Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Testing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life Across Time

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Maslow's hierarchy-of-needs theory is used to predict development of Quality of Life (QOL) in countries over time. Previous data sets have not had sufficient power to test these development trends among countries. Therefore a new database was developed that includes annual quality of life time-series for 88 countries from 1960 to 1994, covering measures on all five of Maslow's need-levels. Results showed significant agreement with some of Maslow's predictions, including his sequence of need achievement, and parts of an S-shaped trajectory in QOL. However, his mechanism of growth – that countries must slow growth in one area to increase growth in another – was disconfirmed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Bennett, Richard R.: 1991, 'Development and crime:A cross-national, time-series analysis of competingmodels', The Sociological Quarterly 32(3), pp. 343–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, James C.: 1991, 'Maslow and theory of political development: Getting to fundamentals', Political Psychology 12(3), pp. 389–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, Ed: 1995, 'A value based index for measuring national quality of life', Social Indicators Research 36, pp. 107–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eckhardt,W.: 1989, “Wars and war-related deaths 1945–1989', in R. Leger Sivard (ed.), World Military and Social Expenditures (World Priorities, Washington, D.C.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): 1995, Production Yearbook. On computer files (FAO, Rome).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaggers, K. and T. Robert Gurr: 1995, 'Tracking democracy's third wave with Polity III data', Journal of Peace Research 32(4), pp. 469–482.

    Google Scholar 

  • Majumder, A., K. Mazumdar and S. Chakrabarti, 1995, 'Patterns of interand intra-regional inequality: A socio-economic approach', Social Indicators Research

  • Maslow, Abraham H.: 1970, Motivation and Personality (Harper and Row, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazumdar, K.: 1995, 'Classification of countries: A socio-economic approach', Social Indicators Research 34, pp. 261–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sirgy, M. Joseph: 1986, 'A quality-of-life theory derived from Maslow's developmental perspective', American Journal of Economics and Sociology 45(3), pp. 329–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockholm International Peace Research Insititue: 1995, SIPRI Yearbook 1995: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford University Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, Ruut with the assistance of Joop Ehrhardt: 1995, 'The cross-national pattern of happiness: Test of predictions implied in three theories of happiness', Social Indicators Research 34, pp. 33–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wicker, Frank W., G. Brown, James A. Wiehe, Anastasia S. Hagen and J. Lynn Reed: 1993, 'On reconsidering Maslow: An examination of the deprivation/ domination proposition', Journal of Research in Personality 27, pp. 118–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank: 1997, World Development Indicators (World Bank, Washington, D.C).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616

    Michael R. Hagerty

Authors
  1. Michael R. Hagerty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hagerty, M.R. Testing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life Across Time. Social Indicators Research 46, 249–271 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006921107298

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006921107298

Keywords

Search

Navigation