Empirical contributions of the past in assessing multidimensional well-being

Abstract

The purpose of this brief report was to provide a preliminary evaluation of the empirical contributions of an individual's perceptions of the past in the practical assessment of multidimensional well-being. Dimensions of well-being assessed with the I COPPE Scale were interpersonal, community, occupational, physical, psychological, economic, and overall. Four hundred twenty-six participants provided responses to the I COPPE Scale and several comparison instruments. Two practical methods for creating I COPPE composite scores were compared and differed by only the inclusion (i.e., Method 1) or exclusion (i.e., Method 2) of an indicator of past well-being. Multiple-group structural equation modeling framework was used and method (i.e., Method 1 and Method 2) was the grouping variable. An individual's perceptions of the past offered negligible empirical contributions over and above an individual's perceptions of the present and future in the practical assessment of multidimensional well-being. Method 2 performed as well as Method 1.