A Year of Mapping the Hidden Geographies of Flourishing
I published over a dozen papers this year. But when I read them together, they don’t look like a list—they look like a map.
Academic publishing is a strange business. You spend months (or years) staring at datasets, arguing with reviewers, and tweaking p-values, often with your nose pressed so close to the grindstone that you can’t see the rest of the workshop.
But 2025 was different. As the year winds down and I look at the stack of papers my colleagues and I released—from Nature Mental Health to the Journal of Psychology and Theology—I realized something startling. I hadn’t just published a list of disconnected studies. Without planning it, we had effectively run an X-ray on the human flourishing.
When viewed together, these publications reveal the “deep structure” of my entire research program. They tell a coherent story about the Mechanisms, Disruptors, Adaptive Responses, and Outcomes of human flourishing.
Here is the secret story the data and findings from my 2025 research reveal.
1. The Disruptors: The Ghosts in the Early Years of Life
We tend to think of flourishing as a “current events” issue. How am I doing right now? But the data emerging from the Global Flourishing Study (GFS) this year forced me to look backward.
In papers like The Roots of Belonging and Childhood Antecedents of Adult Place Satisfaction (both in Scientific Reports), we traced a direct line from the infant to the adult psyche across 22 countries. The results were sobering. We found that the “soil” of early life—e.g., caregivers, neighborhood safety, early rituals—dictates the structural integrity of the adult self.
Childhood acts as the primary disruptor (or stabilizer). It sets the stage for whether an adult will struggle to find Hope (as we found in our paper Seeds of Hope in Applied Quality of Life Research) or whether they will feel at home in the world. You cannot analyze the fruit of a tree without testing the pH of the soil it grew in.
2. The Mechanisms: Anchoring the Soul in Place
If childhood is the when of flourishing, place is the where. We are not floating brains; we are bodies moving through space.
This year, I became obsessed with the mechanisms of this connection. In my chapter Sensing the Sacred in Place for a handbook edited by Bradley S. Jorgensen (one of the pioneers of the sense of place theory), I argued that “knowing” a place is not just a cognitive exercise but involves some sort of somatic process and engagement. It rests in sensory activities that magnets the individuals to connect by sensing the sacred in place. Our latent class analysis paper on Spiritual Ties to Place (APA’s Psychology of Religion and Spirituality) identifies the four place profiles this connection takes place: places of worship, natural settings, private place, and unfrequented places like memories or burial grounds.
We took this further in Love of Place (International Journal of Intercultural Relations), where we operationalized how affection for a location acts as a psychological anchor. But the most exciting leap was bridging this with theology. In Holy Spirit Attachment (Journal of Psychology and Theology), we proposed a daring mechanism: that for believers, the Holy Spirit functions as an “Immediate Divine Attachment Figure.” We argued that this significant faith relationship is a psychological scaffold that helps people orient themselves toward the good.
3. Adaptive Responses: Navigating the Fractures
Life breaks things. That is a universal truth. The question my research asks is: How do we glue them back together?
This is where my work on the adaptive responses of human flourishing come in. In The Will to Flourish, written for a European Christian psychology journal, I explored how volition—the sheer human will—allows us to reframe suffering using my framework of Missional Psychotherapy. In writing this article, I argued that flourishing isn’t the absence of pain but the ability to align that pain with a missional purpose.
I saw this adaptivity in our study on Prayer or Meditation habits across 22 countries (both papers published in Scientific Reports). Prayer transcends a mere ritual for many. It is a survival strategy and a way to navigate life’s fractures and struggles. Whether it is forming spiritual ties to a location or engaging in missional therapy, humans are incredibly creative at building bridges over chasms of despair.
4. Outcomes: The Look of Life
Finally, what does it look like when the mechanism works, the disruptors are managed, and the response is adaptive? It looks like hope and belonging.
In Variations in Belonging (Journal of Positive Psychology) and Where Hope Thrives (Journal of Happiness Studies), we mapped these outcomes globally. We learned that belonging and hope are the core signs of a thriving human being, regardless of culture. The Nature Mental Health flagship paper of the Global Flourishing Study gave us the big-picture outlook on what global flourishing look at across cultures.
The Takeaway
I did not publish all these work to meet a quota. I no longer write or do research for validation or applause. I invest my time and energe in research because the story of human flourishing is complex and deserves careful attention. This year clarified that flourishing is not one thing. It is an ecosystem. It requires the mechanism of a secure base (divine or physical), the healing of disruptors from our past, and the adaptive response of a willing spirit.
2025 taught me that flourishing is not a destination. It is a map. It has contours and elevations. It has deep valleys and steady plains. It has sacred landmarks. It has rough edges and long shadows. It has places where hope grows and places where it dries out.
As I move into 2026, I am no longer just asking “Who is flourishing?” I am asking, “What kind of soil do they need?” I am asking how place, childhood, and relationships (with the Sacred) entwine to shape a life of flourishing and wholeness.
And thanks to this year’s work, we finally have the data and tools to answer that.
