Eudaimonic happiness and the Eudaimonic Happiness Inventory (EHI): a cross-cultural investigation

Stemming from Aristotle’ s concept of eudaimonia, several studies in positive psychology refer to a definition of happiness that comprises self-actualization and personal growth – at the individual level - and commitment to socially shared goals – at the social level. Human beings, as cultural animals (Baumeister, 2005) pursue distal goals and search for meaning in events, interpersonal relationships and daily activities. These human features are components of constructs such as psychological well-being, sense of coherence, self-determination, and post-traumatic growth. To discuss cross-cultural findings gathered with the Eudaimonic Happiness Inventory (EHI) which investigates the relationship between a) perceived levels of happiness, goal pursuit and meaningful aspects of life ; b) eudaimonic components of happiness and happiness as momentary feeling ; c) eudaimonic happiness and life satisfaction, assessed through Diener’ s SWLS. Data were gathered in Australia, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and South Africa. Each country was represented by 100 participants, aged 30-51, living in urban areas, equally distributed by gender and education level (high school diploma and university degree). The EHI included scaled questions rating the level of perceived happiness and meaningfulness in the main life domains. Open-ended questions provided qualitative information on the definition of happiness, the most important goals and meaningful thing in participants’ life, and the situations in which participants had recently perceived intense feelings of happiness. Findings will be shared from various countries, looking for similarities and differences across cultures as concerns participants’ meaningful life domains and goals, definition of happiness and relationships between eudaimonic happiness and life satisfaction. Considering the exploratory nature of this study, results will help operationalize the still evolving construct of happiness, and provide information on the interpretation and relevance of eudaimonic happiness at the cross-cultural level.