What is wellbeing? (And How Can We Measure It)
Wellbeing encompasses several specific aspects of our condition, including satisfaction, happiness, and quality of life. It’s tricky to measure, because it needs to be largely self-reported. However, this aspect makes it easier for someone like me to gather data on it, because I just need a good survey.
Wellbeing is important in several theories of psychology, and has several specific definitions. For the purposes of this research, I decided to use the Flourishing model, popularized by Martin Seligman. The idea of flourishing is used in positive psychology and requires a balance of several aspects of wellbeing. The exact aspects are prone to some variation, but generally include happiness, quality of relationships, sense of purpose, and life satisfaction. My wellbeing questionnaire is adapted from Tyler J. Vanderweele’s Flourishing Measure as part of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. Vanderweele breaks wellbeing into the following six categories:
Happiness and life satisfaction
Physical and mental health
Meaning and purpose
Character and virtue
Close social relationships
Financial and Material Stability
Each category has two questions that participants answer on a scale from 0 to 10. Each question is weighted equally, with a total of 120 potential points. This results in each participant producing a numerical value for their overall wellbeing that can then be plotted against other factors. Here’s an example question:
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I understand my purpose in life.
(0 = Strongly Disagree; 10 = Strongly Agree)
And the responses I got on my initial survey:
The median answer was 5, with the 25th and 75th percentiles being 3 and 6, respectively.
Here’s another one:
9. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I am content with my friendships and romantic relationships.
I think the bimodal distribution in this one speaks for itself.
Clearly, my initial study was on a much smaller scale than would be necessary to draw meaningful conclusions from. However, the success I had with these few responses shows me that it’s ready to be applied on a larger scale [link Next Steps page].
Lastly, here’s a summary of my results, plus the exact questions I asked:
