Are You Doing Well, or Just Feeling Fine?
Six parts of a good life that happiness scores leave out
Most wellbeing questionnaires ask how happy or satisfied you are. In 1989 the psychologist Carol Ryff argued that this misses most of what philosophers and clinicians meant by living well, and built a model with six parts: running your own life, handling its demands, still growing, having warm relationships, having a direction, and accepting who you are. You can be cheerful and weak on several of them, or going through a hard year and strong on most.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Think about the last year or so rather than today's mood. A bad week pulls every answer down, and that is not what this is trying to measure.
What it measures
Ryff's six dimensions of psychological (eudaimonic) well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance. It is about functioning well rather than feeling good, which is why it differs from the optimism, self-esteem and loneliness tests on the site: each of those looks at one piece, while this model tries to map the whole.
Based on: Six dimensions of psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Keyes, 1995)
Possible results
Autonomy
Judging yourself by your own standards rather than by other people's approval.
Environmental mastery
Feeling able to manage the demands of daily life and shape your surroundings.
Personal growth
Feeling that you are still developing and open to new experience.
Positive relations
Having warm, trusting relationships and caring about other people's welfare.
Purpose in life
Having goals and a sense that your life is heading somewhere.
Self-acceptance
Accepting yourself, strengths and weaknesses, and your past.
Common questions
What is the difference between psychological well-being and happiness?
Happiness measures, sometimes called subjective or hedonic well-being, ask how good you feel and how satisfied you are with life. Psychological or eudaimonic well-being asks how well you are functioning: whether you have direction, close ties, room to grow. The two correlate, but Ryff's early work showed several of her dimensions - especially growth, purpose and autonomy - were only loosely tied to the older happiness scales.
Does psychological well-being change with age?
Different dimensions move in different directions. In Ryff's samples, environmental mastery and autonomy tended to be higher in middle and older age, while personal growth and purpose in life tended to be lower in older adults. Self-acceptance and positive relations changed little. These are cross-sectional comparisons, so part of the pattern may reflect generations rather than ageing itself.
Can you improve psychological well-being?
Yes, and it responds to what you do more than happiness does. Taking on a commitment that matters to you tends to lift purpose; investing time in two or three relationships lifts positive relations; learning something hard lifts growth. Some structured programmes built on Ryff's model have reported improvements, though most trials are small.
Sources
- Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069
- Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719
- Abbott, R. A., Ploubidis, G. B., Huppert, F. A., Kuh, D., Wadsworth, M. E., & Croudace, T. J. (2006). Psychometric evaluation and predictive validity of Ryff's psychological well-being items in a UK birth cohort sample of women. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-4-76
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from Ryff's model, so your scores cannot be compared with the published norms, and three items per dimension is a rough reading. The six-part structure is debated: several studies found four of the dimensions correlate so strongly that they may be one broad factor. This is not a diagnosis. If most bars are low and have been for weeks, talking to a doctor or psychologist is a sensible step.