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.
Highlights
The longitudinal interrelationships between domains of human well-being or flourishing remain understudied empirically
Because individuals may view the importance of each domain differently and there is not a clear way of weighting across domains, VanderWeele and colleagues proposed to derive a summary index for composite flourishing by applying equal weights to each d omain[1,10]
Examining the dynamics between these domains simultaneously within an overarching framework of composite flourishing has the potential to help foster better understanding of the roles of individual domains in shaping overall flourishing and well-being across other domains. Such evidence would be important for informing discussions on theoretical models of composite flourishing, refinement of flourishing assessments, and informing public health recommendations for promoting holistic wellbeing at the population level. To address this knowledge gap, this study examined the longitudinal associations between various domains of flourishing based on VanderWeele’s model of human flourishing, using the previously proposed set of 40 wellbeing questions across 6 d omains[1,10,11]
Summary
The longitudinal interrelationships between domains of human well-being or flourishing remain understudied empirically. All domains at baseline were positively associated with the composite flourishing score at subsequent wave, though the evidence was weak for character strengths (Table 2, Supplementary Figure S1). When the alternative composite flourishing score was considered (which excluded the domain used as the independent variable), the effect sizes of all domains became smaller but associations with the domains of purpose (β = 0.09, 95% CI 0.03, 0.15), social connectedness (β = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.12) and financial security (β = 0.08, 95% CI 0.03, 0.12) (Table 2, Supplementary Figure S2) remained robust.
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