Abstract
This paper illustrates a new project developed by a cross-country team of researchers, with the aim of studying the hedonic and eudaimonic components of happiness through a mixed method approach combining both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Data were collected from 666 participants in Australia, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and South Africa. A major aim of the study was to examine definitions and experiences of happiness using open-ended questions. Among the components of well-being traditionally associated with the eudaimonic approach, meaning in particular was explored in terms of constituents, relevance, and subjective experience. The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was also administered to quantitatively assess the hedonic dimension of happiness. Results showed that happiness was primarily defined as a condition of psychological balance and harmony. Among the different life domains, family and social relations were prominently associated with happiness and meaningfulness. The quantitative analyses highlighted the relationship between happiness, meaningfulness, and satisfaction with life, as well as the different and complementary contributions of each component to well-being. At the theoretical and methodological levels, findings suggest the importance of jointly investigating happiness and its relationship with other dimensions of well-being, in order to detect differences and synergies among them.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Values in the range +2 to −2 are set by rule of thumb. The values of kurtosis are outside of the 95% confidence interval.
References
Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health - How people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Baumeister, R. F. (2005). The cultural animal: Human nature, meaning, and social life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chamberlain, K., & Zika, S. (1988). Measuring meaning in life: An examination of three scales. Personality and Individual Differences, 9, 589–596.
Chenyang, L. (2008). The ideal of harmony in ancient Chinese and Greek philosophy. Dao, 7, 81–98.
Christopher, J. C. (1999). Situating psychological well-being: Exploring the cultural roots of its theory and research. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 141–152.
Christopher, J. C., & Hickinbottom, S. (2008). Positive psychology, ethnocentrism, and the disguised ideology of individualism. Theory and Psychology, 18(5), 563–589.
Creswell, J. W. (2008). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Massimini, F. (1985). On the psychological selection of bio-cultural information. New Ideas in Psychology, 3, 115–138.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Freire, T., Engeser, S., Vella-Brodrick, D., Wissing, M., et al. (2008). Eudaimonic happiness and the eudaimonic happiness inventory (EHI): A cross-cultural investigation. In Roundtable discussant and presenter at the 4th European conference of posiitive psychology, book of abstracts (pp. 99–100). Opatija, Croatia (July 1–4).
Delle Fave, A., & Massimini, F. (2004). Bringing subjectivity into focus: Optimal experiences, life themes and person-centred rehabilitation. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 581–597). London: Wiley.
Delle Fave, A., & Massimini, F. (2005). The relevance of subjective well-being to social policies: Optimal experience and tailored intervention. In F. Huppert, B. Keverne, & N. Baylis (Eds.), The science of well-being (pp. 379–404). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Denzin, N. K. (1978). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43.
Diener, E., Emmons, R., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.
Early, P. C. (1997). Face, harmony and social structure: An analysis of organizational behaviour across cultures. NY: Oxford University Press.
Ferriss, A. L. (2002). Does material well-being affect non-material well-being? Social Indicators Research, 60, 275–280.
Fredrickson, B. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.
Furnham, A., & Cheng, C. (2000). Lay theories of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 227–246.
Giannantoni, G. (1976). Profilo di storia della filosofia. Vol.1: La Filosofia Antica. [History of philosophy. Vol.1: Ancient philosophy]. Torino: Loescher.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine.
Grouzet, F. M. E., Kasser, T., Ahuvia, A., Dols, J. M. F., et al. (2005). The structure of goal content across 15 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 800–816.
Ho, S. S. M., & Chan, R. S. Y. (2009). Social harmony in Hong Kong: Level, determinants and policy implications. Social Indicators Research, 91, 37–58.
Kashdan, T. B., Biswas-Diener, R., & King, L. A. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: The costs of distinguishing between hedonics and eudaimonia. Journal of Positive Psychology, 3(4), 219–233.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Research, 43, 207–222.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(3), 539–548.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2006). Subjective well-being in mental health and human development research worldwide: An introduction. Social Indicators Research, 77, 1–10.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national mental health. American Psychologist, 62(2), 95–108.
Kim, M. S., Kim, H. W., Cha, K. H., & Lim, J. (2007). What makes Koreans happy? Exploration on the structure of happy life among Korean adults. Social Indicators Research, 82(2), 265–286.
