From hardship to resilience: Childhood financial conditions and adult well-being in WEIRD and less WEIRD countries

Abstract

This study examines the prospective associations between subjective childhood financial conditions and adult well-being outcomes across 22 countries, with a specific focus on differences between WEIRD and less WEIRD contexts. Using nationally representative cross-sectional data from 202,898 individuals, we analyzed retrospective reports of childhood financial conditions – categorized as “lived comfortably,” “got by,” “found it difficult,” and “found it very difficult” – and their associations with 48 adult well-being indicators across psychological, social, physical health, character strengths, prosocial behaviors, and socioeconomic domains (adjusting for possible sociodemographic characteristics and other retrospectively recalled childhood factors). An outcome-wide analytic approach was used to estimate associations in each country, and meta-analytic methods were employed to pooled effect estimates across the countries. Our meta-analytical findings indicate that more advantageous financial conditions in childhood are associated with more favorable adult well-being outcomes across domains (in 43 out of 48 outcomes). Notably, less WEIRD countries exhibited stronger associations with indicators of life balance, mastery, and social support, whereas WEIRD nations showed more pronounced effects on individual-focused outcomes such as optimism and internal freedom. Additionally, in several less WEIRD settings, adverse financial conditions were paradoxically linked with favorable resilience-related outcomes, suggesting robust adaptive mechanisms in response to early economic adversity. These results confirm prior associations between childhood financial conditions and adult well-being indicators. However, the findings also highlight the need for culturally nuanced policy interventions. Our study contributes novel comparative evidence advocating for expanded research beyond WEIRD contexts to fully understand and address the multifaceted effects of early economic adversity.