Psychological Well-Being (PWB)

Age: Adult

Duration: 3 to 5 minutes (18-item), 6 to 8 minutes (42-item)

Reading Level: 6th-8th grade

INTRODUCTION

The PWB was developed by psychologist Carol D. Ryff. The scale measures six aspects of wellbeing and happiness which include:

Autonomy: (e.g., “I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general consensus”);
Environmental Mastery: (e.g., “In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live”);
Personal Growth: (e.g., “I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world”);
Positive Relations With Others: (e.g., “People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others”);
Purpose in Life: (e.g., “Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them”); and
Self-acceptance: (e.g., “When I look at the story of my life, I am pleased with how things have turned out”).

(Ryff et al., 2007; adapted from Ryff, 1989).

While the original PWB consisted of 42-items, below is the shortened 18-item version.

INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents rate how strongly they agree or disagree with 18 statements using a 7-point scale (1 = strongly agree; 7 = strongly disagree).

The items are balanced so several items are reverse-scored during scoring. Higher scores indicate greater wellbeing, and separate subscale scores are derived by summing up all items within each subscale.

RESPONSE FORMAT

The psychological Well-Being scale contains the following response format: 1 = strongly agree; 2 = somewhat agree; 3 = a little agree; 4 = neither agree or disagree; 5 = a little disagree; 6 = somewhat disagree; 7 = strongly disagree.