Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social psychology quarterly, 121-140

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Social Well-BeingAuthor(s): Corey Lee M. KeyesReviewed work(s):Source: Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Jun., 1998), pp. 121-140Published by: American Sociological Association

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SocialPsychologyuarterly1998,Vol. 61,No. 2,121-140

SocialWell-Being*COREY LEE M. KEYES

EmoryUniversity

The proposalof fivedimensionsf social well-being,ocial integration,ocialcontribution,ocialcoherence,ocialactualization,ndsocial acceptance,s the-oretically ubstantiated.he theoreticaltructure,onstruct alidity,nd thesocialstructuralources fthe imensionsf ocialwell-beingre nvestigatedntwo tudies.tem nd confirmatoryactor nalyses n both tudies orroboratethe heoretical odelofsocial well-being.he new cales correlateonvergentlywithmeasures fanomie, enerativity,erceivedocial constraints,ommunityinvolvementndneighborhooduality. he new scales correlateiscriminantlywithmeasures fdysphoria, lobal well-being,hysicalhealth nd optimism.

Multivariatenalysesn both tudies ubstantiatehe laim hat ocialwell-beingis an achievement,acilitatedyeducational ttainmentnd age.Thestate nddirectionf the tudy f adult unctioningre discussed.

What s thenatureof a well-livedife?Does positivementalhealth nclude ocialchallengesand criteria? nquiry nto thenature of well-being hould embrace thedivision f ife ntopublic ndprivate asks,a distinctionhathas pervadedsocial psy-

chological heory.The self,forexample, s both a publicprocess nd a private roduct James 890;Mead 1934).Individualdifferencesn neu-roticism and extraversion (Costa andMcCrea 1980), self-awareness Duval andWicklund 972;Fenigstein,cheier nd Buss1975), self-conception (Greenwald andPratkanis 984;Trafimow,riandis nd Goto1991;Triandis 989) and esteem Luhtanen

and Crocker 1992) characterizepeople aseither ttentiveosituationalr nternalxi-

*This esearch as supported ytheJohn . andCatherineT. MacArthur oundation ResearchNetworknSuccessful idlife evelopmentMID-MAC),whosedirectors Dr.OrvilleGilbert rim.Data forStudy are takenfrom local study fPositiveocialFunctioning,upportedyMIDMAC;data for tudy comefromMIDMAC's nationalstudy.am ndebtedo Hazel RoseMarkus,liceS.Rossi, Dov Shmotkin,Richard Shweder, and

Elizabeth . homson or heir upportndfeedbackon Study and an earlier raft fthispaper.Thefeedback eceived rom heSPQ reviewersndco-editor, r. Lynn mith-Lovin,mprovedhepapermeasurably.pecial hanks o to JaneAllyn iliavinand Carol D. Ryffor heirndefatigableeedbackand guidance. Direct correspondence to theDepartmentof Sociology, 1555 Pierce Drive,Tarbuttonall,Atlanta, A 30322.

gencies nd nformation.Role theoriesnd concepts elineate he

strains nd incongruitiesetweenpersonaland social expectationsBiddle 1986;Heiss1981) or focuson the ways n which eoplemanage he ncongruityetween rivate nd

public ife and images Goffman 959;alsosee Shaw andCostanzo1982).Finally, s adults age theypurportedly

encounter asks hat orce hem ochoose toadapt through rivate esignationr publicsocial involvement (i.e., generativity)(Erikson1950; lso see Adler 1979).Thepri-vate and the public sides of life are twopotential ources of life's challenges,withpossibly istinct onsequences orudging

well-livedife.Despite thedistinctions etweenpublicand private ife, he leading conceptions fadultfunctioningortray ell-beings a pri-marily rivate henomenon.heclinical ra-dition tends to operationalizewell-beingthroughmeasuresof depression,distress,anxiety,r substance buse (see,e.g.,Thoits1992).Well-beingherefores theabsenceofnegative onditions nd feelings,he result

ofadjustmentndadaptation o a hazardousworld.The psychological radition pera-tionalizeswell-beings the ubjectivevalu-ation of ifevia satisfactionnd affecte.g.,Andrews ndWithey 976; Bradburn 969;Campbell 1981; Campbell,Converse, andRodgers 1976;Diener 1984; Gurin,Veroff,and Feld1960)orpersonal unctioningRyff

121








122 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY

1989;Ryff nd Keyes 1995).According othisview, motionalwell-beings an excessofpositive ver negativefeelings; ersonalpsychologicalunctionings thepresence fmorepositive hannegative erceived elf-attributesuch s personal rowth. lthoughthe existingmodels emphasizeprivatefea-tures of well-being, individuals remainembeddednsocial structuresnd communi-ties, nd facecountless ocial tasks ndchal-lenges.To understand ptimalfunctioningand mental health,social scientistsalsoshould nvestigate dults'social well-being(also see Larson1992, 996).

Thepurpose fthis tudys to substanti-ate andtest social modelofwell-beinghatreflectsositiveocialhealth. hereforedis-cuss he ocialnature f ife nd ts hallenges,because uch hallengesmight e criteriahatindividuals se to assessthe quality ftheirlives. proposeoperationaldefinitionsndindicatorsfsocial well-being.n tworepre-sentativeamples, examine he theoreticalstructurendvalidityf eachscale, s wellassome ofthe social structuralrigins f eachdimensionf ocialwell-being.

Symptoms fLife'sSocial Challenges

Socialhealth, r at least tsabsence,s apreeminentoncern n classicsociologicaltheory. espite the importance f anomieandalienation,urkheim nd Marx lsodis-cussedseveraldimensionsfpositive ocialhealth. mong hepotential enefitsfpub-

lic ife resocial ntegrationnd cohesion,senseofbelongingnd nterdependence,nda sense of sharedconsciousnessnd collec-tivefate Durkheim1951).The benefits fsociallifeprovide foundationor globaldefinitionfa socialversion fwell-being.

Social well-being is the appraisal ofone's circumstancend functioningn soci-ety.Below I propose and describeseveralsocial challengesthat constitutepossible

dimensionsf ocialwellness.Social integrations the evaluation of the

quality fone's relationshipo society ndcommunity. ealthyindividualsfeel thattheyare a part of society. ntegration stherefore he extentto whichpeople feelthey avesomethingncommonwith therswhoconstituteheir ocialrealitye.g., heir

neighborhood), as well as the degree towhich theyfeel thatthey belong to theircommunitiesnd society. ocial integrationdraws on conceptions of social cohesion(Durkheim), cultural estrangementandsocial isolation (Seeman), and class con-sciousness (Marx). In Durkheim's view,social coordination nd healthreflect ndi-viduals'connections o each other hroughnorms nd indicate heir ondness or oci-ety.According o Seeman 1959,1983,1991;also see Merton1949), culturalestrange-ment s the cleavage of selffrom ociety.Estrangements therejection f society rthe realization hat ociety oes not reflectone's own values and lifestyle.ocial isola-tion s thebreakdown f personalrelation-ships that providemeaningand support.Like Marx'sconception f class conscious-ness, ocial integrationntails he construalofcollectivemembershipnd fate.

Social acceptances the onstrualf soci-etythrough he character nd qualitiesofother people as a generalized category.Individualswho illustrateocial acceptancetrust thers,hinkhat thers recapableofkindness, nd believe that people can beindustrious.ociallyaccepting eople holdfavorable views of human nature (seeWrightsman991)and feel omfortableithothers Horney1945). Social acceptance sthe social analogueto personal cceptance:Peoplewhofeelgoodabouttheir ersonali-ties and acceptboththegood and the badaspects ftheir ivesexemplifyoodmental

health (Fey 1955; Ryff1989). Thereforesocial acceptance of othersmightbe thesocialcounterpartoself-acceptance.