References (free downloads)
Counted, V. (in press). Sensing the Sacred in Place: Embodied Mechanisms of Spiritual Ties to Place. B. Jorgensen (ed.), Handbook of Sense of Place. Eldger
Counted, V., Allen, K.A., Johnson, B.R., & VanderWeele, T.J. (2025). Variations in belonging across 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study. The Journal of Positive Psychology https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2025.2569083
Counted, V., Purcell, E., Netz, D., Waldheim, D., Baum, L., Stephens, R., Gilbert, L., Cheong, W. T., Douglass, C., Harris, J., McQuade, G., Reasy, H., Schultz, L., Sheets, A., Smith, R., Sutherland, S., Williams, S., Garzon, F., & Fogleman, A. (2025). Holy Spirit Attachment: Theologizing and Operationalizing the Third Person of the Trinity as the Immediate Divine Attachment Figure. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00916471251356982
Counted, V., Allen, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025).The Roots of Belonging: Childhood Predictors of Belonging in 22 Countries. Scientific Reports 15, 30215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14410-4
Counted, V. (2025). The Will to Flourish: Reframing Suffering and Volition in Missional Therapy. Christian Psychology Around the World. The EMCAPP Journal
Counted, V., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cowden, R.G., Johnson, B.R., & VanderWeele, T.J. (2025). Childhood Antecedents of Adult Place Satisfaction in 22 Countries. Scientific Reports. [Supplementary Files: Results in 22 countries ; Population Weighted Meta-Analysis ; Forest Plots] https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00731-x
Counted, V., Lomas, T., Cowden, R., Lee, M. T., Allen, K.-A., Basu, J., Laidler, D., Routledge, C., Seaman, D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Love of place: Conceptual framework and template for measuring the contributory and unitive affection towards a place. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 107, 102203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2025.102203
Bradshaw, M., Counted, V., Lomas, T., Woodberry, R.D., VanderWeele, T.J., & Johnson, B.R. (2025). Childhood experiences and adult prayer or meditation in 22 countries around the world. Scientific Reports 15, 15083 [supplementary files]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99796-x
Counted, V. (2025). An Introduction to the Science of Christian Flourishing: A Domain-Based Approach. Journal of Psychology and Christianity 44(1), 4-14
Counted, V., Long, K., Johnson, B., Lee, M.T., Worthington Jr., E., Fogleman, A., Johnson, E., Garzon, F., Hathaway, W.L., VanderWeele, T., (2025). The Individual Domain of Christian Flourishing: Conceptual Foundations and Measurement Template. Journal of Psychology and Christianity 44(1), 15-38
Long, K. N. G., Nakamura, J. S., Long, P. M., Gregg, R. J., Abraham, F., Counted, V., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Flourishing communities: The role of faith communities in the promotion of flourishing and the common good. Journal of Psychology and Christianity 44(1), 84-107.
Bradshaw, M., Counted, V., Lomas, T., Woodberry, R. D., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025, April 21). Cross-National and Demographic Variations in Daily Prayer or Meditation: Insights from the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/2x5jm_v1
Meagher, B. R., Cowden, R. G., Goldammer, L., Piazza, M., Aten, J., & Counted, V. (2025). The Varieties of Spiritual Ties to Place: A Latent Class Analysis. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000560
Counted, V., Long, K., Cowden, R., Witvliet, C. V., Cortright, A., Gibson, C., Walsh, J., Hathaway, W., Fernando, G., Johnson, B.R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Where Hope Thrives: Demographic Variation in Hope Across 22 Countries. Preprint https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/3wn97_v1
Counted, V., Long, K., Cowden, R., Witvliet, C. V., Cortright, A., Gibson, C., Walsh, J., Hathaway, W., Fernando, G., Johnson, B.R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Seeds of Hope: A Cross-National Analysis of Childhood Predictors of Hope in 22 Countries. Applied Quality of Life Research [supplementary files] https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10450-0
VanderWeele, T. J., Johnson, B. R., Bialowolski, P. T., Bonhag, R., Bradshaw, M., Breedlove, T., Case, B., Chen, Y., Chen, Z. J., Counted, V., Cowden, R. G., de la Rosa, P. A., Felton, C., Fogleman, A., Gibson, C., Grigoropoulou, N., Gundersen, C., Jang, S. J., Johnson, K. A., Kent, B. V., Kim, E. S., Kim, Y. I., Koga, H. K., Lee, M. T., Le Pertel, N., Lomas, T., Long, K. N. G., Macchia, L., Makridis, C. A., Markham, L., Nakamura, J. S., Norman-Krause, N., Okafor, C. N., Okuzono, S. S., Ouyang, S., Padgett, R. N., Paltzer, J., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Ritter, Z., Shiba, K., Srinivasan, R., Ssozi, J., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Wilkinson, R., Woodberry, R. D., Wortham, J., & Yancey, G. (2025). The Global Flourishing Study: Study profile and initial results on flourishing. Nature Mental Health. [Supplementary Files] https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00423-5