# How Eudaimonia Impacts Global and Differential Life Satisfaction Independent of the General Mental Health Status

## TL;DR

This study shows that eudaimonia, or living meaningfully, boosts life satisfaction and helps people cope with mental health issues.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence on how eudaimonia affects both global and domain-specific life satisfaction, even when mental health is poor.

## Key findings

- High eudaimonia is linked to higher psychological well-being and work participation.
- People with mental health problems and high eudaimonia report greater life satisfaction than those with low eudaimonia.
- Eudaimonia benefits both global and domain-specific life satisfaction, regardless of mental health status.

## Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
Global and differential life satisfaction are an important health indicator.Eudaimonic attitudes may contribute to life satisfaction and coping with mental health problems.

Global and differential life satisfaction are an important health indicator.

Eudaimonic attitudes may contribute to life satisfaction and coping with mental health problems.

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
Overall, 30% of the general population suffers from mental health problems.Coping with mental health problems may benefit from high eudaimonia.

Overall, 30% of the general population suffers from mental health problems.

Coping with mental health problems may benefit from high eudaimonia.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health?
Training eudaimonic attitudes may be useful in public health interventions.Eudaimonia could be considered as an outcome in intervention studies.

Training eudaimonic attitudes may be useful in public health interventions.

Eudaimonia could be considered as an outcome in intervention studies.

Growing evidence highlights a rather long-term perspective on well-being. Eudaimonia—living meaningfully, acting in accordance with one’s values, and accepting hardship in pursuit of worthwhile goals—is associated with better mental and physical health, resilience, and higher global life satisfaction. However, there is a lack of evidence investigating eudaimonia and its connection to satisfaction with specific life domains. This study explores how eudaimonia relates to global and domain-specific life satisfaction. A convenience general population sample (N = 394) was investigated by online questionnaire, assessing sociodemographic data, eudaimonia, health impairments, well-being, and satisfaction across 17 life domains with the Differential Life Burden Scale. High eudaimonia was associated with higher psychological well-being and work participation compared to individuals reporting low eudaimonia. Thereby people with high eudaimonia despite mental health problems reported higher satisfaction than those with mental health problems and low eudaimonia. People with high eudaimonia despite mental problems were similarly satisfied like people without mental problems but lower eudaimonia. For both global and domain-specific life satisfaction, individuals with and without mental health problems benefit from higher eudaimonia. Eudaimonia can be a valuable resource for mental health, overall life satisfaction, and satisfaction across various life domains.