Skip to main content
Log in

Spirituality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Well-Being Index

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Subjective well-being explores the evaluations, both positive and negative, of how people experience their lives. Research in the field inquires how people perceive their well-being in different settings, including different cultures, regions and cities. A large number of different measures have been designed to capture subjective well-being. One of the most used SWB measure is the Personal Well-being Index (PWI), an evaluation of life developed by Cummins et al [(2003). Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190] which proposes that satisfaction with life consists of seven different life-domains. Theoretical considerations of the contribution of spirituality and religiosity to life satisfaction, from a eudaimonic (from the Greek, it consists of the word "eu" (good or well-being) and the word “daemon” (spirit)) point of view, led to test the contribution of this new domain in the prediction of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) in Bogotá, Colombia. Empirical results confirm the construct validity and reliability of the scale. The contribution of the new domain—satisfaction with spirituality and religiosity—to PWI was found significant. Based on these results the paper explores conceptually the role of spirituality contributing to satisfaction with life. The finding stresses the importance of interpreting satisfaction with life as a whole from the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. New questions for research in this important area are proposed

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler, M. J. (1978). Aristotle for everybody. Mcmillan.

  • Brief, A. P., Butcher, A. H., George, J. M., & Link, K. E. (1993). Integrating bottom-up and top-down theories of subjective well-being: The case of health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(4), 646–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Bulman, J. R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 917–927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, A. (1976). Subjective measures of well-being. American Psychologist, 31, 117–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations, and satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casas, F. (2002). Personal Wellbeing Index. Translation to Spanish. International Wellbeing Group. http://acqol.deakin.edu.au/inter_wellbeing/Index_Spanish.doc.

  • Clark, A. E., & Lelkes, O. (2005). Deliver us from Evil: Religion as Insurance. PSE Working Papers, 43, PSE, Ecole normale supérieure.

  • Clark, A. E., & Oswald, A.J. (2002). A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect happiness. International Journal of Epidemiology, 1139–1144.

  • Cohen, A. B. (2002). The importance of spirituality in well-being for Jews and Christians. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 287–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronbach, L. J. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A. (1996a). Assessing quality of life. In R.I. Brown (eds.), Quality of life for handicapped people. London: Chapman & Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A. (1996b). The domains of life satisfaction: An attempt to order chaos. Social Indicators Research, 38, 303–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A. (2000a). Personal income and subjective wellbeing: A review. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(2), 133–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A. (2000b). Objective and subjective quality of life: An interactive model. Social Indicators Research, 52, 55–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A., Eckersley, R., Pallant, J., Van Vugt, J, & Misajon, R. (2003). Developing a national index of subjective wellbeing: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. A., Eckersley, R., Lo, S. K., Davern, M., Hunter, B. & Okerstrom, E. (2004). The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: An Overview. Social Indicators Network News, 76, 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R.A. (2006). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index: Report 14.1 – Fifth Anniversary Special Report – Summarizing the major findings. Melbourne: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, School of Psychology, Deakin University.

  • Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (2000), Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E.P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5(1), 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will money increase subjective well-being? Social Indicators Research, 57(2), 119–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the economic lot? Some empirical evidence In P. David, & W.R Melvin (eds.), Nations and households in economic growth. California: Stanford University Press, Palo Alto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2001). Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. Economic Journal, 111, 465–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2003). Explaining happiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(19), 11176–11183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eckersley, R. (2000). The mixed blessings of material progress: Diminishing returns in the pursuit of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(3), 267–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmons, R. A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1058–1068.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmons, R. A. & Paloutzian, R. F. (2003). The psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 377–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed: A review. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., & Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2003). Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance. New York: Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J. F.: (2005). Wellbeing, social capital and public policy. What’s new? National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No 11807.

  • Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. D. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transcriptions. Royal Society of London, 1435–1446.

  • Kahneman, D., Diener, E. & Schwarz, N. (eds.) (1999). Wellbeing: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kas, J. D., Friedman, R., Lescrman, J., Zuttermeister, P. C., & Benson, H. (1991). Health Outcomes and a new index of spiritual experience. Journal for Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 203–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, A. (1978). Aristotelian Ethics. Clarendon Press.

  • Kim-Prieto, Ch., Diener, E., Tamir, M., Scollon, CH., & Diener, M. (2005). Integrating the Diverse Definitions of happiness: A time-sequential framework of subjective wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(3), 261–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets, S. (1930) Equilibrium economics and business cycle theory. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 45(1), 40–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, J. E. & Kanthamani, H. (1995). An explorative study of effects of paranormal and spiritual experiences on people’s lives and well-being. The Journal of American Society for Psychical Research, 89, 249–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau, A. L. D., Cummins, R. A., & McPherson, W. (2005). An investigation into the cross-cultural equivalence of the personal wellbeing index. Social Indicators Research, 72, 403–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layard, R. (2005). Happiness. Taurus.

  • Lewis, Ch. A. & Cruise, S. H. M. (2005). ‘Religion and happiness: Consensus, contradictions, comments and concerns. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 9(3), 213–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y. & Diener, E. (2003). Re-examining adaptation and the set-point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 537–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maslow, A. (1979). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mora, F. J. (1994). Diccionario de Filososfía. Ariel referencia.

  • Nussbaum, M.C., Sen, A., (Eds.). (1993). The quality of life. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parducci, A. (1995),’ Happiness, pleasure and judgment: The contextual theory and its applications. NJ, Erlbaum: Mahwah.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On Happiness and Human Potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D. (1989). ‘Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069–1081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarason, S. (1974). The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxena, Sh., O’Connell, K., & Underwood, L. (2002). A commentary: Cross-cultural quality of life assessment at the end of life. The Gerontologist, 42, 81–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (2000). Capability and Wellbeing. In Sen A., Nussbaum M. (Eds.), The quality of life, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. K., & Sudhir, A. (1997). Concepts of human development and poverty: A multidimensional perspective. Background Paper for Human Development Report, 1997.

  • Sen, A. (1985) Choice, welfare and measurement. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1999) Development as freedom. New York.

  • Smitsman, A. (2006). Correspondence to the International Well-Being Group. http://acqol.deakin.edu.au/inter_wellbeing/primary_researchers.htm.

  • Tiberius, V. (2004). Cultural differences and philosophical accounts of well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5, 293–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiliouine, H., Cummins, R. A., & Davern, M. (2006). Measuring wellbeing in developing countries: The case of Algeria. Social Indicators Research, 75, 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dierendonck, D., & Mohan, K. (2006). Some thoughts on spirituality and eudaimonic well-being. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 9(3), 227–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (1991), Questions on happiness: Classical topics, modern answers, blind spots. In F. Strack, M. Argyle & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Subjective well-being: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 7–26). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (1994). Correlates of happiness. Rotterdam, RISBO.

  • Veenhoven, R. (2002). Why social policy needs subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 58(1–3), 33–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (2000). The four qualities of life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 1–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (2007). Subjective measures of wellbeing. In Mark McGillivray (Ed.), Human well-being: Concept and measurement (pp. 214–239). Houndsmill, UK: Palgrave McMillan.

  • Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrast of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(4), 678–691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHOQOL-SRPB Group, A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion and personal beliefs as components of quality of life. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 1486–1497.

  • World Happiness Data Base, http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/.

  • World Health Organization, WHO (2002). The world health report: Reducing risks, promoting healthy life.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Wills.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wills, E. Spirituality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Well-Being Index. J Happiness Stud 10, 49–69 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-007-9061-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-007-9061-6

Keywords

Navigation