Social contributions the evaluationofone's socialvalue. t includes he belief hatone is a vitalmember fsociety, ith ome-thing f value to giveto the world.Socialcontributionesembles heconcepts f effi-cacyand responsibility.elf-efficacys thebeliefthatone can performertainbehav-

iors Bandura1977)and canaccomplish pe-cific bjectivesGecas 1989).Social respon-sibilitys thedesignationfpersonal bliga-tions thatostensibly ontributeo society.Social contributioneflects hether,nd towhatdegree, eoplefeel thatwhateverheydo intheworld s valuedby ocietyndcon-tributes o the commonweal. hisconstruct








SOCIAL WELL-BEING 123

is consistent ithMarx's thesis hatpeoplearenaturallyroductiveIsrael1971).

Alienation s theeconomic ounterpartto thediminutionf theperceived alueofone's life ndeverydayctivities.he devel-

opmental nalogue ofsocial contributionsgenerativemotives and behavior.Midlife,according oErikson1950), sa periodwhenadults an actontheir esire o contributeosociety ymolding he nextgenerationntoproductivemembers fsocietyfor xample,bymentoring).

Social actualizations theevaluation fthepotential nd thetrajectoryfsociety.This s thebelief nthe evolution fsociety

and the ensethat ociety aspotential hichis beingrealized hroughts nstitutionsndcitizens. ealthier eople are hopeful boutthe conditionnd future fsociety,ndtheycan recognizesociety'spotential.Sociallyhealthier eople can envision hat hey,ndpeoplelikethem,repotential eneficiariesofsocial growth. he evaluationof socialprogress s consistentwithSrole's- 1956)interpretationf anomie s theevaluationf

society'spotential ytheevaluationofthecharacterfsociety's ustodiansforexam-ple,publicofficials).imilarly,ocialactual-izationresemblesfatalisnmLefcourt1982)andpowerlessnessSeeman1991).

Parallel to self-determination,ocialactualization s the sense that ociety on-trols tsdestiny.hefocus n therealizationof social potential also is similarto thethemeofpotential nd itsdevelopment s

self-realizationMaslow 1968),eudaimonichappiness Waterman1993), and personalgrowthRyff 989).Optimalfunctioning,npart,is openness to experience and thedesire nd efforto grow ontinually.ocialactualizationaptures hese deas ofgrowthanddevelopment.

Socialcoherences theperceptionfthequality, rganization,nd operationofthesocial world, nd it includesa concernfor

knowing boutthe world.Healthierpeoplenot onlycare about thekindofworld inwhich hey ive,butalso feelthatthey anunderstand hat shappeninground hem.Suchpeople do notdeludethemselveshattheyive n a perfect orld; hey avemain-tained rpromotedhedesire omake enseof ife.

Social coherence s analogous to mean-inglessnessnlife MirowskyndRoss 1989;Seeman1959,1991), nd involves ppraisalsthat ociety s discernable,ensible, ndpre-dictable. sychologically,ealthierndividuals

see theirpersonal ivesas meaningfulndcoherentRyff 989).The sense ofpersonalcoherence,ccording oAntonovsky1994),maybe a marker fhealth:ndividuals hohave coherence ttemptomaintain oher-ence when acedwith npredictablend trau-matic ife vents.

In sum,perspectives ooted nphiloso-phy,ocialpsychologicalheory ndculturalanalysis rguecogently or mphasizinghe

social equallywith thepersonalnatureofwell-being.Themes of integration, ocialinvolvement,nd public consciousness nclassical ociological heory,hich re reiter-ated insocial psychologicalonceptions fself nsociety,uggest hesocial challengesfacedby dults.

SocialStructuralources fSocialWell-Being

People do not begin or maintainthequest forsocial well-beingwiththesameassets.Social structurehouldconstrain rfacilitatendividuals'bilityndopportunityto respondsuccessfullyo the social chal-lengesof ife. ocial stratificationnd agingareprominenttructuralspectsoflifeandhavebeenthe ubject fprior esearch n thesourcesofotherdimensions fhealth andwell-being.n particular,ducational ttain-

ment ndprocesses faginggenerallyffectinstrumentalesourcesndself-conceptions.Educational ttainmentaunchesyoung

adults intospecificoccupations, ffectingwhatthey arn and theconditionsndpeo-ple they ncounter aily.ndirectly,hroughmonetary equelae, education determinesthequality fone's housing nd neighbor-hood (Karabel andHalsey1977;Kohn1969;KohnandSchooler1982;SewellandHauser

1975). Lower socioeconomicstatus SES)has been linkedconsistentlyo diminishedphysical ndmentalhealth N.Adler et al.1994),partially ecauselife t lower ocioe-conomicevels ppears o mpair ealth-pro-motingself-conceptions Mirowsky andRoss 1989).

Whereas higher levels of education









should promote ocial well-being,he rela-tionship f age to social 'well-beings equiv-ocal. Aging and age differences ncludenumerousspects hat re not lways onsis-tent. or example, espite heapparent on-strictionof social positions and activity(Carstensen1995; Riley,Kahn,and Foner1994), and the decline in physicalhealthwith age, researchillustrateshow adultsseem to age successfully hrough everalmechanisms.For a discussionof possibleself-mechanisms,ee Heidrich and Ryff1996.) Moreover,while some self-concep-tions suchas personalcontrol) pparentlydecline withage (Mirowsky1995), otherstudies ind hat dults, s they ge,feelhap-pier and moresatisfiedwith heir ives andreport igherevels of somedimensions fpsychological ell-beingHeidrich ndRyff1996; Ryff nd Keyes 1995).The ability oage successfullyuggests hat ome facets fsocial well-being,ike psychologicalwell-being,may ncreasewith ge.

In thetwoprobabilityamples investi-gatethehypothesisf the social natureofwell-being nd the hypothesisf the socialstructuralources f variationnsocialwell-being, nd subjectthesehypotheses o thestandard freplication. operationalizehedimensionsn a localprobabilityample ndreplicate hem n a larger, ationally epre-sentative ample of adults.Confirmatoryfactor nalysespermit ssessmentof theutilityf thehypothesizedive-factorodelofsocialwell-being. then orrelatehenew

scales with xtant ndicators nd scales ofconstructsndprocesses hat eflectndivid-uals'perceptionsfpositive ocial function-ing. n the singleexception correlate henew scales with a scale of anomie,whichmeasures the absence of social health.Insofar as all of the new scales measuresocial wellness, hey houldcorrelate ega-tively ith ppraisals fanomie.

In particular, ocial actualizationand

socialacceptance houldcorrelate tronglywith anomie because the content of theSroleanomie cale focuses n theperceivedquality fsociety as does social actualiza-tion) and on thecharacter f otherpeoplelike public officialsas does social accep-tance). Social contribution, n the otherhand, houldcorrelate trongly ith scale

(e.g.,generativity)hatmeasureshow great-ly ndividuals erceive hatthey re valuedby others, re used as social resources suchas sources fadvice), nd contributeo oth-ers' well-being.

