Well being is a state of positive satisfaction. It involves an individual’s ability to function at a high level of productivity, to live a fulfilling life, to contribute to the community, and to face adversity with resilience.
While well-being can be considered a social construct, it also is a psychological construct. In addition to having a positive impact on a person’s ability to deal with everyday challenges, well-being can increase health and life spans, improve immune functioning, and promote health and healing.
Many theories of well-being seek to determine the features of states that are conducive to well-being. These theories fall into two general categories: hedonistic and objective list theories. However, a more comprehensive approach may better capture well-being as a multidimensional construct.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines well-being as the presence of positive emotions, a sense of purpose, and quality relationships. For example, the CDC defines life satisfaction as “the extent to which individuals perceive that they are healthy and happy,” and defines social and emotional well-being as “the degree to which people are able to realize their potential.”
Measuring well-being is an important topic in the policy world. Most policy documents and rankings of national happiness only use a single dimension, such as life satisfaction. This can result in overlooking important insights.
Measurement of well-being is critical to understanding its social and economic implications. It is crucial to ensure that well-being is measured in a consistent and reliable way. Using an expansive, multidimensional measure can be particularly useful in identifying areas of strength and weakness within a population.