Resources for Measuring Well-Being

The World Health Organization includes well-being as a part of their definition of health:

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Among research scholars, well-being has been evaluated as both a predictor and an outcome, depending on the research study. It is often treated as a variable with values ranging from having no well-being to having a high degree of well-being. However, when the term is used to refer to a positive experience, people will often contrast it with the concept of ill-being (to indicate more negative experiences beyond simply the absence of well-being, i.e., depression). Numerous forms of well-being have been defined for the purposes of research. A common distinction between forms of well-being separates objective well-being from subjective well-being. A substantial body of research has begun to suggest that these forms of well-being can predict better physical health. In the following pages of this website, we provide a non-comprehensive list of many of the most commonly used well-being measures that have been linked with physical health.