People who feel socially integrated,closetoand deriving omfort rom thers ntheir ommunity,houldfeel hat hey ive na vital and healthyneighborhood. ociallyintegratedndividuals hereforehouldper-ceive theirneighborsas trustworthyndtheir eighborhoodss safe.Adults ntegrat-ed into ociety lso should be likely o vol-unteer o maintain heir eighborhood,er-

haps because they eel their ctionswill bevalued by others nd because theywant tomaintain hequality ftheir eighborhood.

Finally, eople who see life as sociallycoherent hould also feel thattheir rivatelife s coherent. herefore ndividualswithhigher coreson the social coherence caleshouldfeel hat heir ersonal ives re morepredicable,morecontrollable,nd thusgen-erally ensible nd understandable.

In short,nsofar s the newscales mea-sure ocialwell-being,ocially ealthierndi-viduals houldnotregard ociety nd ts us-todians s unsavory,houldperceive hem-selves as social resources, houldcare forand feel safe in theircommunities, ndshould ead coherent ersonal ives.

Regression nalysis fthedisparitiesnsocialwell-being,yeducation ndage,per-mitsnvestigationfthehypothesizedtruc-

tural sources of social well-being.Priorresearch nthe tructuralources fpsycho-logical spects fmental ealth uggestshatsocialwell-beinghould ncrease s the evelof education ises.Aging, owever,nvolveslossesand theability o adaptand age suc-cessfully. herefore, lthough ocial well-being may ncreasewith ge, I explorethepossibility of a nonlinear relationshipbetween age and social well-being.For

example, ome dimensionsof social well-beingcould increasemorerapidly ecauseadults facethesame social challenges hatsubsidewith ge or adultsadapt with ge.However, ocial well-being ould increaselessquicklywith gebecausethe ocial chal-lengesof ife hatmight ntensifyannotbeoffsety dults' ttemptsoage successfully.









METHODS

Samples

Study is a random-digit-dialingample(Waksberg 978) of adultsage 18 or olderliving n Dane County,Wisconsin.Madisonis the eat ofDane County nd the apital fthe state.All interviews,tilizing omputer-assisted echnology,ere conducted n thetelephone ytrained ersons t the Lettersand ScienceSurvey enter ttheUniversityofWisconsin,Madison.After hepretestingand interviewerraining,nterviewswereconducted betweenApril and June 1994.Whendetermining ouseholdcomposition,interviewerselected hehouseholdmemberwho had celebrated is or herbirthday ostrecentlysee O'Rourke and Blair1983).Theinterviewasted30 minutes n average. hesampleincludes 373 adults, ora responserate f63%.

Study is a random-digit-dialingampleof noninstitutionalized nglish-speakingadults ge 25 to74, ivingn the 48contigu-ousstates, hosehouseholdncluded t east

one telephone.1n the firsttageofthemul-tistage samplingdesign,the investigatorsselectedhouseholdswith qual probabilityvia telephone umbers. t the second tage,theyused disproportionate tratifiedam-pling o select respondents.he samplewasstratified y age and sex; males betweenages65and74wereoversampled.

Field procedures were initiated inJanuary 995 and lasted approximately3

months. he respondents erecontacted yprofessional ersonnel;hosewhoagreedtoparticipaten the entire tudy ook part nacomputer-assistedelephonenterviewasting30 minutes n average. Respondents henwere mailed two questionnaire bookletsrequiringbout 1.5 hours n average o com-plete.As incentives orparticipationn thecomplete tudy,achrespondent as offered$20,a commemorativeen,periodic eports

ofstudy indings,nd a copyof a monographon thestudy. he sample consists f3,032adults, ith 70% response atefor hetele-phone phase and an 87% response ate for

1 This amplewasassembled y MIDMAC, theJohn . andCatherine .MacArthuroundationResearch Network on Successful MidlifeDevelopment.

the elf-administereduestionnairehase, ra combined esponse ate f61%.

Table1 reports hedemographicharac-teristics f each sample.The data from henational ample data areweightedo adjust

forunequalprobabilitiesf household elec-tion ndunequalprobabilitiesf respondentselection withinhouseholds.The sampleweight lso poststratifieshe ample o matchtheOctober1995 Current opulation urveyproportionsf adults n thebasis of gender,age, ace, ducation,nd marital tatus,s wellas theproportionsf adults ivingnmetro-politan nonmetro)reas and various egions(northeast,midwest,outh nd west)of theUnited States.The mean age of the DaneCounty ample s 43.6 SD = 15.9), omparedwith meanage of 45.3 (SD = 13.5) in thenational ample.n theDane County ample,fewerrespondents re married nd morehave attained lightlyigher evelsof educa-tion.Moreover, he Dane County ample smostlyCaucasian, and more householdsreport lightly igherhousehold incomesthann thenational ample.

Measures

Social well-being. heoretical concep-tions n Study1 (Dane County)promotedoperational efinitionshatguidedthe cre-ation of indicatorsAppendixA). On thebasisoflinguisticlarity nd facevalidity,retained 0 itemsfivepositive nd fiveneg-ative) per scale and placed them n a ran-

domsequence.After ixbackground ues-tionswere sked, he50 itemswere dminis-tered at the beginningof the telephoneinterview.hrough heunfolding echnique(Groves 1989), respondentstatedwhetherthey greedor disagreed, nd then udgedhow much strongly,oderately,rslightly).The response ptions hereforeangefrom1, tronglyisagree,o7, stronglygree.

Interviewersere rained o refrain rom

converting oluntaryxpressions f uncer-taintyi.e., don'tknow nd neither greenordisagree ) intosubstantivenswers.Atotal f 87 respondentsxpressed ncertaintyat east nce nresponseothe tems.retainedinStudy . Expressionsf neithergreenordisagree re coded to themidpoint fthescale; don'tknow'txpressionsre assigned








126 SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYQUARTERLY

Table1.CharacteristicsndComparisonf pecificamples romheMacArthuroundation'studiesfSuccessful idlifePercentages)

Study StudyDane Countyample NationalWeighted)Sample

(N = 373) (N = 3,032)Agea

Young 44.2 40.5Midlife 38.9 40.3Older 16.9 19.2

GenderMale 41.2 43.5Female 58.8 56.5

MaritaltatusMarried 51.5 68.1Nevermarried 27.9 8.6

Other 20.6 23.3RaceCaucasian 92.2 83.8African-American 3.0 11.4Other 4.8 5.7

EducationUpto12years 30.0 51.513to15years 30.5 25.516 years rmore 39.4 23.0

Income$14,999r ess 12.4 18.3$15,000o$24,999 19.3 16.3

$25,000o$34,999 15.712.2

1$35,OOOo$49,999 16.0 19.5$50,000rmore 36.6 33.6

aDaneCountyample: oung 18-39;midlife40-59; lder 60-89. ationalample: oung 25-39;midlife= 40-59;older= 60-74.

themean f respondent'sxistingtems nascale. n cases inwhich hey greedor dis-agreed utdidnotreporthe trengthftheirfeelings,espondentsreassignedhemeanof

the agree r disagree ideof theresponsescale.Thus,forexample,respondentswhoagreedwith n itembutdidnotknowhowstronglyhey eltwere mputedhemeanofthe agree strongly,oderatelyr slightly)sideof heresponsecale.

Each scale in Study2 consistsof onlythree items. Because of concern aboutrespondents' atigue, did not includeallitems.)nkeepingwith he elf-administered

format,ll pronounsrefirsterson incon-trast to second person in Study 1). Theresponse ormatanges rom , stronglyis-agree,to 7, strongly gree. Respondentsweregiven midpointption abeled don'tknow. The social well-being temswereorderedrandomlynd embedded n a sec-tionofquestionsnquiringboutsocialpar-

ticipation,ocial responsibility,nd socialnetworks.

