Promoting well-being: a British perspective

Abstract

Initial definitions of well-being have tended to focus on the psychological consequences of ill-health or economic deprivation, in particular the negative impact of life events, change, and poverty. Whilst steps have been made towards understanding individual well-being in terms more than the psychological consequences of health and economic circumstances, there is still a tendency to focus on the negative aspects.
In order to bring about an improvement in the well-being of society, however, we need to understand not only the circumstances of those with poor well-being, but also the circumstances through which good well-being is experienced. This chapter reports on the findings from empirical research which aims to address this issue by providing new knowledge on factors associated with positive well-being among the adult population of Great Britain. This research will show that improvements in life satisfaction, health, and social integration are positively associated with improved well-being, whilst deterioration in health has a negative association. The findings also question the relationship between affluence and well-being where it is shown to be negatively related to improved well-being states.