The authors in this entry discuss flourishing and eudaimonic well-being in the context of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of good health and well-being which are set to be achieved by 2030. Firstly, an outline of the SDGs is presented, followed by a brief overview of contemporary perspectives on well-being. Thereafter, in order to clarify the notion of eudaimonic well-being, some of the debates on the definitions of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being are explored. Well-being is revealed to be an evolving multidimensional concept that is accepting of multiple perspectives. The authors then discuss traditional and emerging literature that explores the applicability of eudaimonic well-being and flourishing as it pertains to sustaining the holistic health of global human populations. The significance of contemporary scholarly engagement with flourishing and eudaimonic well-being, with multilayered, interdisciplinary approaches, is recognized as imperative for...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Agarwal B (2008) Overcoming participatory exclusions. In: Gowher R, de Long J (eds) The state of access, success and failure of democracies in creating equal opportunities. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC
Anand P (2016) Happiness explained: what human flourishing is and what we can do to promote it. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Beaglehole R, Bonita R (2015) Development with values: lessons learnt from Bhutan. Lancet 385(9971):848–849
Biswas-Diener R, Kashdan TB, King LA (2009) Two traditions of happiness research, not two distinct types of happiness. J Posit Psychol 4:208–211
Brymer E, Cuddihy TF, Sharma-Brymer V (2010) The role of nature-based experiences in the development and maintenance of wellness. Asia-Pac J Health Sport Phys Educ 1(2):21–28
Brymer E, Davids K, Mallabon E (2014) Understanding the psychological health and well-being benefits of physical activity in nature: an ecological dynamics analysis. J Ecopsychol 6(3):189–197. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2013.0110
Buse K, Hawkes S (2015) Health in the sustainable development goals: ready for a paradigm shift? Glob Health 11(13):1–8
Capaldi C, Dopko R, Zelenski J (2014) The relationship between nature-connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis. Front Psychol 5(976):1–15
Chawla L (2015) Benefits of nature contact for children. J Plan Lit 30(4):433–452
Cummins R (2010) Subjective wellbeing, homeostatically protected mood and depression: a synthesis. J Happiness Stud 11:1–17
Deci EL, Ryan RM (2008) Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction. J Happiness Stud 9(1):1–11
Diener E, Chan M (2011) Happy people live longer: subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. Appl Psychol Health Well Being 3(1):1–43
Disabato DJ, Goodman FR, Kashdan TB, Short JL, Jarden A (2016) Different types of well-being? A cross-cultural examination of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Psychol Assess 28(5):471–482
Dodge R, Daly A, Huyton J, Sanders L (2012) The challenge of defining wellbeing. Int J Wellbeing 2(3): 222–235
Elliot D (2016) Defining the relationship between health and well-being in bioethics. New Bioeth 22(1):4–17
Fabjanski M, Brymer E (2017) Enhancing health and wellbeing through immersion in nature: a conceptual perspective combining the Stoic and Buddhist traditions. Front Psychol 8:1573. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01573
Gill T (2014) The benefits of children’s engagement with nature: a systematic literature review. Child Youth Environ 24(2):10–34
Goodman FR, Disabato DJ, Kashdan TB, Kauffman SB (2017) Measuring well-being: a comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA. J Posit Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1388434
Gratani M, Sutton SG, Butler J, Bohensky E, Foale S (2016) Indigenous environmental values as human values. Cogent Soc Sci 2. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2016.1185811
Gregoire C (2015) Green spaces in schools improve children’s memory and attention. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/19/green-spaces-schools_n_7594882.html. Accessed 19 June 2015
Grossman C (2011) Federal program gives families ‘nature prescriptions’. USA Today. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2011-02-28-nature28_ST_N.htm. Accessed 14 Mar 2015
Headey BW, Wearing AJ (1989) Personality, life events and subjective well-being: toward a dynamic equilibrium model. J Pers Soc Psychol 57:731–739
Henderson LW, Knight T (2012) Integrating the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives to more comprehensively understand wellbeing and pathways to wellbeing. Int J Wellbeing 2(3):196–221
Hendry LB, Kloep M (2002) Lifespan development: resources, challenges and risks. Thomson Learning, London
Hone LC, Jarden A, Schofield G, Duncan S (2014) Measuring flourishing: the impact of operational definitions on the prevalence of high levels of wellbeing. Int J Wellbeing 4:62–90
Huta V (2015) An overview of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being concepts, Chapter 2. In: Reinecke L, Oliver MB (eds) Handbook of media use and well-being. Routledge, New York
Inoue CYA, Moreira PF (2016) Many worlds, many nature(s), one planet: indigenous knowledge in the Anthropocene. Rev Bras Polít Int 59(2):1–19
