General information
Description
Developed at the Harvard IQSS, the “Flourish” measure consists of two questions or items from each of five domains: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships.
Questions
Domain 1: Happiness and Life Satisfaction
1. Overall, how satisfied are you with life as a whole these days?
0=Not Satisfied at All, 10=Completely Satisfied
2. In general, how happy or unhappy do you usually feel?
0=Extremely Unhappy, 10=Extremely Happy
Domain 2: Mental and Physical Health
3. In general, how would you rate your physical health?
0=Poor, 10=Excellent
4. How would you rate your overall mental health?
0=Poor, 10=Excellent
Domain 3: Meaning and Purpose
5. Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
0=Not at All Worthwhile, 10=Completely Worthwhile
6. I understand my purpose in life.
0=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree
Domain 4: Character and Virtue
7. I always act to promote good in all circumstances, even in difficult and challenging situations.
0=Not True of Me, 10=Completely True of Me
8. I am always able to give up some happiness now for greater happiness later.
0=Not True of Me, 10=Completely True of Me
Domain 5: Close Social Relationships
9. I am content with my friendships and relationships.
0=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree
10. My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be.
0=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree
Domain 6: Financial and Material Stability
11. How often do you worry about being able to meet normal monthly living expenses?
0=Worry All of the Time, 10=Do Not Ever Worry
12. How often do you worry about safety, food, or housing?
0=Worry All of the Time, 10=Do Not Ever Worry
Source
VanderWeele, T.J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 31:8148-8156.
More information at the Human Flourishing Programme website, here.
Validation details
Węziak-Białowolska, D., McNeely, E., and VanderWeele, T.J. (2019). Flourish index and secure flourish index – validation in workplace settings. Cogent Psychology, 6:1598926.
Cronbach’s α = 0.89
Implementation
Cost / Terms of Use
The Program’s flourishing index measure is copyrighted under a Creative Commons License (CC-BY-NC 4.0). However, it can be used without permission for non-commercial purposes if proper citation is given. The reference for the paper in which the measure was presented is:
VanderWeele, T.J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 31:8148-8156.
Instructions and Scoring
n/a
Benchmarking
We don’t currently have benchmarking information for this measure.
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