Hedonic happiness and Eudaimónica: A study of Portuguese adolescents

• Autor(a) principal: Freire, Teresa
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Zenhas, Filipa, Tavares, Dionísia, Iglésias, Catarina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/53938
• topic: Adolescence; Eudaimonia; Happiness; Hedonia; Meaning; Felicidade; Significado; Adolescência; Hedonia; Eudaimonia

The present study intended to explore the conceptualizations of happiness of Portuguese adolescents, the most significant aspects of their lives, which factors can give meaning to their lives; and to understand the levels of Happiness and Meaning in several life domains and its impact on happiness and meaning in life in general. We used the Eudaimonic and Hedonic Happiness Instrument (EHHI: Delle Fave, Brdar, Freire, Vella- Brodrick, & Wissing, 2011), which tries to access, qualitatively and quantitatively, the hedonic and eudaimonic components of Happiness. The sample comprised 216 adolescents, with mean age of 16.6 (DP=1.2), being 68,5% female and 31,5% male. The qualitative results showed that the definition of happiness amongst adolescents, the meaning as well as the underlying motifs to the attribution of meaning, includes both psychological dimensions and aspects related with life domains, integrating hedonic and eudaimonic components. The quantitative results allowed understanding that happiness and meaning contribute in a different but complementary way to well-being. These results are discussed using current hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives on the study of wellbeing, contributing for a holistic understanding of the various components that contribute and are involved in the Happiness of adolescents.