I am profoundly concerned with how people can do well, be well, feel well, and flourish over the long-term. And subjective well-being (SWB) is one way of understanding what this means to distinct individuals.
We are going to explore the origins of the SWB concept, its components, how we can measure it, and more.
What is subjective well-being?
According to Diener (2000, p.34), SWB is "people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives."
In general, there is a consensus among academics that the concept involves two broad elements.
1) Cognitive appraisal describes how we consider our global (overall) life satisfaction and our satisfaction with specific domains (e.g. family life, career, and so fourth).
2) Affective appraisal concerns our emotional experience - high SWB is the experience of frequent and intense positive states (e.g., joy, hope, and pride), and the general absence of negative ones (e.g., anger, jealousy, and disappointment) (Kashdan, 2004).
When we think about and appraise our lives, we use our own standards of desirability. Then, we compare our 'status' with those to determine how satisfied we feel - this is the subjective element of cognitive appraisal.
Likewise, different things are associated with positive affect for distinct people - this is the subjective aspect of affective appraisal.
SWB thus encompasses a vast array of different concepts, from fleeting experiences in our day-to-day, to much broader global judgments that we make about our lives as a whole. It is typically considered a hedonic as opposed to a eudaimonic concept (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Huta & Waterman, 2014)
*** Ed Diener and Martin Seligman carried out research on very happy individuals. They screened U.S. undergraduate students for happiness to examine factors that might influence high levels of happiness.
Using multiple instruments that included that Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), their findings revealed that "while there appears to be no single key to high happiness.... very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and spend little time alone relative to average people" (Diener & Seligman, 2002, p. 83)
*** Three components of SWB
So if we wanted to measure our SWB, what precisely would we evaluate?
SWB as three distinct components
SWB is most often thought of as having three components (Diener, 1984; Busseri & Sadava, 2011; Tov & Diener, 2013):
1 Frequent positive affect;
2 Infrequent negative affect; and
3 Cognitive evaluations of one's life satisfaction
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Why is SWB important?
There are many reasons why SWB matters to individuals and society as a whole.
Quality of Life
Our affective experiences and overall emotional well-being are central to our quality of life as individuals (Skevington & Bohnke, 2018)
Individuals who feel satisfied with their lives, and who frequently experience good feelings such as joy, contentment, and hope, are more inclined to be seen as enjoying a high quality of life.
Measures of SWB can be used to inform policy decisions, academic curricula, and social initiatives that contribute to a better quality of life for citizens and communities across the world (OECD better life, 2013)
Human Progress
GDP alone is not an adequate measure of life quality at the national level, although research suggests that it may have some impact on SWB through various mechanisms (Diener et al., 2005). It is generally agreed that SWB offers a more comprehensive measure of a nation's well-being by extending the concept beyond merely material concerns, and considers individual perspectives rather than outsider judgments.
For a great discussion on SWB and GDP as indicators of human progress, I recommend this article by the World Economic Forum (World Economic Forum, 2019)
How is it related to mental health and happiness?
SWB and mental health
Mental health is critical to SWB and vice versa. Very crudely, it can be considered the absence of negative psychological symptoms and the presence of positive ones (Abdel-Khalek & Lester, 2013).
What's important to note here is that the absence of illness and disease is not considered enough for people to have good mental health, and it's where SWB comes into the definition.
By recognizing the role of feelings such as joy, life satisfaction, fulfillment, purpose, and contentment in life, we have a more holistic mental health concept. In turn, we can better understand how to facilitate its development in individuals and populations (Keyes, 2006).
Are Happiness and Subjective Well-Being the Same?
Happiness is often equated with SWB in the literature, media, and more. In recent times, however, the latter is more widely thought of as the main affective component of the former (Machado et al., 2019).
What this means is that - in layman's terms and as described - SWB encompasses more than just happiness. By incorporating life satisfaction into SWB measures, we include consideration of past experiences and future expectations.
The Link Between SWB and Positive Psychology
As a discipline, positive psychology is focused on how virtues, strengths, and skills can help individuals and communities thrive and flourish. It's thus heavily concerned with the study of topics - such as meaning, mindset, happiness, gratitude, compassion, and more - which can play a role in well-being and a meaningful, good life.
In Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness Theory: The Life of Pleasure, SWB falls under one of the three basic orientations that facilitate well-being (Seligman & Royman, 2003):
1 The Pleasant Life - a hedonic orientation concerned with positive affective experiences;
2 The Meaningful Life - a eudaimonic orientation that focuses on working toward a higher purpose; and
3 The Engaged Life - that involves one's engagement with engaging, flow-eliciting activities (a psychological well-being orientation).
Typically considered a hedonic form of happiness, SWB is central to the first orientation - a life of pleasure.
A Glimpse at the Research
Positive psychology studies on SWB cover a growing range of topics (Diener, 2018):
SWB measures and methods. Currently, the vast bulk of SWB assessments are based on self-report scales and measures. While relatively reliable, academics have raised concerns about methodological issues such as validity, so we can likely expect to see more research in this area soon.
Factors underpinning SWB
The role of genetics, income, personality, community, societal factors, and more have long been a key area of interest for SWB and positive psychology researchers. One example is Deaton's (2008) Gallup World Poll study of income, well-being, and health, which linked SWB to national income.
Theoretical SWB processes. Studies of this type explore and examine the mechanisms underpinning subjective well-being, for example, biological theories of SWB, goal satisfaction, and mental-state theories. Headey's (2010) study on genetics and SWB, for instance, found that many people who experience serious adverse events don't always go back to their original/baseline levels of subjective well-being.
https://positivepsychology.com/subjective-well-being/
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