Subjective health in relation to hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing

Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

Joshanloo, Mohsen
Jovanović, Veljko

¹Keimyung University, South Korea
²University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Mohsen Joshanloo, Department of Psychology, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol Boulevard, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu 42601, South Korea. Email: [email protected]

Journal of Health Psychology 26(3):p 438-448, March 2021. | DOI: 10.1177/1359105318820104

This study investigated the relationships between subjective health, hedonic wellbeing (i.e. positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction), and eudaimonic wellbeing (i.e. psycho-social functioning). The sample was drawn from the Gallup World Poll and included a total of 1,567,295 individuals in 165 countries. We found that both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing were uniquely associated with subjective health. However, the relative contributions of each dimension to subjective health varied, with negative affect demonstrating the strongest relationship with subjective health and life satisfaction demonstrating the weakest association. The moderating effects of some national-level variables were also explored.