Structure and Continuity of Well-Being in Mid-Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study

The present study analyzed whether the tripartite model of well-being (Keyes in J Health Soc Res 43:207–222, 2002; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73:539–548, 2005a) and low depression can be captured by a core factor. Furthermore, it examined whether well-being shows continuity from early middle adulthood to middle adulthood. The study was based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (Pulkkinen 2006), where the same participants (initial N = 369; 53% males) have been followed from age 8 until middle age. Data gathered at ages 36 and 42 were used. Well-being was indicated by (a) emotional well-being (including positive mood and low negative mood, satisfaction with different life-domains, and happiness); (b) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff in J Pers Soc Psychol 57:1069–1081, 1989); (c) Scales of Social Well-Being (Keyes in Soc Psychol Q 61:121–140, 1998); and (d) low level of depression. These measures were administered at both ages (except for social well-being, which was available only at age 42). The results, based on structural equation modeling, showed that a latent factor consisting of the above dimensions of well-being fit the data and that the structure of well-being was the same across genders and time. Well-being showed a high continuity from age 36 to 42 (standardized coefficient 0.84). As a conclusion, the different dimensions of well-being had only little variance of their own and a core factor of well-being was empirically established.