members of societies with larger power distance values tend to experience higher status anxiety. The empirical evidence did not support an effect of individualism, nor a cross-level interaction effect of cultural values and income rank on status anxiety. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of considering the role of cultural conditions for understanding issues pertaining to social status and well-being.}, url = {https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/4404/} }