Longitudinal associations between domains of flourishing

Abstract

The longitudinal interrelationships between domains of human well-being or flourishing remain understudied empirically. While different aspects of flourishing may be sought as their own end, it is also the case that well-being in one domain may influence well-being in other domains. Using longitudinal data form a sample of employees from a large national employer in the United States (N = 1209, mean age = 43.52 years, age range 20–74 years), this study examined the temporal associations between various domains of flourishing, based on a 40-item index that assessed six domains of flourishing. These domains include emotional health, physical health, meaning and purpose, character strengths, social connectedness, and financial security. A set of linear regression models were used to regress subsequent composite flourishing on flourishing domain-specific scores at baseline. The results indicated that all domains were each independently associated with greater composite flourishing subsequently. The strongest and most robust links were observed for meaning and purpose (β = 0.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.13, 0.25), social connectedness (β = 0.17, 95% CI 0.12, 0.22), and financial security (β = 0.32, 95% CI 0.28, 0.37). Further analyses that regressed subsequent composite flourishing on individual item indicators at baseline suggested that, out of all 40 items, one item under the character domain “I always act to promote good in all circumstances, even in difficult and challenging situations” and one item in the physical health domain (“Based on my past health, I expect to be healthy long into the future”) had the most robust association with subsequent composite flourishing. Implications of these results for understanding the constituents of a flourishing life and for refinement of the flourishing assessments are discussed.

The Importance, Opportunities, and Challenges of Empirically Assessing Character for the Promotion of Flourishing

“…In our exploratory work of various character items (cf. Chen et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2021) that is roughly based on a conceptualization of the cardinal virtues of practical wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance, as well as more global character items, we have found the achieving of these three criteria above not entirely straightforward. Of the various items we have considered, only one, relatively global, character item has clearly and consistently been predictive of an individual’s own subsequent well-being outcomes.…”

“…Longitudinal associations of responses to other character items with other aspects of subsequent well-being were somewhat more mixed after control for other variables, mostly with no association whatsoever for a number of other subsequent well-being outcomes (Chen et al, 2020). Some item responses even manifested a negative association with certain aspects of subsequent well-being.…”

“…In any case, a helpful step forward, especially when attempting to incorporate character items into large longitudinal cohort studies, as described further later, might be the compilation of single-item character assessments for which there is evidence that they satisfy criteria (a) to (c) mentioned earlier. Of the character items from our recent longitudinal well-being study (Chen et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2021; Węziak-Białowolska et al, 2021), the only one we would unhesitatingly put forward for more general use would be: “I always act to promote good in all circumstances, even in difficult and challenging situations.” Another single-item character assessment, for which there is some empirical evidence that criteria (a) to (c) are satisfied, is for forgiveness: “I have forgiven those who hurt me” (Chen et al, 2019; Long, Worthington, et al, 2020). More research should be devoted to using longitudinal studies to identify the most promising individual character items.…”

Prospective Associations Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health. Evidence From a Longitudinal Survey and Health Insurance Claims Data

“…In the analyses, we included a domain specific score reflecting overall social connectedness. We also used each of the seven items of the social connectedness domain as an independent variable separately [these variables were applied as standardized continuous variables (mean = 0, standard deviation = 1)], as prior research showed that longitudinal associations between overall flourishing and individual items of social connectedness vs. overall social connectedness score yielded different results [ 30 ].…”

Associations of suffering with facets of health and well-being among working adults: longitudinal evidence from two samples

“…To facilitate comparison of effect estimates across continuous outcomes, we standardized all continuous outcomes (M = 0, SD = 1). We applied Bonferroni corrections to account for multiple testing, but we focus our interpretation on results before Bonferroni correction because practices for multiple testing vary and continue to evolve [44][45][46] . However, to acknowledge the different practices and cutoffs that can be applied, all tables that include the results of multivariable analyses report p-values both before and after Bonferroni correction.…”