Validationriteria,tudy . I measuredanomie Srole 1956)with scale consisting

of three temsused in theGeneral SocialSurvey (GSS) (Davis and Smith 1994).Respondentsndicatedwhether hey greeordisagree hat1) Mostpublic fficialsrenotreally nterestedn the problems ftheaverageperson, 2) The lot of theaverageperson s getting orse, otbetter, nd (3)Itisnotfair obring hildrennto heworld

with hewaythingsook for hefuture. heinternalalpha) consistencyf theanomie

scale is .57,whichs identical o theaveragereliabilityMa = .57,SD = .04) ofthesamescaleover ixyears ftheGSS.2

Two ndicators easure spects f globalpsychological ell-being. espondentsndi-catedwhetherhey elt ery,omewhat, lit-

2 GSS data are takenfrom 984,1985,1987,1988,1989, nd 1990.









tle, o notatall, atisfied ith heirivesrightnow.On the same scale, respondentswereinstructedo pretend or momenthat heyknewtheir ife wouldend nextweek,andthen o indicatehowhappytheyfelt bout

the ifetheyhad been able to live.Finally,respondentsndicated hether hey ad everworkedwith ther eople ntheir ommunityto solve a problem in theircommunity.Respondentswho had been involvedthenindicatedwhether heir ommunityctivityoccurreduringhepast12 months.

Validation riteria,tudy . Respondentsindicatedwhether ix indicators fgenera-tivityescribed hem lot, omewhat, lit-

tle, r notat all.The nternalalpha) reliabil-ity of themodifiedLoyola GenerativityScale (based on McAdams and de St.Aubin1992) s .84.Higher coresreveal ndividualswho feel that heyhave made contributionsto society,ave impartedkillsor advice toothers,ike to teachthings o others, avehad a good influenceon others, nd feelneeded by others.A scale measuringper-ceivedneighborhoodealth onsists f four

indicators ntended o measure feelings fneighborhoodrust nd safety. espondentsindicatedwhether he following tatementsdescribe heir ituations lot, ome, little,ornot at all: 1) I feel afe beingout alonein myneighborhooduring hedaytime, 2)I feel afebeingoutalone inmyneighbor-

hoodduringhenight, 3) I could callon aneighborforhelp if needed it, and (4)People in my neighborhood trusteach

othe'r. he internalalpha) reliabilityftheneighborhood ealth scale is .66; a higherscore ndicates stronger eeling fneigh-borhood rust ndsafety.

Respondents also completed a scalemeasuring perceived constraints,whichreflectshow much individuals perceiveobstacles ndunpredictableontingenciesntheir lives (see Lachman and WeaverForthcoming). Respondents indicated

whether hey gree or disagree (strongly,somewhat,r a little)with ight elf-descrip-tivestatements,ncluding he following sexamples: (1) There is little can do tochange he mportanthingsnmy ife, 2)Whathappens nmy ife s oftenbeyond

my ontrol, 3) There remany hings hatinterfereithwhat want o do, and (4) I

sometimes eel am beingpushed round nmy ife. The internalalpha) reliabilityftheperceivedonstraintcale s 86.

Twelvetemsmeasuredheexperiencefdysphoricymptoms. espondentsndicated

howoften,uring hepast30days, hey xpe-rienced achsymptom:noneof thetime, alittlefthe ine, someofthe ime, most fthetime, r all of thetime. he symptomsare feeling1) so sad nothing ould cheeryou up, 2) nervous, 3) restless r fid-gety, 4) hopeless, 5) that verythingasan effort, 6) worthless,7) cheerful, 8)ingood spirits,9) extremelyappy, 10)calm ndpeaceful, 11) satisfied,nd 12)

full f ife. he nternalalpha)reliabilityfthedysphoriacale s 92; highercore ndi-cates he xperiencefmorenegativend esspositiveymptoms.

Finally, uring hetelephone nterview,respondentsndicated heirphysicalhealthas poor,fair, ood, verygood,or excellent.Alsoduringhetelephonenterview,espon-dents ndicatedwhether being optimisticdescribed hem lot, omewhat, little, r

not t all.

RESULTS

InStudy 1retainedtemswith correct-ed item-to-scaleorrelation f 30orhigheras indicators ftheir espective onstructs.Similarly,n Study I retainedtems threeper scale) thatdidnot suppress he nternalreliabilitystimate s indicators fthe atent

construct. ne indicator fsocialcoherenceinStudy suppressed hescale internal on-sistency;herefore omitted tfrom urtheranalysis. he retained tems functioned sindicatorsftheir espectiveatent onstructsinconfirmatoryactor-analyticodels xam-ining he relative xplanatoryower ofthetheoretical odelofsocialwell-being.usedPRELIS 2 (Joreskognd Sorbom1993a)tocreate the variance nd covariancematrix,

and estimatedheparametersnd ndices ffit fthemeasurement odels sing ISREL8 (Joreskognd Sorbom 993b).

To assess indicator-to-constructverlapinStudy , fitted hefive-factorheoreticalmodeltothevariance-covariance atrix ndobserved hecompletelytandardizedmodi-ficationndex CSMI). Wheneach indicator









and latentconstruct s standardized,theCSMI is thepredicted orrelation f eachindicatorwith latent onstructther hanits own.An indicatorwith CSMI of 40 orhigherg potentiallyverlappingtem.

Next I refitted he theoreticalmodelestimatingheeffect f the unrelated on-structn thepotentiallyverlappingtem othevariance-covariancematrix.One itempurportedlyndicatingocial actualizationoverlapped .40,or > completelytandard-ized oading); hereforeomittedt.

Examination of higher-order amplemomentsevealed nivariatendmultivariateskewness ndkurtosisn both Study1 and

Study . Becauseofthesmall ample izeinproportion o the numberof indicatorsnStudy , identifiedtem-distributionrans-formations hatminimized the value ofMardia'smultivariateestofskewness ndkurtosissee Bollen 1989:423).The conclu-sionswere he ameregardlessf tem rans-formations,utthe transformationslightlyenhancedhefit feachmodel.Consequently,I showthe results fmaximum ikelihood

(ML) estimation ased on the exponentialtransformation,hichcaused the greatestreductionnmultivariatekew ndkurtosis.

Because the ample nStudy was largeenough, I derived parameter estimatesthrough eightedeast quaresWLS). UsingPRELIS 2 to estimate he asymptoticari-ance-covariancematrix, thenemployedWLS to weightthe variance-covariancematrixythe nverse f theasymptoticari-

ance-covariance.s a result, achieved intheory) istribution-free,symptoticallynbi-ased,efficientarameterstimates.n otherwords,WLS producesmore accurateesti-mates hanML as sample ize ncreases,spe-ciallywhen the indicatordistributionsrehighly onnormalsee Bollen1989;Browne1984).Because of the arge samplesize, hemultivariatekewof the ndicator istribu-tionsprovedhighlynfluential.he fit fall

modelswas substantiallyetterwithWLSthanwithML,althoughhese stimatorsro-duced denticalonclusions.hereforeshowonly he stimatesased on WLS.

