Why do some people thrive in old age while others struggle? A new study from Kazakhstan suggests that the cultural values people hold may be part of the answer.
The study, published in The Open Psychology Journal, was led by Tolkynay Konysbay of the Department of General and Applied Psychology at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty. It looked at emotional well-being among Kazakh and Russian pensioners living in the city.
The authors describe post-Soviet Kazakhstan as a multicultural society in which individualist and collectivist value orientations exist side by side.
The researchers wanted to know whether these values were linked to how older people feel. They also compared well-being between ethnic groups.
In total, 83 pensioners aged 60–75 took part between February and April 2025. They were recruited online and in person, including at a centre for active longevity and in city parks. They completed measures of life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and depression, as well as a questionnaire on their cultural value orientations.
The team treated emotional well-being as a combined picture. It brought together how satisfied people were with their lives, how well they felt they were functioning psychologically, and their level of depressive symptoms.
Differences in emotional well-being emerged according to ethnicity and some social and demographic characteristics. Russian pensioners showed greater independence and a stronger sense of purpose in life, while Kazakh respondents scored higher on horizontal collectivism, which combines group loyalty with a preference for equality.
Cultural values were also linked to well-being. Horizontal individualism was associated with greater life satisfaction, while vertical collectivism, which stresses hierarchy and social roles, was associated with lower satisfaction.
Unlike many studies that compare different countries, this one examined variation within a single society.
The authors suggest that the mix of individualist and collectivist values in post-Soviet Kazakhstan may shape how older people adapt psychologically.
As expected, higher psychological well-being went hand in hand with greater life satisfaction and less depression.
There are clear limits. The sample was small and drawn from a single city through convenience and snowball sampling, and the design captures one point in time, so it cannot show whether values shape well-being or the other way round.
Further research with larger groups, including people in rural areas, would help build a fuller picture. The authors say their findings may be useful for future work in the psychology of ageing.
The authors say social, psychological, and educational programmes for older people can be more effective when they take cultural values into account. They suggest that encouraging social engagement, autonomy, and self-fulfilment in later life is important, and that the results may be useful for specialists in social policy, social work, and healthcare.
