Psychological Well-Being Scales

Author: Carol Ryff, University of Wisconsin Madison

WHAT THE QUESTIONNAIRE MEASURES

Carol Ryff has conceptualized psychological well-being as consisting of 6 dimensions: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, self-acceptance. She has designed self-report scales to assess individual's well-being at a particular moment in time within each of these 6 dimensions. Three- to 12- item per scale validated versions exist of the measure for use in survey research or other data collection. Individuals respond to various statements and indicate on a 6-point Likert scale how true each statement is of them. Higher scores on each on scale indicate greater well-being on that dimension.

KEY REFERENCES

1. Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 1-28.
2. Ryff, C.D. (1995). Psychological well-being in adult life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 99-104.
3. Ryff, C.D., & Keyes, C.L.M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719-727.

E-MAIL CONTACT INFORMATION

Carol Ryff: cryff@facstaff.wisc.edu