[1] Psychological well-being consists of self-acceptance, positive relationships with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, a feeling of purpose and meaning in life, and personal growth and development.
[5] The Ryff Scale is based on six factors: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance.
[8] Psychological well-being can also be affected negatively, as is the case with a degrading and unrewarding work environment, unfulfilling obligations and unsatisfying relationships.
[12] Individuals that strive for a life defined by affiliation, intimacy, and contributing to one's community can be described as aspiring to fulfil their intrinsic psychological needs.
In contrast, those individuals who aspire for wealth and material, social recognition, fame, image, or attractiveness can be described as aiming to fulfil their extrinsic psychological needs.
The strength of an individual's intrinsic (relative to extrinsic) aspirations as indicated by rankings of importance correlates with an array of psychological outcomes.
Results suggested that individuals whose actions had underlying eudaimonic tendencies as indicated by their self-reports (e.g., "I seek out situations that challenge my skills and abilities") were found to possess higher subjective well-being and life satisfaction scores compared to participants who did not.
Both of the latter orientations are also associated with aspiring to meet intrinsic needs for affiliation and community and were amalgamated by Anić and Tončić into a single "eudaimonic" path to happiness that elicited high scores on all measures of well-being and life satisfaction.