Developing well-being as one grows older : A mixed method study

Abstract

Living the good life has been a topic of interest for centuries and is often captured by the phenomenon of well-being. However, there are different opinions on what wellbeing consists of and what the good life entails. The different understandings of wellbeing are typically categorized as concerned with either hedonia (feelings and experiences) or eudaimonia (positive functioning), but there are also integrated approaches that combine the two perspectives. Most would agree that the experience of both hedonia and eudaimonia can be considered the greatest form of well-being. In addition to the interest in understanding what well-being consist of, there are substantial investigations into the phenomenon’s relationship with, and effects on, other phenomena. In this thesis, old age and the capacity for self-authorship are two phenomena which well-being is investigated in relation to.