Subjective well-being

Subjective well-being (SWB) is a self-reported measure of well-being, typically obtained by questionnaire.[1][2]

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Ed Diener developed a tripartite model of SWB in 1984, which describes how people experience the quality of their lives and includes both emotional reactions and cognitive judgments.[3] It posits "three distinct but often related components of wellbeing: frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and cognitive evaluations such as life satisfaction."[4][5] SWB is an overarching ideology that encompasses such things as "high levels of pleasant emotions and moods, low levels of negative emotions and moods, and high life-satisfaction."[6]

SWB therefore encompasses moods and emotions as well as evaluations of one's satisfaction with general and specific areas of one's life.[7] SWB is one definition of happiness.

Although SWB tends to be stable over the time[7] and is strongly related to personality traits,[8] the emotional component of SWB can be impacted by situations; for example, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, lowered emotional well-being by 74%.[9] There is evidence that health and SWB may mutually influence each other, as good health tends to be associated with greater happiness,[10] and a number of studies have found that positive emotions and optimism can have a beneficial influence on health.[11]