A Person-Centered Exploration of Happiness Conceptions and Their Relation to Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

This study employed a person-centered approach to investigate how individuals’ conceptions of happiness relate to their experienced well-being in a sample of 660 Canadian adults. Cluster analysis of eight different conceptions of happiness revealed three meaningful subgroups labeled skeptics, happiness seekers, and growth seekers. Skeptics highly valued happiness but perceived it as fragile, externally determined, and inflexible, and showed relatively high levels of fear of happiness. Happiness seekers had a "seize the moment" attitude, viewing happiness as malleable, controllable, and fleeting yet worth pursuing for pleasure and enjoyment. Growth seekers focused on meaning, growth, and self-actualization, believing happiness is relatively enduring and internally controllable. Cluster membership explained significant variation (6-13%) in participants' hedonic (life satisfaction, affect) and eudaimonic (psychological, social) well-being, with growth seekers reporting the highest levels and skeptics reporting the lowest levels of overall well-being. The findings highlight the diversity of happiness conceptions and their links to well-being. They suggest interventions should be tailored to individuals' specific belief systems, as a one-size-fits-all approach may be insufficient. By uncovering distinct subgroups of individuals, this study provides insights into heterogeneity in happiness conceptualizations and underscores the importance of personalized approaches to well-being promotion.