Integrated Conative Model of Well-Being: from Motives to Well-Being

The aim of this study was to develop the self-concordance model of healthy goal striving through testing the extended conative model of well-being. This model included: goal self-concordance as an aspect of positive motive; sustained effort as positive behaviour directed toward attaining the goal; goal attainment; personal growth interpretation as positive cognition regarding goal attainment; need satisfaction; and finally well-being as the outcome of the successful goal-striving process. Across three studies, university students completed online surveys regarding these variables, making reference to their most important goal during the past 4 weeks. The results indicated that (a) goal self-concordance predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction; (b) sustained effort also predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction; (c) personal growth interpretation predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction. The suggested integrated conative model of well-being provided appropriate goodness of fit. The three model-fitting studies highlight the important role of psychological processes such as construal in the conative processes that predict subjective well-being.