Validation:tructure

Table2 presentshechi-squarendexof

fit nd thedescriptivendices ffit f seriesof modelsfittedo thevariance-covariancematricesrom tudy and Study . As a ruleof thumb,values of goodness of fitandadjustedgoodness of fit ndices at .90 or

higher ignifymodelsthatfit hedata veryclosely. he criticalN estimates he samplesizeneededtoreject henullhypothesisorgivenmodel at a given evel ofalpha (.05)(see Bollen 1989).CriticalNs exceeding 00representdequatemodels;ncreasinglyarg-er CriticalNs represent venbetter-fittingmodels. do not entertain heories boutmeasurementrror orrelations;hat s,mea-surementrrors presumedo berandom.

Models 1 through 3 serve as nullhypotheses. odel1 asserts hat here re asmany atentconstructs s indicators i.e.,indicators re not correlated). n contrast,Model 2 postulates that the relationshipamong ndicatorsstheresult fa single ac-tor,whichmeans hat ll indicatorsntercor-relate at about the same level. Model 3,however, osits hat he relationshipmongindicatorss explainedbya negative-item

anda positive-itemactor.Model 3 is artifac-tual,because itpositsthatpeople respondnot to thecontent utto the valenceofthescale items,agreeingwith all positivelyphrasedtems nd disagreeing ith llnega-tivelyhrasedtems.

Models 4 through represent ests ofwhetheromeoftheproposed imensionsfsocialwell-beingredistinct. odel4 positstwo atent onstructs:ne causes the ndica-

tors fsocial ntegrationnd social contribu-tion, nd the other auses the ndicatorsfsocialcoherence,ocial cceptancend socialactualization.3Model 5 positsthree atentconstructs o testthedistinctnessf socialcoherencendicatorsrom ocialacceptanceandsocial actualizationndicators.hus oneof these onstructstill ausessocial ntegra-tion and social contribution, ut anothercausesonly ocialcoherence, hile he third

constructausessocialacceptance nd socialactualization. odel 6 posits our atent on-structso test hetheoryhat ocial ntegra-

3 The educedheoreticalodelso not xhaustallpossibleombinations.hereducedheoreticalmodels,ased nconceptualimilarity,re he esttheoretical unches boutwhat constructsmightnotbe distinct.









Table 2. Fit Estimates fAlternativend TheoreticalConfirmatory odels of Social Well-Being

Study1: Dane County ampleTelephone nterview

(N= 373)

MaximumLikelihoodaChi-

Model Square df GFI (AGFI) CN

1. Independence 3,747 464 .36 (.27) 542. SingleFactor 1,556 464 .73 (.69) 1303.Two-Factor rtifacts 1,521 463 .73 (.69) 1324.Two-FactorReduced Theory 1,259 463 .79 (.76) 1605.Three-Factor educed Theory 1,178 461 .81 (.78) 1706. Four-Factor educedTheory 1,044 458 .84 (.81) 1907. Five-Factor heory 914 454 .86 (.84) 216

Study :National Unweighted) ampleSelf-Administered uestionnaire

(N = 2,887)Weighted east Squares

Chi-Model Square df GFI (AGFI) CN

1. Independence 3,372 77 .76 (.67) 942. SingleFactor 1,677 77 .88 (.84) 1883.Two-Factor rtifact 1,446 76 .90 (.86) 2164. Two-FactorReducedTheory 1,211 76 .91 (.88) 2575. Three-Factor educedTheory 1,002 74 .93 (.90) 3046. Four-Factor educed Theory 740 71 .95 (.92) 3967. Five-Factor heory 705 67 .95 (.92) 397

Note: GFI(AGFI) = Goodnessoffitndex adjustedgoodness offit ndex); CN = criticalN.Analyses nboth amples re based on imputation f mean from respondent's wn extant tems.

aAnalysisbased on exponential ransformationf temdistribution.

tion s a latent onstruct istinctromocialcontribution. odel 7 investigates hether

socialacceptancend socialactualizationredistinctatentconstructs.n otherwords,Model 7 is theproposed ive-factorheoreti-cal modelof ocialwell-being.

To examinehow well a model fits hedata, compared ach modelwith he mme-diately recedingmodel, sing he hi-squarecontrast. he differencenchi-square aluesbetweenmodels s distributedpproximatelychi-square; egrees f freedomre equal to

thedifference n thedegreesoffreedombetweenmodels.

In Study ,all chi-square ontrastshowthat each successive and more complexmodelprovides better it o the data. Infact, he theoreticalModel 7 is the best-fit-tingmodel,with chi-square ontrast f32.5(p < .001) to Model 6. The descriptive

indices of fit uggest that the theoreticalfive-factormodel in Study1 fits he data

only dequately. imulation tudies, owev-er, uggest hat he averagevalues of manydescriptivendicesdecrease as samplesizedecreases and as thenumber findicatorsincreases see Bollen 1989:277). he theoret-ical model in Study 1 therefore itswelldespitethesmaller amplesize (N = 373)and the argenumber f ndicators32).

Study replicateshesuperior it f thetheoreticalfive-factormodel. Again, chi-

square ontrastsllustratehat ach successiveand morecomplexmodel fits he data moreclosely.n the end, he theoreticalive-factormodelprovides n excellent it o the data.The chi-square ontrast n the theoreticalmodel,ncomparison ithModel 6, s 8.75 p< .005).Moreover, hegoodness ffitndicesexceed 90and theCritical is nearly 00.









The descriptivetatisticsfthe ndicatorsndthe cales alsoreveal hequality fthe theo-reticalmodel.Only ne estimate fthe orre-lationof the ndicatorwith ts standardizedlatent onstructi.e.,validity oefficient)ails

to satisfyhe 40rule fthumbsee AppendixB). Whereas he onfirmatoryactornalysessupported hetheory f fivedistinctatentfactors, he descriptivestatisticsfor theobserved cales displayed nTable 3 showthat all scales intercorrelate positively.Moreover, earlyll scales, ven hereduced-item cales n Study , exhibit elativelyighinternalonsistency.he scale of ocialcoher-ence exhibits ower internalreliabilityn

Study1 but relatively igher eliabilitynStudy .On theother and, he cale of ocialacceptancewas nternallyonsistentnStudy1 but the etof tems id not coherewell nStudy2.These lower nternal onsistenciesmaybe lowerbecauseofsampling ariationand because addeda new tem o the caleof ocial cceptancenStudy to achieve al-ancebetween egativendpositivetems

Validation: orrelationsTable 4 displays he correlationsf the

new caleswith aliditionriteria.usethe -statisticoassesswhether particularcale ofsocialwell-beingorrelatesmore trongly,shypothesized,witha validation criterion.When I employthe average sample sizeacross llcorrelationsnStudy (Mn = 360),the standard eviation s .075;thereforehedifferenceetweenwo -transformedoeffi-cientsnStudy must e at east 15tobe sta-tisticallyignificantt the 05alpha evel.4nStudy ,the tandard eviationfthe -statis-tic s .026; he -ratio herefore ustmeetorexceed .052to be statisticallyignificanttthe .05 alpha level. In the discussion ofresults,focus nly n whether hehypothe-sizedvalidationorrelationsre confirmed.

4Sample ize varies or he orrelationsf com-munityctionwith hescales of socialwellness.

Particularlynterestings thecorrelationf recentcommunityction,nwhichdultswhowere nvolvedintheirommunitiesuringhe astmonthN= 128)are contrasted ith dultswho have neverbeeninvolvedN = 167).As a result,he tandard evia-tionofthez-statistics .082, nd the z-ratiomustequalor exceed 164to be statisticallyignificanttthe 05 lphaevel.

