Past research has suggested that the importance assigned to well-being domains may be associated with actual self-reported well-being in these same domains. However, no research has been conducted to determine whether valuing well-being leads to higher actual well-being, or the other way around. Center affiliate scientists Drs. Ying Chen and Tyler VanderWeele, among others, conducted a longitudinal study with the aim of answering the following questions:
- How is the importance of a particular well-being domain associated with the subsequent experience of well-being in the same domain?
- How is the importance of a particular well-being domain associated with the subsequent experience of well-being in other domains?
In order to answer these questions, Chen and VanderWeele conducted a well-being survey using randomly sampled employees of a large US company. The first wave of the survey was conducted in June 2018, and the second was conducted a year later, in July 2019. A total of 1,209 employees participated in both waves. Females accounted for 84.5% of the sample, with a mean age of 43.5. Participants were mostly white and relatively well-educated.
The well-being survey asked participants questions intended to determine the importance they placed on six different domains of well-being, as well as their self-reported well-being in those domains. The domains were emotional health, physical health, meaning and purpose, social connectedness, character strengths, and financial stability.
The study found that:
- Placing high importance on character strengths and social relationships were most strongly associated with subsequent well-being.
- Valuing physical health predicted higher physical health.
- None of the domain valuations were linked to higher emotional well-being.
- Higher valuations of character strengths and physical health were associated with lower ratings of subsequent financial stability.
- Participants who valued every well-being domain highly rated higher in subsequent character strengths.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that “living well appears best achieved by valuing immaterial goods, especially social connectedness and character strengths, as opposed to domains such as financial stability or physical health. This has important implications for sustainable growth, as our main findings are consistent with a ‘politics of being’ rather than a cultural emphasis on ‘having’ that is associated with resource-intensive economic systems rooted in environmentally degrading forms of consumerism.”
To read the full study, click here.
Written by Ayla Fudala, Communications Coordinator