Leung, K., Tremain Koch, P., & Lu, L. (2002). A dualistic model of harmony and its implications for conflict management in Asia. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 19, 201–220.
Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Wood, A. M., Osborne, G., & Hurling, R. (2009). Measuring happiness: The higher order factor structure of subjective and psychological well-being measures. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 878–884.
Lu, L. (2001). Understanding happiness: A look into the Chinese folk psychology. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 407–432.
Lu, L., & Gilmour, R. (2006). Individual-oriented and socially oriented cultural conceptions of subjective well-being: Conceptual analysis and scale development. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 9, 36–49.
Luborsky, M., & Sankar, A. (2006). Beyond Nuts and Bolts: Epistemological and cultural issues in the acceptance of advanced qualitative and mixed methods research. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Martin, M. W. (2008). Paradoxes of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 171–184.
Massimini, F., & Delle Fave, D. A. (2000). Individual development in a bio-cultural perspective. American Psychologist, 55(1), 24–33.
Morgan, J., & Farsides, T. (2009). Measuring meaning in life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 197–214.
Morling, B., & Fiske, S. T. (1999). Defining and measuring harmony control. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 379–414.
Muñoz Sastre, M. T. (1998). Lay conceptions of well-being and rules used in well-being judgements among young, middle-aged, and elderly adults. Social Indicators Research, 47, 203–231.
National Institutes of Health—NIH. (2001). Towards higher levels of analyses: Progress and promise in research on social and cultural dimensions of health. Bethesda, MD: Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH.
Oishi, S. (2000). Goals as cornerstones of subjective well-being: Linking individuals and cultures. In E. Diener & E. M. Suh (Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp. 87–112). Cambridge, MA: Bradford.
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. CA: Newbury Park.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5(2), 164–172.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (2008). The satisfaction with life scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3(2), 137–152.
Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 25–41.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association/New York: Oxford University Press.
Pflug, J. (2009). Folk theories of happiness: A cross-cultural comparison of conceptions of happiness in Germany and South Africa. Social Indicators Research, 92(3), 551–563.
Richardson, F. C., & Guignon, C. B. (2008). Positive psychology and philosophy of social science. Theory and Psychology, 18(5), 605–627.
Ryan, M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.
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(6), 1069–1081.
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 13–39.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14.
Sen, A. (1992). Inequality reexamined. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sirgy, M. J., & Wu, J. (2009). The pleasant life, the engaged life, and the meaningful life: What about the balanced life? Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 183–196.
Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning of life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80–93.
Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2009). Three ways to be happy: Pleasure, engagement, and meaning: Findings from Australian and US samples. Social Indicators Research, 90, 165–179.
Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 678–691.
Waterman, A. S. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: A eudaimonist’s perspective. The Journal Positive Psychology, 3(4), 234–252.
Waterman, A. S., Schwartz, S. J., & Conti, R. (2008). The implications of two conceptions of happiness (hedonic enjoyment and eudaimonia) for the understanding of intrinsic motivation. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 41–79.
Waterman, A. S., Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B. L., Ravert, R. D., Williams, M. K., Bede Agocha, V., et al. (2010). The Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being: Psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 41–61.
WHOQOL Group. (1998). The WHOQL assessment instrument: Development and general psychometric properties. Social Science and Medicine, 46, 1585–1596.
WHOQOL Group. (2004). Can we identify the poorest quality of life? Assessing the importance of quality of life using the WHOQOL-100. Quality of Life Research, 13, 23–34.
WHOQOL Group. (2006). A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 1486–1497.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to José Luis Zaccagnini (University of Malaga, Spain) and Stefan Engeser (Technische Institut, Munich, Germany), for their essential contribution in data collection and for their active participation in the coding phase of this study. We thank Marta Bassi (University of Milano, Italy) for her precious collaboration in different phases of the research work. We also thank our collaborators who helped in the coding process: Petra Anic, David Brodrick, Heleen Coetzee, Rocco Coppa, Carla Fonte, Isabel Lima and Michael Temane.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
See Table 5.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Freire, T. et al. The Eudaimonic and Hedonic Components of Happiness: Qualitative and Quantitative Findings. Soc Indic Res 100, 185–207 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9632-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9632-5