In Study , all new scales correlate ega-tivelywith nomie,but social actualizationand social acceptance orrelatemore trong-ly, s predicted, ith he scale of anomie.Asthe evaluation of the quality of society,

anomierelates o thosedimensions f socialwell-being hich ndicate he evolution ndpotentialfsociety nd theperception f thecharacternd qualities f generalized thers.Feelings fsocial ntegrationnd social con-tributionn Study1 are higher mong ndi-vidualswho have recently een involved ntheir ommunitiesi.e., ncommunityction)thanamong people who have never beeninvolved. s expected,ntegrations associat-

ed withmaintainingecent rosocial ies none'scommunity.

An unanticipated finding was thestrengthf the ssociationf recent ommu-nity ctionwith ocial contribution.iewedinretrospect,ttemptingo solvea probleminone's communitylso couldJie onsideredproductivectivityhat houldbe connectedwith senseof contribution.tudy , howev-er, revealsthedistinction etween ntegra-

tion and contribution. s expected, ocialcontributionorrelatestronglyith enera-tivity: eoplewhofeel that hey resociallyvalued lso feel hat hey ossess heperson-al resources nd qualitiesneeded to guideothers.ocial ntegration,n theotherhand,correlatesmorestrongly ith heperceivedhealthofone's neighborhood. huspeoplewhofeelclose to othersn their ommunityalso feelthattheirneighborhoodsre safeandthat heir eighborsretrustworthy.

Finally,ocial oherence orrelatestrong-ly, s predicted, ith he scale ofperceivedconstraints.ndividualswhofind he socialworldmoreunpredictable,ore omplex,ndmore ncoherentlso tend o viewtheir wnlives s complex ffairs,ull f nsurmountableobstacles ndunpredictableontingencies.5

5Somenew cales nStudy are unbalanced.heimbalance,owever,oes not ppear osystematical-

ly nfluencehecorrelations.ocial coherences themost mbalancedcale, onsistingfonly nepositiveitem; he nomie cale, or xample,onsists fthreenegativelyhrasedtems. ocialactualization,bal-anced cale, orrelates ore trongly,owever,hansocial oherence ithhe caleof nomie. ecall, oo,that he onfirmatorywo-factorrtifact odel neg-ative ndpositive) idpoorlynexplainingherela-tionshipetweenhe tems,ompared ith he eriesof heoretical odels f ocialwell-being.









Table .DescriptivetatisticsStudy n UpperDiagonal, tudy inLowerDiagonal)

1 2 3 4 5

1.SocialCoherence .45 .25 .42 .45

2.SocialActualization .45 .41 .40 .533.Social ntegration .23 .33 - .57 .424. SocialContribution .35 .31 .42 - .205.SocialAcceptance .23 .48 .35 .23

Study : DaneCountyampleM 25.0 32.1 33.0 30.3 28.3SD 4.1 5.7 6.2 5.2 6.4Numberf tems 5 7 7 6 7AlphaReliability .57 .69 .81 .75 .77

Study: Nationalample

M 8.9 11.8 14.0 15.5 13.0SD 3.3 4.3 4.4 3.8 3.5Numberoftems 2 3 3 3 3AlphaReliability .64 .64 .73 .66 .41

Note: or llrs, < .01 two-tailed)

Thescalesofsocialwell-beingorrelate,but do not appear to overlap,with-extantmeasuresreflectingsychological oncep-

tions fmentalhealth. he socialwell-beingscalescorrelate ositivelyndmodestly iththe indicatorsof lifesatisfaction nd lifehappinessnStudy .

InStudy ,these cales xhibitonsistent-lymodest ndpositive orrelations ith hescale ofdysphoria.ecause ofthe ample izeand tatisticalfficiencyfStudy , ocial nte-gration orrelateslightlytronger ith ys-phoria thandoes anyother cale ofsocialwell-being.n theotherhand,

lthough ys-phoria correlatesrelatively tronglywithphysical ealth,ll scalesofsocialwell-beingdisplay mall butpositive orrelations iththe ndicatorf ubjectivehysicalealth. henew calesof ocialwellnesshereforeppeartomeasure spects fmentalhealth ndlifequalityelatedo, utdistinctrom,epressivefeelingsndphysical ealth.

Noneof thesocialwell-beingcales cor-relatesvery trongly ith heperceptionfoneself s optimisticrangeofr= .17 to 23).Thisfindinguggestshat ppraisals f ocialwell-beingare not unduly nfluencedbyoptimismrpossibly hetendency o exag-gerate ositive ualities.6

6 Because physicalhealth and optimismre ascer-tained duringthe initial telephone interview, he

Validation:ocialStructuralources

Table 5 presents heregressionsf eachscale

of socialwell-being n age and educa-tion.Each modelestimates quadraticandlinear)parameter or ge to investigatehepossibleacceleration rdecelerationn thepredictedncreaseofsocialwell-being ithage. Only thestatisticallyignificantffectsshown, owever.)All models lso adjustforgender, ace, nd marital tatus, hich ouldstructureducational utcomes ndpossiblysocialwell-being.heremainingackgroundvariables e.g., ncome) eitherfollowfrom

education rexplain hehypothesizedge dif-ferences, nd therefore re omittedfromthesemodels.The intercept epresents hepredictedevel ofsocialwell-being ortheaverage18-year-oldStudy1) or25-year-old(Study ).7

small orrelations ith hesocialwell-beingcalesmayreflect,npart, hemode ofadministrationswell s theeffectfthe time agbetweenhetele-

phone nterviewndthe elf-administereduestion-naire.7 In Study , I showthemultivariatenalyses

based nunweightedatabecause he esultsrethesameregardlessfsampleweighting.hecompo-nents fthe ampleweightsnStudy arenot unc-tions f theoutcomesnthis tudy.herefore ulti-variatemodels asedontheunweightedata houldthereforee unbiased ndefficientf themodel sspecifiedorrectlyseeWinshipndRadbil 994).









Table .Product-Momentorrelationsf ocialWell-Beingcaleswith alidationriteria

1 2 3 4 5 6

Study : DaneCounty ample1. Anomie cale -.21 -.04ns -.18 -.162. Recent ommunityctionNever=0) 0.0 .27 .08ns3. CommunityctionnPastNever=0) .04ns -.06ns4. GlobalLife atisfaction .465. GlobalHappiness ith ife6. SocialActualization -.55 .20 .OSns .26 .167. SocialAcceptance -.49 .1Sa .05ns .21 .148. Social ntegration -.33 .41 .14a .32 .319. SocialContribution -.28 .46 .22 .27 .2010. SocialCoherence -.28 .24 .02ns .20 .16

M 1.2 .43 .32 3.4 3.5SD 1.1 .50 .47 .74 .67

Study:Nationalample

1. Generativitycale .14 -.23 .17 .10 .242. Health fNeighborhoodcale -.21 -.24 .16 .143. Perceived onstraintscale .49 -.28 -.304. Dysphoriaymptomscale -.40 -.305. SubjectivePhysicalHealth .156. Self-Describedptimistic7. SocialActualization .17 .21 -.32 -.25 .16 .188. Social

Acceptance.12 .24 -.22

-.22 .13 .179. Social ntegration .28 .39 -.26 -.33 .19 .2310. SocialContribution .49 .16 -.36 -.22 .15 .1611. SocialCoherence .18 .13 -.41 -.28 .15 .21

M 17.0 13.6 18.7 24.9 3.5 3.3SD 3.8 2.2 8.0 7.1 1.0 .77

Notes:For llrs, < .01 two-tailed)nless oted. ne-hundrednd wenty-eightespondentsngagedrecentlyn ommunityction,8engagedn ommunityctionnthe ast,nd167neverngagedncommu-nityction.ap < .05;ns not ignificanttalpha .05.

