The Hierarchical Structure of Well‐Being

ABSTRACT Theories of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being provide 3 extensively studied models for explaining flourishing mental health. Few studies have examined whether these models can be integrated into a comprehensive structure of well‐being. The present study builds upon previous theoretical and empirical work to determine the complex relationships among these 3 models of well‐being. Confirmatory factor analysis techniques were used to test a series of models in order to (a) confirm the proposed latent structures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being and (b) examine whether these models could be successfully integrated into a hierarchical structure of well‐being. In 2 large samples, results supported the proposed latent structures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being and indicated that the various components of well‐being could be represented most parsimoniously with 3 oblique second‐order constructs of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well‐being.