Abstract
Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily related to hedonic well-being (HWB). In contrast, we expected Virtue characteristics to be more strongly related to eudaimonic well-being (EWB), which includes meaning, personal growth, and positive relationships in this study. This exploratory study assessed Aristotle’s theory about friendship and well-being with 375 participants. Two exploratory structural equation models were tested. There was an indirect relationship between Utility characteristics and HWB through Help Received. A friend’s Virtue characteristics had an indirect relationship with EWB through the reliability of the friendship. These findings indicate that friendship characteristics related to utility and virtue friendships appear to have differential implications for understanding the role of friends in happiness and flourishing.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Social and Personal Relationships |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- Aristotle
- companionship
- eudaimonia
- eudaimonic well-being
- friendships
- hedonic well-being
- Virtue
- well-being
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Communication
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
An exploratory study of friendship characteristics and their relations with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. / Anderson, Austen R.; Fowers, Blaine.
In: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - An exploratory study of friendship characteristics and their relations with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being
AU - Anderson, Austen R.
AU - Fowers, Blaine
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily related to hedonic well-being (HWB). In contrast, we expected Virtue characteristics to be more strongly related to eudaimonic well-being (EWB), which includes meaning, personal growth, and positive relationships in this study. This exploratory study assessed Aristotle’s theory about friendship and well-being with 375 participants. Two exploratory structural equation models were tested. There was an indirect relationship between Utility characteristics and HWB through Help Received. A friend’s Virtue characteristics had an indirect relationship with EWB through the reliability of the friendship. These findings indicate that friendship characteristics related to utility and virtue friendships appear to have differential implications for understanding the role of friends in happiness and flourishing.
AB - Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily related to hedonic well-being (HWB). In contrast, we expected Virtue characteristics to be more strongly related to eudaimonic well-being (EWB), which includes meaning, personal growth, and positive relationships in this study. This exploratory study assessed Aristotle’s theory about friendship and well-being with 375 participants. Two exploratory structural equation models were tested. There was an indirect relationship between Utility characteristics and HWB through Help Received. A friend’s Virtue characteristics had an indirect relationship with EWB through the reliability of the friendship. These findings indicate that friendship characteristics related to utility and virtue friendships appear to have differential implications for understanding the role of friends in happiness and flourishing.
KW - Aristotle
KW - companionship
KW - eudaimonia
KW - eudaimonic well-being
KW - friendships
KW - hedonic well-being
KW - Virtue
KW - well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068837974&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068837974&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0265407519861152
DO - 10.1177/0265407519861152
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068837974
JO - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
SN - 0265-4075
ER -