Abstract
Psychological well-being manifests itself in all aspects of human activity and is essential to understanding whether young people experience life satisfaction and whether, as they mature, well-being can be associated with different levels of personal autonomy. This quantitative study was developed within the framework of international research on young people’s autonomy in the transition to adulthood. Its main objectives were to analyze the relationship between psychological well-being and autonomy and examine potential variations between the two variables according to age. To this end, Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale and the Transition to Adulthood Autonomy Scale (EDATVA) designed by Bernal et al., were used with a sample of 1,148 young people aged 16–21 from Madrid, Spain, and Bogotá, Colombia. The results show that almost all the dimensions on the Psychological Well-Being Scale correlate significantly and positively with the dimensions on the EDATVA scale. Specifically, moderate correlations were obtained between self-organization on the EDATVA scale and purpose in life (r = 0.568; p = 0.01) and environmental mastery (r = 0.447; p = 0.01) on the Psychological Well-Being Scale. In turn, autonomy on Ryff’s scale obtained the highest correlation (r = 0.382; p = 0.01) with understanding context on the EDATVA scale. It was also found that the older 18–21 age group obtained higher scores than the younger 16–17 age group in all dimensions on both the EDATVA and the Psychological Well-Being Scale. Earlier studies endorse the results found in this research, especially the differences in the scores for both scales according to age groups. This opens avenues for future research to analyze the relationship between psychological well-being and autonomy as independent variables in other sectors of the population.
Highlights
Advances in positive psychology have given rise to heightened interest in psychological well-being across various disciplines (Henn et al, 2016; Hides et al, 2016)
High correlations were obtained in self-organization on the EDATVA scale and purpose in life (r = 0.568; p = 0.01) and environmental mastery (r = 0.447; p = 0.01) on the Psychological Well-Being Scale
The dimension understanding context obtained the highest correlations with autonomy (r = 382; p = 0.01) and personal growth (r = 0.356; p = 0.01) on the Psychological WellBeing Scale
Summary
Advances in positive psychology have given rise to heightened interest in psychological well-being across various disciplines (Henn et al, 2016; Hides et al, 2016) This has led to the scientific literature taking an approach to the construct from two polarized perspectives. In the second perspective, psychological wellbeing is construed from a eudemonic perspective as a process of self-realization through which individuals evolve over time. It is not associated with results but with capacities (Díaz et al, 2015; Berzonsky and Cieciuch, 2016; Disabato et al, 2016; Urquijo et al, 2016)
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