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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING

A Journal Review on Social Well-Being

Abbie VandenEinde

Colorado Christian University

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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING
A Journal Review on Social Well-Being

When looking at the desires to be seen, known, and loved, those three things ultimately

boil down to well-being. In this journal article, “Directionality of the relationship between social

well-being and subjective well-being: evidence from a 20-year longitudinal study,”

Mohsen Joshanloo, M. Joseph Sirgy, and Joonha Park research whether or not social well-being

affects subjective well-being, or the other way around. Ultimately, they determined that social

well-being, in terms of correlation, is a stronger antecedent to subjective well-being than the

reverse. This demonstrates the vitality in creating safe social atmospheres where people feel as

though they belong in order to more sustainably and appropriately build one’s experience and

understanding of their subjective well-being.

The authors pick apart the definition of well-being, splitting it up into three components:

subjective, psychological, and social well-being (Joshanloo et al., 2018). This article focuses

specifically on subjective and social well-being and the relationship between the two. Joshanloo

et al. define subjective well-being as “the presence of positive affect [a maximization of

pleasure] and satisfaction as well as the absence of negative effect [the minimization of pain]”

(Joshanloo et al., 2018). Furthermore, they define social well-being as the part that “reflects

positive aspects of human well-being through interaction with other people and the community at

large” (Joshanloo et al., 2018). This social well-being also “involves the five dimensions of

social acceptance…social actualization…social contribution…social coherence…and social

integration” (Joshanloo et al., 2018). Hidden within these five dimensions are one’s desires to be

seen, known, and loved, mostly being found within the dimension of social acceptance and social

integration.
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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING
Due to the self-determination theory, which essentially states that people grow according

to their innate psychological needs, the authors and researchers predicted that social well-being

would be a predictor for one’s subjective and overall well-being, not the other way around

(Joshanloo et al., 2018). However, the authors were also aware of the broaden-and-build theory,

that positive emotions can be the building blocks for developing one’s social skill and wanted to

see which direction of correlation was stronger between the two types of well-being (Joshanloo

et al., 2018). Subsequently, the self-determination theory would seem to suggest that social well-

being more strongly predicts and correlates with subjective well-being while the broaden-and-

build theory would say the opposite.

To test these hypotheses, the authors conducted a longitudinal study of mostly white

Americans assessing their life satisfaction and social well-being (Joshanloo et al., 2018). Upon

researching over the span of 20-years, they determined that the self-determination theory held

true, that while “social well-being prospectively predicts subjective well-being, subjective well-

being does not predict social well-being over time” (Joshanloo et al., 2018).

While this study was conducted well and with precision, it seems to be tricky to

distinguish between a few terms. When discussing the research and data collected, they admit

that they could have attributed the causes to subjective well-being rather than to optimal

functioning, given that the two terms have similar definitions (Joshanloo et al., 2018).

Furthermore, they admit that the definition of subjective well-being, or the maximization of

pleasure and the minimization of pain, blurs the lines of what is good for one’s well-being and

optimal functioning versus what is bad for one. This is because positive feelings, in extreme

levels, can be harmful for functions like creativity and higher engagement in risky behaviors

(Joshanloo et al., 2018). Similarly, they point out that negative experiences are not always
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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING
detrimental for one’s overall functioning, as acceptance and sharing of negative emotions creates

trust and reduces anxiety (Joshanloo et al., 2018). Therefore, it is difficult to determine any kind

of causation when the definitions almost seem to overlap one another and produce similar

outcomes in overall functioning and happiness.

In addition, the authors admit that they had to drop one of the areas of study, social

acceptance, because they did not have acceptable data (Joshanloo et al., 2018). Furthermore, they

also admit that longitudinal studies are not the best for determining directionality of causality

with certainty (Joshanloo et al., 2018). Therefore, while this study may show a correlation that

social well-being directly impacts one’s subjective well-being, no direct causational assumptions

can be made from this study alone.

In my own opinion, I wish they would have studied a broader range of ages and

ethnicities for this study. Furthermore, I wish they would have defined their terms and definitions

with more clarity before beginning the study. Although, I do understand that with studies like

these, that focus in on factors such as well-being or happiness, much of it is subjective and varies

from person to person. Therefore, it is tricky to clearly define those terms in ways that

operationally suit every member participating in the study.

Overall, however, I believe this was a wonderful study. In fact, it was something that I

had never really thought to research before. I can see now that it is possible for both sides to

affect each other, social and subjective well-being, but also, how it makes more sense for social

well-being to have a stronger impact on subjective well-being than the other way around. One

needs their social needs met, that they might feel seen, known, and loved, like they belong, in

their social environment as a foundation for what they begin to believe about positive and

negative experiences. If one feels like they belong in the atmosphere that they grow up in
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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING
socially, they can healthily and appropriately learn negative experiences as ones that can build

trust and resilience, rather than simply as scary things to be avoided at all costs.
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Running head: A JOURNAL REVIEW ON SOCIAL WELL-BEING
References

Joshanloo, M., Sirgy, M. J., & Park, J. (2018). Directionality of the relationship between social

well-being and subjective well-being: evidence from a 20-year longitudinal study.

Quality of Life Research, 27(8), 2137-2145. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.ccu.edu/10.1007/s11136-018-1865-9

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