The varieties of wellbeing

Abstract

Well-being in older people may be represented in the sectors of behavioral competence, perceived quality of life, psychological well-being, and objective environment. Research findings are presented, which show that two dimensions of psychological well-being, negative affect and positive affect, are among the important domains in this sector. Negative affect was more strongly related to inner aspects of the person while positive affect was more strongly related to external, interactive aspects of the person's world. Bradburn's two-factor theory is thus supported. These two aspects of well-being are discussed in relation to life events, personal causation, neuroticism, and introversion-extra-version.