Different types of well-being? A cross-cultural examination of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.

Abstract

A large international sample was used to test whether hedonia (the experience of positive emotional states and satisfaction of desires) and eudaimonia (the presence of meaning and development of one's potentials) represent 1 overarching well-being construct or 2 related dimensions. A latent correlation of .96 presents negligible evidence for the discriminant validity between Diener's (1984) subjective well-being model of hedonia and Ryff's (1989) psychological well-being model of eudaimonia. When compared with known correlates of well-being (e.g., curiosity, gratitude), eudaimonia and hedonia showed very similar relationships, save goal-directed will and ways (i.e., hope), a meaning orientation to happiness, and grit. Identical analyses in subsamples of 7 geographical world regions revealed similar results around the globe. A single overarching construct more accurately reflects hedonia and eudaimonia when measured as self-reported subjective and psychological well-being. Nevertheless, measures of eudaimonia may contain aspects of meaningful goal-directedness unique from hedonia. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Value of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling in Identifying Factor Overlap in the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF): A Study with a New Zealand Sample

“…Prior CFA studies have found relatively high correlations ([0.70) between the three components of the MHC-SF in various cultures (Demirci and Akin 2015;Joshanloo et al 2013;Karaś et al 2014). Research with longer versions of the well-being scales has found even larger factor correlations, up to 0.96 (e.g., Disabato et al 2016). These findings intensify concerns over the empirical distinguishability of hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being.…”

“…This concern is justifiable given that the correlations between the psychological (eudaimonic) and the emotional (hedonic) well-being factors have repeatedly been found to be very high in CFA studies. For example, Disabato et al (2016), using CFA, found a correlation of 0.96 between hedonic and psychological wellbeing. However, recent studies using ESEM have consistently indicated that the correlations between the three components of well-being are in fact much smaller than those found in CFA studies if cross-loadings are not fixed to zero.…”

A daily diary study of relationships between feelings of gratitude and well-being

“…Nevertheless, differences among the constructs that have been used to define eudaimonic well-being have led some researchers to criticize the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being (e.g. Disabato, Goodman, Kashdan, Short, & Jarden, 2016;Kashdan, Biswas-Diener, & King, 2008).…”

Satisfaction with Life, Big-Five Personality Traits and Posttraumatic Growth Among People Living with HIV

“…However, in the light of new analysis, eudaimonic well-being and hedonic well-being are correlated but also relatively independent constructs (Bojanowska and Zalewska 2016;Disabato et al 2016;Joshanloo 2016). According to the theory (Tedeschi and Calhoun 1996), PTG should incorporate these two aspects of well-being: trauma-triggered changes have a potential to make life more meaningful but also more satisfactory.…”