Well-being

Many social indicators fail to measure what people think and feel about their lives—the quality of their relationships, their positive emotions, resilience, satisfaction with life domains, or the realization of their potential.^{1, 2} Positive evaluations of life including the presence of positive emotions (e.g., happiness, serenity, interest), social ties, and perceptions of life satisfaction and meaning, are commonly referred to as “well-being”. ^{3, 4}

To learn more about how well being can be useful to public health, how it is measured, and what CDC is doing to examine and promote well-being, please visit Health Related Quality of Life.

References:

1. Diener E, Seligman ME. Beyond money. Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 2004;5(1):1–31.
2. Diener E, Scollon CN, Lucas RE. The evolving concept of subjective well-being: the multifaceted nature of happiness. In: E Diener (ed.) Assessing well-being: the collected works of Ed Diener. New York: Springer;2009:67–100.
3. Diener E. Assessing well-being: the collected works of Ed Diener. New York: Springer; 2009.
4. Keyes CLM, Shmotkin D, Ryff CD. Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. J Pers Soc Psych, 2002;82(6):1007–1022.