Abstract
Eudaimonia and hedonia are two different sources of motivation for people to pursue happiness. Previous studies have suggested that eudaimonic motivation is a more effective predictor of happiness than hedonic motivation, but little is known about the reasons for this. The present study attempts to investigate the secret of eudaemonists who experience more happiness by comparing the differences in the mechanisms by which the two happiness motives affect life satisfaction. To this end, the study randomly selected 852 university students from 19 different provinces in China to examine the relationships between eudaimonic and hedonic motives, meaning-seeking, meaning experience, positive emotions, negative emotions, and life satisfaction. Structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the mediating effect of meaning in life and emotion between happiness motivation and life satisfaction. The results showed that (1) the predictive effect of eudaimonic motives on life satisfaction was much higher than that of hedonic motives. (2) The difference in the predictive effect between the two kinds of motivation was due to the different influencing mechanisms. Eudaimonic motives promoted life satisfaction through meaning or the combination of meaning and emotion, while hedonic motivation promoted life satisfaction through positive emotion. The effect size of many mediating paths of eudaimonic motives was large and the direction (positivity and negativity) was consistent, while that of hedonic motives was smaller and had a larger suppressing effect. (3) Eudaimonic motives had a negative impact on life satisfaction through meaning-seeking, but this negative impact was reversed when individuals enhanced the experience of meaning through meaning-seeking. (4) Hedonic motives did not predict the reduction of negative emotions, nor did they improve individual life satisfaction by reducing negative emotions. To some extent, the research results reflected the internal mechanism of individual pursuit of happiness, revealed the reason why eudaimonic motives can bring more happiness, and suggests that it is very important to understand individuals’ motivation for happiness pursuit.
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This research was supported by Beijing Social Science Foundation of China (17JYB009).
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PF contributed to the conception and design of the study, LL and WS performed the statistical analysis, and WS wrote the first draft of the manuscript. PF and YJ revised it critically for important intellectual content. LL and ZZ collected the raw data and organized the database. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
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Sun, W., Liu, L., Zheng, Z. et al. Why eudemonia bring more happiness: The multiple mediating roles of meaning of life and emotions. Curr Psychol 42, 18749–18760 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03058-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03058-2