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

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. In Keyes’ (2005a, 2009) two continua model, mental health (indicated by emotional, psychological, and social well-being) and mental illness (indicated by, e.g., depression and anxiety) form two distinct but correlated factors. With this in mind, we tested a model (with participants aged 42 years) where the latent factor for well-being was as shown in Fig. 1, except for depression, which was set as a correlating factor. The model fit the data well, χ 2(41) = 45.03, p = .307; CFI = 0.99; and RMSEA = 0.030. The correlation between the two factors, one for well-being and the other for depression, was −0.58. Hence, our results also lend support to the two continua conceptualization of mental health.

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Acknowledgments

The preparation of this article was funded by the Academy of Finland through the grants (nos. 118316 and 135347) awarded to Katja Kokko. We appreciate Professor Lea Pulkkinen’s contribution to the conducting of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS) over the years and her most recent Academy of Finland’s grant (no. 127125) for the continuation of the JYLS. The 2001 JYLS data collection was funded by the Academy of Finland as a part of the project (nos. 40166 and 44858) “Human Development and Its Risk Factors” (Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme 1997–2005, led by Professor Pulkkinen). Portions of this paper were presented at the 2008 meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (Wuerzburg, Germany). We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Katja Kokko, Anni Korkalainen, Anna-Liisa Lyyra & Taru Feldt

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  1. Katja Kokko
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Kokko, K., Korkalainen, A., Lyyra, AL. et al. Structure and Continuity of Well-Being in Mid-Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study. J Happiness Stud 14, 99–114 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9318-y

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