Global Research Team
Research Associate, Human Flourishing Program
Harvard University, Psychology · South Africa
Richard G. Cowden is a Research Associate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and an affiliated research scientist with SHINE at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed his doctoral training at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and brings a social-personality psychology perspective to cross-cultural research on well-being. His work examines adversity, character strengths and virtues (including forgiveness), and religious and spiritual dynamics as determinants of adaptive functioning and flourishing across diverse global populations.
A cross-national analysis of sociodemographic variation in suffering across 22 countries
Communications Medicine · 2025 · First author
Analytic methodology for childhood predictor analyses for wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study
BMC Global and Public Health · 2025
Analytic methodology for demographic variation analyses for wave 1 of the global flourishing study
BMC Global and Public Health · 2025
Childhood antecedents of adult place satisfaction in 22 countries
Scientific Reports · 2025
Childhood predictors of belief in life after death across 22 countries
Scientific Reports · 2025
Childhood Predictors of Dispositional Forgivingness in Adulthood: A Cross-National Analysis with 22 Countries
Applied Research in Quality of Life · 2025 · First author
Childhood predictors of religious reading: a cross-national analysis in the Global Flourishing Study
Scientific Reports · 2025
Childhood predictors of suffering in adulthood across 22 countries
Communications Medicine · 2025 · First author
Flourishing in Argentina: Evidence from the Global Flourishing Study (GFS) across socioeconomic groups and levels of religiosity
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025
Flourishing in Hong Kong: An analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025
Flourishing in South Africa: Benchmarks and sociodemographic variation across 69 health, wellbeing, and related factors in the Global Flourishing Study
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025 · First author
Flourishing in Sweden: Great overall—but not for all
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025
Flourishing in the Philippines: Country-specific insights from the Global Flourishing Study
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025
Flourishing in Türkiye: A comprehensive country-specific analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025
Seeds of Hope: Cross-National Analysis of Childhood Predictors of Hope in 22 Countries
Applied Research in Quality of Life · 2025
Sociodemographic variation in dispositional forgivingness: a cross-national analysis with 22 countries
Scientific Reports · 2025 · First author
Sociodemographic Variation in Gratitude Using a Cross-National Analysis with 22 Countries
International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology · 2025
Sociodemographic variations of belief in life after death across 22 Countries
Scientific Reports · 2025
The Global Flourishing Study: Study Profile and Initial Results on Flourishing
Nature Mental Health · 2025
The Prevalence and Predictors of Experiences of Beauty in 22 Countries: An International Assessment of Aesthetic Appreciation in the Global Flourishing Study
Applied Research in Quality of Life · 2026
Well-being in the United States: Insights from the Global Flourishing Study
International Journal of Wellbeing · 2025