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The Hierarchical Structure of Well‐Being
Author(s) -
Gallagher Matthew W.,
Lopez Shane J.,
Preacher Kristopher J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00573.x
Subject(s) - flourishing , psychology , eudaimonia , well being , structural equation modeling , social psychology , multilevel model , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , epistemology , statistics , psychotherapist , mathematics , philosophy
Theories of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being provide 3 extensively studied models for explaining flourishing mental health. Few studies have examined whether these models can be integrated into a comprehensive structure of well‐being. The present study builds upon previous theoretical and empirical work to determine the complex relationships among these 3 models of well‐being. Confirmatory factor analysis techniques were used to test a series of models in order to (a) confirm the proposed latent structures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being and (b) examine whether these models could be successfully integrated into a hierarchical structure of well‐being. In 2 large samples, results supported the proposed latent structures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being and indicated that the various components of well‐being could be represented most parsimoniously with 3 oblique second‐order constructs of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being.