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Relationships Among Life Events and Psychological Well-Being: More Evidence for a Two-Factor Theory of Well-Being

University of Colorado

Charlotte C. Dunham

Texas Tech University

Margaret Gatz

University of Southern California

Laura A. Baker

University of Southern California

Vern L. Bengtson

University of Southern California

Relationships between 11 major life events and changes in psychological well-being were examined in a three-generation sample: grandparents, their adult children, and their young adult grandchildren. Psychological well-being was measured using the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale. Life events included marriages; divorces; births of children; deaths of spouses, children, and parents; health declines; hospitalizations; improved standard of living; retirement; and retirement of one's spouse. Both positive and negative affect demonstrated similar stability over 14 years and were equally predictable from the life events. However, consistent with a two-factor conceptualization of psychological well-being, for all generations, desirable life events predicted change in positive affect whereas undesirable events predicted change in negative affect; cross-domain prediction was minimal. Results further indicated that whether life events are expected may be more important in predicting subsequent psychological well-being than whether they are desirable or undesirable.

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