Examining the Interaction between perceived cultural tightness and prevention regulatory focus on life satisfaction in Italy

This study aimed to investigate how some specific cultural and personal factors caninfluence people’s life satisfaction. By embracing an interactionist perspective, we hypothesizedthat perceiving one’s social environment as culturally tight (greater strength of social norms) can“match” with regulatory prevention focus (focus on safety following guidelines and rules) resulting inincreased life satisfaction. This study relied on a cross-sectional design with 472 participants residingin Italy who filled out a questionnaire with self-report measures of perceived cultural tightnessof their place of residence, and well-validated measurement scales of prevention focus and lifesatisfaction. A moderated multiple regression model revealed that regulatory prevention focusmoderated the relationship between perceived cultural tightness and life satisfaction in such a waythat the relationship was positive in high (vs. low) prevention focus. Therefore, results confirmed ourmatch hypothesis that individuals’ perception of tight social norms where they reside is associatedwith higher life satisfaction, particularly in those who are highly focused on prevention. Thesefindings provide insight into identifying possible interactions of perceived culture and regulatory focus on subjective well-being within an Italian sample.