Economic status and affective state in Latin America

This paper presents the results from a quantitative research studying how affective states of Latin Americans are influenced by their relative position. Research is based on the World Gallup Poll of 2007; more than 14000 observations from 18 countries in the region are used. The investigation studies positive and negative affects as well as the affective balance. It is found that the affective state of Latin Americans depends on their economic status. In other words, income plays an important role as an indicator of social position, and not only as an indicator of people's access to goods and services that satisfy their needs. The impact of economic status on people's emotions is relevant for all age groups with the exception of elder people. The general findings from this research support the view that affective states are not independent of people's social immersion.