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Evaluation of Well-Being in Adolescence: Proposal of an Integrative Model with Hedonic and Eudemonic Aspects

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Abstract

The evaluation of well-being can be conducted according to distinct traditions, among which the hedonic and eudemonic traditions stand out. The hedonic focuses on happiness, emphasizing the presence of positive affects and the absence of negative affects. The eudemonic emphasizes living well and fully, and the realization of human potential. This study aims to test a hypothetical model of well-being in adolescents, seeking to assess the dimensional structure of well-being, including measures of hedonic (subjective) and eudemonic (psychological) well-being. The sample consisted of 1248 Brazilian adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age (M = 15.09, SD = 1.77). The instruments employed were the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale and the Core Affects Scale. Three hypothetical models of relationships between the two well-being perspectives were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that the model with subjective well-being and psychological well-being as two uncorrelated factors presented the worst values for model fit. The Oblique Model, with subjective well-being and psychological well-being as two correlated factors (r = .90) and the Single Factor Model, with well-being measures as observed variables of a single well-being latent factor, exhibited close fits. We conclude that a second-order factor encompasses the complexity of the well-being construct across different dimensions, while offering an integrative perspective of those dimensions.

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Funding

National Council for Scientific and Techological Development – CNPq – PhD scholarship for first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade de São Paulo, Prof. Mello Moraes Avenue, 1721, São Paulo, Brazil

    Miriam Raquel Wachholz Strelhow

  2. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos Street, 2600, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Jorge Castellá Sarriera

  3. Institut de Recerca sobre Qualitat de Vida, Universitat de Girona, Pl Sant Domènec, 9, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Ferran Casas

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  1. Miriam Raquel Wachholz Strelhow
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  2. Jorge Castellá Sarriera
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Correspondence to Miriam Raquel Wachholz Strelhow.

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We declare that the study followed all the ethical recommendations for research with human beings, and that the research was approved by the ethics committee of the Institute of Psychology of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (number 1.176.831).

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Strelhow, M.R.W., Sarriera, J.C. & Casas, F. Evaluation of Well-Being in Adolescence: Proposal of an Integrative Model with Hedonic and Eudemonic Aspects. Child Ind Res 13, 1439–1452 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-09708-5

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