Words of well-being: language reveals differences in the relational nature of five components of subjective well-being

This paper explores the differences between five components of subjective well-being: happiness, meaning, harmony, spirituality, and religiosity. This is a pressing question, as growing research suggests that a good life encompasses more than just happiness, underscoring the need to understand the distinctions between subjective well-being components. Quantitative approaches often reveal high correlations between them, making differentiation difficult. To address this, we employed a mixed-methods design, including a quantitative analysis of open-ended responses from 1,084 British participants. Our findings indicate that happiness is primarily oriented toward small communities, while the other components are more broader communities-oriented. These results contribute to a nuanced understanding of human flourishing and lay the groundwork for further research into the distinctions between well-being components.