The replication f age and educationaldifferencesnsocial well-beingtronglyug-gests that social well-being s shaped byprominent ocial forces.For the averageadult, acquisition of education evidentlypaves the way for successful esponses tosocial challenges f life.Withmore educa-tion,each dimensionof social well-beingincreases. hus social weliness,ike all otheraspectsofhealth N. Adler et al. 1994), isgraded yprocesses f ocial tratification.

Each dimension f socialwell-beinglsois distributed by age. Four dimensionsincreasewith ge. Social coherence, owev-er, decreases with age, perhaps in partbecause the intelligibilityf the world nAmerican ocietysskewed oward hecele-bration fyouthfululture. omparedwith

older adults,younger dults may find heworld coherentbecause they can view aworld hat ends oreflect heir wnpopularculture.nsofar s age has a nonlinear ela-tionship o socialwell-being, he evidencefavors the deceleration viewpoint :Although ocial actualization ndcontribu-tion ncreasewith ge, the ncreasedeceler-ates with each added year of life n both

Study1 and Study . In otherwords, ocialwell-beingsheterogeneouscross ges.Thisfinding s consistentwith tudies showingthe diversity f psychological well-beingacross ge groups. orexample, lder adultsreportmore nvironmental astery ut esspurposein lifethanyounger dults (RyffandKeyes 1995).









DISCUSSION

Life is purportedly ivided ntoprivateand public sides, each making its owndemands and producing its own conse-

quences.Althoughwe recognize hepublicdemands n individuals,ocialpsychologistshavenotalways ranslated ocialchallengesintocriteria hat ndividuals se to evaluatetheirwell-being. e have conceived fsocialhealth essas thepresence fpositive rite-ria than as theabsence ofnegativecondi-tions such as anomie and alienation.Moreover, heemphasis n social structuremay kew ttentionoward hepublic ide of

life s a sourceofvariationnsocialhealthrather han nspirings toexplore he ocialnature fthemeaning fhealth.Ultimately,current research relies on and possiblyreflects bias toward sychologicaloncep-tions fwell-being.esearchersither ocuson clinical ymptomatologyuch as depres-sion or use globalmeasures flife atisfac-tion and happiness.Multidimensional od-els (Ryff 989) emerge rom lassicperson-

ality heories hat onceive fthe elf s pri-marily rivate.The studiesreportedherepresent vi-

dence giving redibilityo the theory hatwell-being includes social dimensions.operationalized nd validatedfive dimen-sionsof socialwell-beingroundednclassicsociologicaltheory nd current ocial psy-chological erspectives.ata fromwo tud-iesinvolvingross-sectionsfadults nd uti-lizing differentmodes of administration(telephone nd self-administration)rovidestrong vidence forthereplicabilityf thelatent tructure f the new scales and thesocial structural rofilesof dimensions fsocialwell-being.

Confirmatoryactoranalysis showedthatthehypothesized ive-factor odel ofsocial wellness fitsthe data best in bothstudies. The findings uggest hatputativesocial challenges re manifold nd distinct.

The newscales nStudy1 correlate onver-gentlywith nomie ndcommunitynvolve-ment. n Study2, the new scales correlateconvergently ithgenerativity, eighbor-hood health, nd perceivedconstraints.nboth tudies,hese calescorrelatewith lob-al indicators f lifesatisfaction, appiness,and dysphoria. hus the newscales clearly

link,butdo not overlap,withextantmea-suresofmentalhealth,which endtoreflecta psychological onceptionofwell-being.Each scale ofsocialwell-being,ven socialactualization,whichemphasizes society'spotentialnd progress,orrelates nlymini-mallywith elf-definedptimism.n short,this tudy uggests hat ife ncludesnumer-ous social challenges; hereforewell-beingincludessocial dimensions uch as coher-ence, ntegration,ctualization,ontribution,andacceptance.

Society, oo, s a sourceofvariation nsocial wellness. ocialstructuralrofilesor-roborate hetheoryhat ocialwellnesssanaccomplishment.ocial well-beingncreaseswith education and, in general,withage.Like othermeasuresofmentalhealthandwell-being,t is graded by socioeconomicstanding. t remainsto be seen, however,whether he same processes e.g., self-con-ception) and dimensions (e.g., agency)explainhow each aspectofsocial structureaffectsach type fmentalhealth nd well-being.

The relatively strong association ofprosocial community nvolvement withaspects fsocialwell-beinglsosupportsheposited achievement of a well-lived life.Individuals nvolved n their ommunitiesduring hepast 12months, ut notpeopleinvolvedmorethan 12 monthspreviously,reportedfeelingmoresocially integratedand sociallycontributive hanpeople whohad never een nvolved.

Despite theunity fmeasuresofsocialwellness, t is also clear thatsocial well-being,ikepsychological ell-being,s relat-ed to age in diverseways. ome aspectsofsocial well-beingdecrease linearly; thersincrease inearly;till thersncrease, utata deceleratingrate.The resultsthereforesuggesthat heresources,kills,ndexperi-ence gained througheducation and itssequelae, s wellas throughgingprocesses,

are instrumentalo negotiating he chal-lenges f ocial ife.

According o Nisbet (1953:15), and asquoted bySeeman (1959), thevarious yn-onymsforalienationtestifyo the impor-tance of the construct f alienation.Thesocial scientificonceptionof a well-livedlifealso relieson the mage ofthe solated









Table 5. OLS Regressions fSocial Well-Being cales onAge and Education

Study1 Study(N = 368) (N = 2,977)

Dane County ample National Unweighted)Sample

b f b f

Social ActualizationAge .17* .49 .06** .19Age2 -.003** -.58 -.001** -.18Up to 12years ducation13to 15 years ducation 2.2** .18 .73** .0816or moreyears ducation 3.1** .27 1.7** .19Alpha 29.0 10.5

SocialAcceptanceAge .21* .52 .04** .16Age2 -.003* -.43 .00 .00Up to 12yearseducation13to 15years ducation 2.2* .16 .50** .0716 or moreyears ducation 2.5** .19 1.2** .15Alpha 24.9 12.0

Social IntegrationAge .07** .19 .06** .17Up to 12yearseducation13to 15years ducation 2.3** .17 .26 .0316 or moreyears ducation 3.2** .25 1.3** .14Alpha 30.7 12.9

Social ContributionAge .14* .49 .05* .17Age2 -.003* -.49 -.002** -.26Up to 12years ducation - - -13to 15years ducation 1.8** .16 1.1** .1416or moreyears ducation 3.4** .32 2.9** .35Alpha 27.6 14.3

Social CoherenceAge -.03* -.13 -.03** -.09Up to 12yearseducation13 to 15years ducation 1.3** .15 .90** .1316 or moreyears ducation 2.5** .30 1.9** .26Alpha 24.7 8.0

Note:Age = Age - lower ge bound age 18 inStudy ; age 25 inStudy ). All estimates djusted bygender,race, nd marital tatus.*p < .05;**p < .01 two-tailed).

individual.hat s, heparagons fthegoodlife re happy nd satisfied ith heir rivatelives, and they possess personal qualitiesindicative f psychologicalwell-being.Weare left o wonder, owever, bout thequali-

ty f such ndividuals'ives s livedwith ndforotherpeople and for ociety. y opera-tionalizing ell-beinghroughatisfactionndomains of life such as family nd work,sociologistshave implicitly uestioned theconception f the ndividuals a disconnect-ed social entity, ut have not transformedthisnotion. ven anomie, heclassic oncep-tion of theabsenceofsocial health, overs

onlythe conceptual erritoryfsocialwell-beingthatmeasures ociety's rajectoryndpotential social actualization) nd thechar-acter of society hrough eople's character(social acceptance).As Nisbet tates,ife s a

questtobelong. he questfor hegood life,however, as manymeanings,ome ofwhichare representedn the proposedfive-factormodelof ocialwell-being.