Joshanloo M, Jarden A (2016) Individualism as the moderator of the relationship between hedonism and happiness: a study in 19 nations. Personal Individ Differ 94:149–152
Keyes CLM (1998) Social well-being. Soc Psychol Quart 61(2):121–140
Keyes CLM, Annas J (2009) Feeling good and functioning well: distinctive concepts in ancient philosophy and contemporary science. J Posit Psychol 4(3):197–201
Khaw D, Kern M (2015) A cross-cultural comparison of the PERMA model of well-being. Undergrad J Psychol Berkeley 1–22
Kreutz A (2015) Children and the environment in an Australian indigenous community. Routledge, Abingdon
Lawton E, Brymer E, Clough P, Denovan A (2017) The relationship between the physical activity environment, nature relatedness, anxiety and the psychological wellbeing benefits of regular exercisers. Front Psychol 8:1058. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01058
Maas J, Verheij RA, Spreeuwenberg P et al (2008) Physical activity as a possible mechanism behind the relationship between green space and health: a multilevel analysis. BMC Public Health 8:206
Mathews G (2012) Happiness, culture, and context. Int J Wellbeing 2(4):299–312
Mental Health Commission of NSW (2017) Wellbeing language and definitions guide 2017. Mental Health Commission of NSW, Sydney
Mitchell R, Popham F (2008) Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study. Lancet 372(9650):1655–1660
Newton J (2007) Wellbeing and the natural environment: a brief overview of the evidence. Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs, London
Nussbaum MC (2009) The therapy of desire: theory and practice in Hellenistic ethics. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Nussbaum M, Sen A (1993) The quality of life. Oxford University Press, Oxford
O’Brien L (2009) Learning outdoors: the forest school approach. Education 3–13 37(1):45–60
Ottosson J, Grahn P (2005) A comparison of leisure time spent in a garden with leisure time spent indoors: on measures of restoration in residents in geriatric care. Landsc Res 30(1):23–55
Roe J, Aspinall P (2011) The emotional affordances of forest settings: an investigation in boys with extreme behavioural problems. Landsc Res 36(5):535–552
Ryan RM, Deci EL (2001) On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annu Rev Psychol 52: 141–166
Ryff CD (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it: explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 57(6):1069–1081
Schotanus-Dijkstra M et al (2016) Validation of the flourishing scale in a sample of people with suboptimal levels of mental well-being. BMC Psychol 4:12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-016-0116-5
Seligman M (2011) Flourish: a new understanding of happiness, well-being-and how to achieve them. Nicholas Brealey Pub, London
Sen A (1999) Development as freedom. Knopf, New York
Sharma-Brymer V, Bland D (2016) Bringing nature to schools to promote children’s physical activity. Sports Med 46(7):955–962
Sharma-Brymer V, Brymer E, Davids K (2015) The relationship between physical activity in green space and human health and wellbeing: an ecological dynamics perspective. J Phys Educ Res 2(I):7–22
Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group (2018) Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group and Forest School Gelli Hir Woods. http://www.ben-network.org.uk/participation/CaseStudies_1.html. Accessed 29 Mar 2018
Tong KK, Wang YY (2017) Validation of the flourishing scale and scale of positive and negative experience in a Chinese community sample. PLoS One 12(8):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181616
Ungar M, Dumond C, Mcdonald W (2005) Risk, resilience and outdoor programmes for at-risk children. J Soc Work 5:319–338
VanderWeelea TJ (2017) On the promotion of human flourishing. PNAS 114(31):8148–8156
Waterman AS (2008) Reconsidering happiness: a eudaimonist’s perspective. J Posit Psychol 3:234–252
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2017a) World health statistics 2017: Monitoring health for the Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva, World Health Organisation
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2017b) Factsheet on Non-communicable diseases. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/. Accessed 20 Mar 2018
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2017c) 10 facts on the state of global health. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/global_burden/en/. Accessed 20 Mar 2018
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2018a) SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. https://www.who.int/sdg/targets/en/. Accessed 20 Mar 2018
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2018b) Health determinants. http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/pages/health-determinants. Accessed 20 Mar 2018
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2018c) 10 facts on mental health. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/mental_health_facts/en/. Accessed 20 Mar 2018
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sharma-Brymer, V., Brymer, E. (2019). Flourishing and Eudaimonic Well-Being. In: Leal Filho, W., Wall, T., Azeiteiro, U., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P. (eds) Good Health and Well-Being. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_4-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_4-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences