When we think about wellbeing, many of us imagine being happy, smiling, and enjoying life. And that\u2019s true \u2014 but it\u2019s only half the story. Wellbeing is also about things like growing as a person, feeling a sense of purpose, and having strong, meaningful connections with others.<\/p>\n
Psychologists often call these two sides of wellbeing:<\/p>\n
Hedonic wellbeing<\/strong> \u2013 feeling good, experiencing positive emotions, being satisfied with life.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Eudaimonic wellbeing<\/strong> \u2013 living with meaning, growing, contributing, and accepting yourself.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Until now, most wellbeing surveys measured one side or the other, but rarely both together. That\u2019s why we created the Holistic Wellbeing Measure (HWM)<\/strong> \u2014 a short, practical tool that looks at both<\/em> happiness and meaning in life.<\/p>\n There are already lots of wellbeing questionnaires out there. The problem? Many are too long, focus too much on happiness only, or were designed mainly for Western cultures. But wellbeing isn\u2019t experienced the same way everywhere.<\/p>\n The HWM<\/strong> was designed to: The HWM has two main parts:<\/p>\n Eudaimonic wellbeing<\/strong> \u2013 questions about values, personal growth, self-acceptance, life purpose, and close relationships.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Hedonic wellbeing<\/strong> \u2013 questions about happiness, peace of mind, energy, and positive emotions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In simple terms, it measures whether someone both feels good<\/em> and functions well<\/em>.<\/p>\n We tested the HWM with over 1,100 people<\/strong>: adolescents, young adults, and adults. The results were clear:<\/p>\n The scale is reliable (people answer consistently).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n It predicts important things like mental health, social health, and even physical health.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Higher scores on the HWM are linked with less depression, anxiety, and stress.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n So, it doesn\u2019t just tell us about wellbeing \u2014 it also helps explain how wellbeing connects to health and life outcomes.<\/p>\n Wellbeing isn\u2019t just something we talk about in therapy sessions or philosophy books. Schools, workplaces, and even governments are now looking for ways to track and improve wellbeing.<\/p>\n A tool like the HWM<\/strong> can help by:<\/p>\n Giving a quick snapshot of someone\u2019s overall wellbeing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Helping teachers, counselors, or managers see where support is needed.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Allowing researchers to study wellbeing in a more complete way, beyond just \u201care you happy?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Of course, no single scale can capture the full richness of human wellbeing. But the HWM is a big step toward a more balanced and global view. Future research will test it in different cultures, with older adults, and over longer periods of time.<\/p>\n For now, it\u2019s an easy and powerful way to measure both sides of the wellbeing coin: happiness and meaning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u2728 In short: wellbeing is not just about feeling good \u2014 it\u2019s also about living well. The Holistic Wellbeing Measure gives us a simple way to see the full picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to dive deeper into the research behind this scale, check out the full paper:<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we think about wellbeing, many of us imagine being happy, smiling, and enjoying life. And that\u2019s true \u2014 but it\u2019s only half the story. Wellbeing is also about things like growing as a person, feeling a sense of purpose, and having strong, meaningful connections with others. Psychologists often call these two sides of wellbeing: …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pozitif-psikoloji","category-ruh-sagligi"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1636,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633\/revisions\/1636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokmenarslan.com.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why We Built the Holistic Wellbeing Measure<\/h2>\n
\u2705 Cover both happiness (hedonia) and meaning (eudaimonia)
\u2705 Be short and easy to use (just 12 items)
\u2705 Work well across age groups \u2014 from teens to adults
\u2705 Be culturally sensitive, tested first in T\u00fcrkiye but meant for global use<\/p>\nWhat Does the Scale Look At?<\/h2>\n
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What We Found<\/h2>\n
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Why This Matters<\/h2>\n
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What\u2019s Next?<\/h2>\n
Arslan, G. & Co\u015fkun, M. (2025). Measuring eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing: Development and validation of the Holistic Wellbeing Measure.<\/em> Journal of Personality Assessment.<\/em> https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/00223891.2025.2569671<\/a><\/p>\n