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Review
. 2020 Feb 1:133:106004.
doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106004. Online ahead of print.

Current recommendations on the selection of measures for well-being

Tyler J VanderWeele  1 , Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald  2 , Paul Allin  3 , Colin Farrelly  4 , Guy Fletcher  5 , Donald E Frederick  6 , Jon Hall  7 , John F Helliwell  8 , Eric S Kim  9 , William A Lauinger  10 , Matthew T Lee  11 , Sonja Lyubomirsky  12 , Seth Margolis  13 , Eileen McNeely  14 , Neil Messer  15 , Louis Tay  16 , Vish Viswanath  17 , Dorota Węziak-Białowolska  18 , Laura D Kubzansky  19
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Current recommendations on the selection of measures for well-being

Tyler J VanderWeele et al. Prev Med. .
Free article

Abstract

Measures of well-being have proliferated over the past decades. Very little guidance has been available as to which measures to use in what contexts. This paper provides a series of recommendations, based on the present state of knowledge and the existing measures available, of what measures might be preferred in which contexts. The recommendations came out of an interdisciplinary workshop on the measurement of well-being. The recommendations are shaped around the number of items that can be included in a survey, and also based on the differing potential contexts and purposes of data collection such as, for example, government surveys, or multi-use cohort studies, or studies specifically about psychological well-being. The recommendations are not intended to be definitive, but to stimulate discussion and refinement, and to provide guidance to those relatively new to the study of well-being.

Keywords: Flourishing; Happiness; Life satisfaction; Measurement; Optimism; Psychology; Public health; Purpose in life; Surveys; Well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest Tyler J. VanderWeele and Eileen McNeely report having previously received consulting fees from Aetna Inc.

Comment in

  • Brief well-being assessments, or nothing at all?
    VanderWeele TJ, Trudel-Fitzgerald C, Allin P, Farrelly C, Fletcher G, Frederick DE, Hall J, Helliwell JF, Kim ES, Lauinger WA, Lee MT, Lyubomirsky S, Margolis S, McNeely E, Tay L, Viswanath V, Węziak-Białowolska D, Kubzansky LD. VanderWeele TJ, et al. Prev Med. 2020 Jun;135:106095. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106095. Epub 2020 Apr 16. Prev Med. 2020. PMID: 32305580 No abstract available.
  • Disagreement about recommendations for measurement of well-being.
    Ryff CD, Boylan JM, Kirsch JA. Ryff CD, et al. Prev Med. 2020 Oct;139:106049. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106049. Prev Med. 2020. PMID: 32928444 No abstract available.