Carol Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Theory Research Paper

The Theoretical Foundation

Well-being is a wide concept that describes the state of human functioning, primarily the health status. However, from a psychological perspective, well-being implies optimal mental function and life experience (Gao & McLellan, 2018). Psychological well-being has a significant influence on overall human behavior and thus interests many psychological researchers. Psychological studies often take two approaches, which are hedonism and eudemonism. Hedonism focuses on the human state of being happy, while eudaimonism targets how people live meaningful life (Gao & McLellan, 2018). Psychological well-being is largely a result of one’s decision-making and judgment processes. For instance, an individual can decide to be happy or become meaningful depending on the nature and quality of his/her cognitive and affective resolutions. Trudel-Fitzgerald, et al. (2019) underscore well-being as the standard of living, which encompass mental, spiritual, emotional, and psychological aspects. Accordingly, this study adopts Carol Ryff’s theory to evaluate psychological well-being using the eudaimonism approach.

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Problem Statement

The psychological well-being of adolescents and young adults forms the central focus of this research. The researcher is interested in investigating the youths’ state of purpose in life as one of the six dimensions of Carol Ryff’s theory. There is a strong correlation between meaningful living and life expectancy. Trudel-Fitzgerald, et al. (2019) assert that when individuals exhibit sense of purpose and positive direction in their lives, they live longer, since having a quality life purpose reduces mortality by about 40%. With the sound interest in youths’ quality living, the researcher is concerned with the millennials disregarding life purpose as a crucial component of mental health. For example, many young people invest more in being happy than having a purposeful life. Correspondingly, it is necessary to assess the state of purpose in life among the youths and their perception of the dimension in the contemporary world.

The Conceptual Framework

The study entails evaluating the linkage between the elements constituting life purpose, the youth’s behaviors, and the psychological well-being outcomes among the target population. Moran (2020) proposes a life purpose compass comprising self-regulation, self-motivation, and self-direction as drivers of meaningful living. On the other hand, Kadir and Mohd (2021) present the 5Cs of positive youth development (PYD). There is an interconnection of psychological well-being, the 5Cs of the PYD, and purpose in life. For instance, Kadir and Mohd (2021) established that confidence and connection as the 2Cs of the PYD promote purposeful living, and eventually enhance psychological well-being among young people. Subsequently, the connections between the life purpose and the 5Cs of PYD and how the interlinkage affects youths’ psychological well-being undergirds and frames the current research.

The Application of Carol Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Theory

Carol Ryff’s theory offers the theoretical foundation necessary for designing the study’s background, research questions, and design. Carol Ryff’s conception of psychological well-being is a constitution of life purpose, individual growth, mastery, positive relation, and independence as the six fundamental dimensions. Ryff developed the respective self-report scale to score how an individual performs in each dimension to obtain overall psychological well-being (Gao & McLellan, 2018). Out of the six dimensions, the researcher singles out the purpose in life dimension to assess youths’ psychological well-being because of the current mental well-being status quo of the millennials. Suitably, the theory guides the researcher’s decision to settle on an explorative inquiry into the youths’ purpose in life as a contributor to improved psychological well-being.

Life purpose is a complex phenomenon, which cuts across multiple domains of life. The young generation experiences significant decision and balance dilemmas associated with purpose in life, which affect their psychological well-being. Influence is one of the fundamental life domains. Moran (2020) cites an example of the challenge that students face aligning their studies, careers, and life goals and suggest that the disconnect between the conception of studies’ influence and self-efficacy undermines youths’ purpose in life. Besides influence, commitment also alter purpose in life. Commitment demands positive social imagination and perception of the future. Moran (2020) submits an instance of an enterprising youth venturing into activities that contribute to social good, such as inspiring others to embrace the hobby. Notably, Carol Ryff’s theory is essential in determining the factors that shape youths’ focus on purposeful living.

Carol Ryff’s theory is the source of the study’s subject matter. As such, the inquest into the state of purpose in life among the youths will apply the theory’s concepts on the life purpose dimension as a reference point. The proposed study will enrich the theory further by refining it.  Gao and McLellan (2018) recommended future research to add more age-specific and context-relevant items to make Ryff’s theory a dynamic psychological well-being model. Correspondingly, the suggested study focuses on the factors shaping life purpose among young people. A recent study by Lund et al. (2022) indicates that excellent peer relationships increase commitment to the purpose in life. Remarkably, the current study will proceed with that trajectory but it will factor in the age aspect and technology influence to better Carol Ryff’s psychological well-being theory.

References

Gao, J., & McLellan, R. (2018). Using Ryff’s scales of psychological well-being in adolescents in mainland China. BMC Psychology, 6(17). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-018-0231-6

Kadir, N. B. A., & Mohd, R. H. (2021). The 5Cs of positive youth development, purpose in life, hope, and well-being among emerging adults in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.641876

Lund, T. J., Liang, B., Lincoln, B., White, A. E., Mousseau, A. M., Gomez, L. A., & Akins, E. (2022). Purpose in Life among first-generation college students: Friends make a difference. Youth, 2(1), 12-22; https://doi.org/10.3390/youth2010002

Moran, S. (2020). Life purpose in youth: Turning potential into a lifelong pursuit of prosocial contribution. Journal of the Education of the Gifted, 43(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353219897844

Trudel-Fitzgerald, C., Millstein, R.A., von Hippel, C., Howe, C. J., Tomasso, L. P., Wagner, G. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Psychological well-being as part of the public health debate? Insight into dimensions, interventions, and policy. BMC Public Health, 19(1712). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-8029-x