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Toxic positivity: societal pressure to feel good could have the opposite effect

<div class="copy"> <p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04262-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A multi-national study</a> of 40 countries has found that the societal pressure to feel good is linked to poorer wellbeing in individuals. In almost all countries, experiencing pressure to be happy and not sad was related to more and stronger negative feelings, and stronger symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.</p> <p>Interestingly, this relationship was almost twice as strong in countries with higher national happiness, compared to those with lower national happiness – suggesting it may have downsides for some members of society.</p> <p>“The level of happiness individuals feel pressured to achieve may be unattainable and reveal differences between an individual’s emotional life and the emotions society approves of,” says lead author Dr Egon Dejonckheere from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at KU Leuven, Belgium, and assistant professor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.</p> <p>“This discrepancy between an individual and society may create a perceived failure that can trigger negative emotions,” he explains. “In countries where all citizens appear to be happy, deviations from the expected norm are likely more apparent, which makes it more distressing.”</p> <p>The international team of scientists, including Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne, investigated how the perceived societal pressure to be happy predicts emotional, cognitive, and clinical indicators of wellbeing in a survey of nearly 7,500 people.</p> <p>Published in <em>Springer Nature</em>, the study then went a step further to evaluate the role of the nations’ global happiness levels on the relationship between societal pressure and wellbeing, using their World Happiness Index (WHI) scores.</p> <p>This score is taken from the <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Happiness Report</a> and is a measure of the average self-reported life satisfaction displayed by inhabitants of a particular country. Countries included in the study that were rated as having higher happiness in the World Happiness Index included The Netherlands and Canada, while countries rated with lower happiness included Uganda and Senegal.</p> <p>As a <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cross-sectional-study-2794978#:~:text=A%20cross%2Dsectional%20study%20involves,one%20specific%20point%20in%20time.&amp;text=This%20method%20is%20often%20used,support%20further%20research%20and%20experimentation." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cross-sectional study</a>, the researchers acknowledge that while these findings can highlight a correlation between these factors, it cannot prove causality. Nonetheless, they do suggest that changing societal discourse from promoting a one-sided embrace of emotions to one where people learn to appreciate the full scope of their emotional lives (both positive and negative), could have beneficial effects for people’s psychological well-being in the long run.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=182523&amp;title=Toxic+positivity%3A+societal+pressure+to+feel+good+could+have+the+opposite+effect" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></em></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/toxic-positivity-societal-pressure-to-feel-good-could-have-the-opposite-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Imma Perfetto. </em></p> </div>

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Meet the 80-year-old model breaking societal norms

<p>As you grow older, it seems everywhere you turn, you have a shining youthful face beaming in front of you. Whether you walk into a department store and are greeted by cosmetic campaigns showing women in their 20s trying to find the solution to “ageing” or a 30-something lady modelling outfits targeted towards the senior age bracket – the alienation of older woman is alarming.</p> <p>It can make anyone feel defeated, not seeing enough representation is a societal problem, but there is one beacon of hope.</p> <p>80-year-old Beate Howitt has started a new career: Modelling.</p> <p>“It’s sensational,” Beate told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7047053/Im-proof-model-80-says-retired-primary-teacher-grandmother.html"><em>Daily Mail</em></a>. “I’ve always dreamed of being a model. Of course, part of me was surprised anyone wanted to see this old face. But I’ve never thought of myself as getting older; I always live in the moment. Now a whole new chapter of life is opening up.</p> <p>“I walked into the bank recently and the cashier said: ‘Weren’t you on the TV?’ as my modelling had made the local news. I quite liked that. It all makes me feel I am worth knowing after all.”</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxraiBrFcg8/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxraiBrFcg8/" target="_blank">I'm excited to kick off the new week with a fantastic feature in none other than @femail. I'm delighted with what I'd say is a truthful and considerate reflection of who I am, written by the wonderful @writergill. I loved the shoot. I loved the clothes. And I loved the team, who quite simply treated me like a queen for the day. A huge thanks to all involved. It just goes to show you're never too old and it's never too late. Happy Monday all 💕 . Here's a link to the full article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7047053/Im-proof-model-80-says-retired-primary-teacher-grandmother.html . 📸 @lezliandrose for @dailymail MUA @julieread Stylist @dinahvantulleken Blazer @stinegoyastudio . . . . . . #livingthedream #YoureNeverTooOld #itsnevertoolate #mondaymotivation #dailymail #newsarticle #inthepaper #femail #inspire #styleatanyage #timelesselegance #greyhairdontcare #silverhairmodel #greyhairmodel #ageaintnothingbutanumber #classicmodel #motmodel #stinegoya #jigsaw #over50 #over50style #iwillwearwhatilike #whatimwearing</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/beatehowitt/" target="_blank"> Beate Howitt</a> (@beatehowitt) on May 20, 2019 at 1:53am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The grandmother was discovered when out shopping in Oxford, where she lives.</p> <p>Proving that it’s “never too late”, the former teacher who retired 10 years ago was quickly signed by London agency MOT Models.</p> <p>It was fate that brought her to the glamorous career, but the passion was always there ever since she was young.</p> <p>Beate first dreamt of working as a model more than 65 years ago, in the ‘50s when she was a teenager.</p> <p>“I wanted to be a model when I was young,” she said. “We didn’t have much money and I had to make my own clothes, so I was really drawn to glamour.</p> <p>“The New Look was in fashion then – nipped-in waists and full skirts – and my icon was British model Barbara Goalen. I followed her work and cut out everything I could find about her in magazines or adverts and stuck it in a book.</p> <p>“I looked at pictures of her wearing Dior and dreamed of being paid to wear beautiful clothes like she was.”</p> <p>Seven decades on, Beate was given the opportunity to live out her childhood dreams, despite thinking that door was firmly closed.</p>

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