Further Evaluation of the Tripartite Structure of Subjective Well‐Being: Evidence From Longitudinal and Experimental Studies

Abstract

Subjective well-being (SWB; Diener, 1984) comprises three primary components: life satisfaction (LS), positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA). Multiple competing conceptualizations of the tripartite structure of SWB have been employed, resulting in widespread ambiguity concerning the definition, operationalization, analysis, and synthesis of SWB-related findings (Busseri & Sadava, 2011). We report two studies evaluating two predominant structural models (as recently identified by Busseri, 2015): a hierarchical model comprising a higher-order latent SWB factor with LS, PA, and NA as indicators; and a causal systems model specifying unidirectional effects of PA and NA on LS. A longitudinal study (N = 452; M = 18.54; 76.5% female) and a lab-based experiment (N = 195; M = 20.42 years; 87.6% female; 81.5% Caucasian) were undertaken. Structural models were evaluated with respect to (a) associations among SWB components across time (three months, three years in Study 1; one week in Study 2) and (b) the impact of manipulating the individual SWB components (Study 2). A hierarchical structural model was supported in both studies; conflicting evidence was found for the causal systems model. A hierarchical model provides a robust conceptualization for the tripartite structure of SWB.

Psychosocial Resources for Hedonic Balance, Life Satisfaction and Happiness in the Elderly: A Path Analysis

“…Finally, the present study contributes relevant evidence on the structure of SWB and the relationships among its components in the elderly population. In a series of studies analyzing the tripartite structure of SWB with young and adult study populations, Busseri and colleagues [ 56 , 81 , 82 ] provided empirical evaluations of several competing structural approaches regarding the relationships among HB, LS and SWB. In a meta-analytic study with more than 34,000 individuals and cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental data, Busseri [ 56 ] confirmed that SWB has a hierarchical structure and found moderate meta-analytic correlations among the three proposed components (−0.49 for positive affect and negative affect, 0.53 for positive affect and LS and −0.37 for negative affect and LS), stronger correlations between these factors, and SWB (.84 for positive affect, −0.54 for negative affect and 0.63 for LS; the factor SWB explained 70%, 34% and 40% of their variance, respectively) and reliable unique variance for each component.…”

“…Furthermore, pleasant emotions have been shown to be the best predictor of happiness and LS, when other variables such as physical pleasure, satisfaction with specific domains of life, and the attainment of goals are controlled [ 80 ]. In addition, Busseri and colleagues [ 81 , 82 ] recently examined the tripartite structure of Diener’s proposal of SWB and have found that cross-sectional research evidence supports a causal path from happiness predictors to LS that is mediated by positive and negative affect. As a consequence, in the present study, multidimensional constructs of SWB were explored in older adults, whether predictors of happiness are related to SWB through its dimensional components was determined, and the relationships between affective and cognitive components in predicting happiness were investigated.…”

“…Based on the research by Busseri and colleagues [ 56 , 81 , 82 ], the same analyses were then conducted by first imposing a path from HB to LS and then imposing a path from LS to HB. These complementary analyses were conducted to test whether HB and/or LS can act as a mediator variable for each other in the relationship between the studied psychosocial predictors and happiness.…”

Global identification predicts gay–male identity integration and well‐being among Turkish gay men

“…We measured subjective well‐being according to the well‐known tripartite model (Diener, ; Metler & Busseri, ), using three indicators: satisfaction with life, positive affect, and (absence of) negative affect.…”

Global identification helps increase identity integration among Turkish gay men

“…We measured subjective well-being according to the well-known tripartite model (Diener, 1984;Metler & Busseri, 2015) using three indicators, each of which is described below: satisfaction with life, positive affect and (absence of) negative affect.…”