The Multidimensional Structure of Subjective Well-Being In Later Life.

Bram Vanhoutte

doi:10.1007/s12062-014-9092-9

Abstract

Subjective well-being can be measured in different ways, depending on the conceptual perspective one adopts. Hedonic well-being, emphasising emotions and evaluation, is often contrasted with eudemonic well-being, stressing self-actualisation and autonomy. In this paper we investigate the background, structure and compatibility of empirical measures of hedonic and eudemonic well-being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We use a confirmatory factor approach to investigate the internal of structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D), Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS) and CASP, a measure of quality of life in old age. In a second step, we examine the higher order structure of well-being using these measures. Next to highlighting specific issues about the structure of these measures in connection to older populations, we illustrate that a threefold structure, distinguishing affective, cognitive and eudemonic aspects of well-being, is more informative than the two dimensional hedonic and eudemonic well-being that is often propagated.

Highlights

Health, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), goes beyond the mere absence of disease, but includes physical, mental and social well-being
This paper investigates the empirical measurement of well-being in later life, by examining a number of commonly used scales and looking at their interrelations
This is important in the context of psycho-social aspects of successful ageing, as in contrast to more biological aspects of health, the assessment of subjective well-being is less structured and standardised

Summary

Introduction

As defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), goes beyond the mere absence of disease, but includes physical, mental and social well-being. The framework of healthy and successful ageing (Rowe and Kahn 1997), encompasses multiple dimensions, spanning both biological and social sciences. A biomedical model of successful ageing strives for an old age free from disability and disease, with high levels of cognitive and physical function. The psycho-social approach emphasizes subjective well-being and psychological resources as the key to a good old age, which is more in line with lay conceptions

Vanhoutte

Conclusions

1: Strongly agree 2: Agree 3: Slightly agree 4: Neither agree nor disagree 5

1: Yes 2: No

Findings

Better than usual 2 Same as usual 3 Less than usual 4 Much less than usual