Psychological Well-Being Revisited: Advances in Science and Practice

By C. Ryff. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2013

2,597 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article reviews research and interventions that have grown up around a model of psychological well-being generated more than two decades ago to address neglected aspects of positive functioning such as purposeful engagement in life, realization of personal talents and capacities, and enlightened self-knowledge. The conceptual origins of this formulation are revisited and scientific products emerging from 6 thematic areas are examined: (1) how well-being changes across adult development and later life; (2) what are the personality correlates of well-being; (3) how well-being is linked with experiences in family life; (4) how well-being relates to work and other community activities; (5) what are the connections between well-being and health, including biological risk factors, and (6) via clinical and intervention studies, how psychological well-being can be promoted for ever-greater segments of society. Together, these topics illustrate flourishing interest across diverse scientific disciplines in understanding adults as striving, meaning-making, proactive organisms who are actively negotiating the challenges of life. A take-home message is that increasing evidence supports the health protective features of psychological well-being in reducing risk for disease and promoting length of life. A recurrent and increasingly important theme is resilience - the capacity to maintain or regain well-being in the face of adversity. Implications for future research and practice are considered.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f48999f68bbe87cdce385130b3626b6dc0f4c169

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Citations in the corpus

Risk-tourism, risk-taking and subjective well-being: A review and synthesis (2017, background): “Psychologists have focused extensively the role of personality in shaping subjective wellbeing (cf. Schmutte, & Ryff, 1997; Ryff, 2014).”
Relationship between Psychological Capital and Quality of Life: The Role of Courage (2020, background): “On the other hand, the perspective of eudemonic well-being, considering psychological well-being (PWB) in Ryff’s theory [18], emphasizes the aspects of a valuable life, which involve six dimensions: self-acceptance, autonomy, personal growth, environmental mastery, relationships with others, and pur”
Gratitude and health: An updated review (2019, background): “The first component of well-being refers to autonomy and personal mastery, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, and personal growth and development (Ryff, 2014).”
Entrepreneurship and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Psychological Functioning (2019, background): “Intentional pursuit of future-oriented goals improves personal functioning (Ryff, 2014).”
Testing multidimensional models of youth civic engagement: Model comparisons, measurement invariance, and age differences (2017, background): “…in theoretical and empirical advancements in areas such as prosociality (PadillaWalker & Carlo, 2014), personality (Chen, Hayes, Carver, Laurenceau, & Zhang, 2012), temperament (Rothbart, 2012), empathy (Decety, 2012), well-being (Ryff, 2014), and positive youth development (Bowers et al., 2010).”