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. 2014;7(1):1-20.
doi: 10.1007/s12062-014-9092-9. Epub 2014 Jan 29.

The Multidimensional Structure of Subjective Well-Being In Later Life

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The Multidimensional Structure of Subjective Well-Being In Later Life

Bram Vanhoutte. J Popul Ageing. 2014.

Abstract

Subjective well-being can be measured in different ways, depending on the conceptual perspective one adopts. Hedonic well-being, emphasising emotions and evaluation, is often contrasted with eudemonic well-being, stressing self-actualisation and autonomy. In this paper we investigate the background, structure and compatibility of empirical measures of hedonic and eudemonic well-being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We use a confirmatory factor approach to investigate the internal of structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D), Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS) and CASP, a measure of quality of life in old age. In a second step, we examine the higher order structure of well-being using these measures. Next to highlighting specific issues about the structure of these measures in connection to older populations, we illustrate that a threefold structure, distinguishing affective, cognitive and eudemonic aspects of well-being, is more informative than the two dimensional hedonic and eudemonic well-being that is often propagated.

Keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis; Measurement; Subjective well-being.

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Figures

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Fig. 1
Schematic representation of measures of hedonic well-being
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
1 factor model for CASP 19
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
1 factor model for CASP 19 with error correlations
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
1 factor model for CASP 19 with method factor for negatively worded items
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
2 factor model for CASP 19
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
3 factor model for CASP 19

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