ИСТИНА

The social situation in different regions of large countries such as Russia, as well as the ethnocultural background of its population, can vary a lot across the country. The present study looked at whether perceived well-being of Russian residents differs across regions, and if so, which factors contribute to those differences. We conducted a large-scale study in seven Russian federal districts including Central, North-West, South, Siberia, Ural, Volga, and North Caucasus. Participants were 1804 adolescents and adults aged between 15 and 83 years old, of more than 40 different ethnic origins. We designed a questionnaire to examine subjective indicators of well-being (life satisfaction, perceived security, trust, perceived intergroup relations, etc.) and compared the results with records of objective social indicators (life expectancy, unemployment rate, fertility rate, etc.) in the same districts. The results were analyzed and discussed from Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach. They demonstrated an evident sociocultural mediation of subjective well-being. In certain cases, subjective indicators of well-being reflected well the objective indicators of a social situation, while in other cases, they were mediated by the mentality and the ethnocultural identity of a particular district’s population. These results highlight the importance of taking into account for public policy-making not only the objective characteristics of a social situation, but also the ethnocultural background of the population living in different regions of the same country affected by the social situation. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project № 15-18-00109.