In addition to exploring ifeformoresocial dimensions of well-being,futureresearchers n positivementalhealthandwell-beingace numerous asks.An immedi-ate taskis to investigate herelationships









betweenmeasures fmental ealth ndwell-being thatpurportedlyeflect istinct on-structs.orexample,re measures fpsycho-logical well-being ruly istinct rommea-sures of social well-being?At stake is thehypothesis hat he challenges nd labor ofadulthood riginaten thefundamentalivi-sionofpublic nd privateife.

If life,n both ts publicand itsprivatedetails, s the source of the dimensions fwellness, o what extent re the social andpsychological hallenges oundbyculture?What,nturn,re themediatorsnd thevar-ious structuralources f each type f well-being? repeatThoits's 1995) call fortheuse of multipleutcomemeasuresnstudiesof health ndwell-being. rogress epends,however, n thedevelopment nd use ofmodelsof well-beinghatmeasure hearrayofhumanfunctions,anging otonlyfromnegative o positivebut also from sycho-logical o social.

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Corey ee M. Keyes sanAssistant rofessorntheDepartmentf Sociology ndtheRollinsSchool of PublicHealth DepartmentfBehavioral ciences ndHealthEducation).He is anassociate of the MacArthur oundationMIDMAC researchnetwork. e also is a recentinductee nto a researchnetwork n PositivePsychology rganizedand led by APAPresidentMartin eligman nd MihalyiCsikszentmihalyio buildand promote fieldofsocial-scientificnquiryntoPositiveHealth.His researchxplores he ocial psychology fhealth nd well-beingnd successfulging.









Appendix . Indicatorsf ocialWell-Beingonstructs

Social IntegrationStudy12. Y6u don't feelyou belongto anything ou'dcall a community-).

14.You feel ike you'rean importantartofyour ommunity+).17. fyouhad somethingosay,youbelieve people inyour ommunity ould isten o you +).27. You feel close to otherpeople in your ommunity+).30. You see your ommunitys a sourceofcomfort+).44. If youhad somethingosay,you don'tthink our ommunity ouldtakeyouseriously -).50. You believeotherpeople insociety alue you as a person +).Study

2. I don't feel belongto anything'd call a community-).6. I feelclose tootherpeople inmy ommunity+).

11.Mycommunitysa sourceofcomfort+).

Social AcceptanceStudy1

7. You think hatotherpeople areunreliable-).

9. You believethatpeople arekind +).18.You believe thatpeople are self-centered-).26. You feel thatpeople arenottrustworthy-).33. You think hatpeople live onlyfor hemselves-).41. You believethatpeople are more nd more dishonest hesedays -).

46.You think hatpeople careabout otherpeople's problems +).Study :

3. People who do a favor xpectnothingnreturn+).10.People do notcare aboutotherpeople's problems-).14. believe thatpeople are kind +).

Social ContributionStudy1

4. Your behaviorhas someimpact n otherpeople inyour ommunity+).5. You thinkyouhave something aluable togive tothe world +).

37. Your daily ctivities o notproduceanything orthwhileoryour ommunity-).40.You don'thave the timeorenergy ogiveanythingoyour ommunity-).42. You think hatyourworkprovides n importantroduct or ociety +).

49. You feel youhave nothing mportantocontributeosociety -).Study4. I have something aluabletogivetotheworld +).7.Mydaily ctivities o notproduceanything orthwhile ormy ommunity-).

15. havenothingmportantocontributeosociety -).

Social ActualizationStudy1

6. You believethat ocietyhas stoppedmaking rogress-).

8.Society sn't mprovingorpeople likeyou -).19. You don'tthink ocial institutionsike aw andgovernmentmakeyour ifebetter-).

21. You see society s continuallyvolving +).25.You think ursociety s a productive lace forpeople to live n (+).38.Foryouthere'sno suchthing s socialprogress-).45. You think he world sbecoming better lace for veryone+).Study

5. The world sbecoming better lace for veryone+).9.Societyhas stoppedmaking rogress-).

13.Society sn't mprovingorpeople likeme (-).









Social CoherenceStudy3.Theworlds toocomplex or ou -).

10. cientistsre the nly eoplewho an understandow heworldworks-).13.You cannotmake ense fwhat's oing n ntheworld-).

15.Most ulturesre o strangehat ou annot nderstandhem-).20.You thinkt'sworthwhileo understandheworld ou ive n +).29.You findthard opredict hatwillhappen ext n ociety-).Study

1.The worlds toocomplex orme -).8. cannotmake ense fwhat's oing n ntheworld-).

12. findt asy opredict hatwillhappen extn ociety+).

Notes: negativeignnparenthesesndicateshat he tems reversecored, here esponseoptions ange romtrongly,oderately,r lightlyisagree oslightly,oderately,r tronglyagree. 2) The tem umbersorrespondo the tem umbersndtheirmeasurementualities

reportednTable2 (Appendix).nstudy , tem 2 that ndicatesocialCoherence asomittedfrom tudy because t uppressedhe nternaleliabilityf he cale.









AppendixB. Estimates f Parameters fTheoretical ocial Well-BeingMeasurementModel

Dane County ample National Unweighted)Sample

Metric Validity Metric ValidityConstruct Item Loading Coefficient Loading Coefficient

Social 6 fl.0 .56 1.8 .46Actualization 8 1.0 .62 1.4 .78

45 .54 .48 fl.0 .6219 .74 .4621 .75 .4725 .89 .5738 1.0 .62

Social 7 fl.0 .56Acceptance 9 .99 .58 1.8 .4146 .84 .60 4.3 .7018 .62 .5126 1.1 .6833 1.1 .6041 .80 .58

43a fl.0 .18

Social 2 fl.0 .46 fl.0 .59

Integration 27 1.2 .66 1.2 .7830 1.1 .57 1.1 .7414 1.3 .6517 1.2 .6644 1.2 .6450 1.1 .65

Social 5 fl.0 .59 fl.0 .58Contribution 37 1.2 .65 1.3 .57

49 1.2 .74 1.5 .8040 1.1 .6442 1.2 .604 .86 .49

Social 3 fl.0 .43 fl.0 .61Coherence 13 1.2 .47 1.3 .77

15 1.3 .5510 .90 .4420 .92 .46

Notes:fl.0= indicator s used tofix hemetric f the atent onstruct. he itemnumber efers o the orderofthe tem nthe 50-item ool inStudy1;the temnumber lso references he tem nAppendixA.aThe indicator sed tosetthe metric f SocialAcceptance nStudy wasnotretained nStudy1,butwas usedinStudy inan attempt oachieve a more balanced scale.

Documents

Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social psychology quarterly, 121-140