Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. In short, wellbeing could be described as how you feel about yourself and your life.
Factors that influence wellbeing
Every aspect of your life influences your state of wellbeing. Researchers investigating happiness have found the following factors enhance a person's wellbeing:
- Happy intimate relationship with a partner.
- Network of close friends.
- Enjoyable and fulfilling career.
- Enough money.
- Regular exercise.
- Nutritional diet.
- Enough sleep.
- Spiritual or religious beliefs.
- Fun hobbies and leisure pursuits.
- Healthy self-esteem.
- Optimistic outlook.
- Realistic and achievable goals.
- Sense of purpose and meaning.
- A sense of belonging.
- The ability to adapt to change.
- Living in a fair and democratic society.
The factors that influence wellbeing are interrelated. For example, a job provides not just money but purpose, goals, friendships and a sense of belonging. Some factors also make up for the lack of others. For example, a good marriage can compensate for a lack of friendships, while religious beliefs may help a person come to terms with physical illness.
Wealth is not the key
Money is linked to wellbeing because having enough money improves living conditions and increases social status. However, happiness may increase with income but only to a point.
Many people believe that wealth is a fast track to happiness. But it's not true. Various international studies have shown that it’s the quality of our personal relationships, not the size of our bank balance, which has the greatest effect on our state of wellbeing.
Believing that money is the key to happiness can also harm a person's wellbeing. For example, a person who chooses to work a lot of overtime misses out on time with family, friends and leisure activities.
The added stress of long working hours may also reduce a person's life satisfaction. Research shows that people who chase 'extrinsic' goals like money and fame are more anxious, depressed and dissatisfied than people who value 'intrinsic' goals like close relationships with loved ones.
Wellbeing can be elusive
Wellbeing is important, but seems a little hard to come by. One American study into mental health found that, while one in four respondents was depressed, only one in five was happy – the rest fell somewhere between, neither happy nor depressed. An Australian consumer study into wellbeing showed that:
- 58% wish they could spend more time on improving their health and wellbeing.
- 79% of parents with children aged less than 18 years of age wish they could spend more time on improving their health and wellbeing.
- 83% are prepared to pay more money for products or services that enhance their feelings of wellbeing.
Measuring national wellbeing
Measuring wellbeing in a population is difficult because the interpretation of wellbeing is so subjective – how you feel about your life largely depends on the way you see it. Like the saying goes, one person's problem is another person's challenge. Australian researchers try to measure wellbeing to keep tabs on living conditions. A typical approach to measuring wellbeing is to count the number of individuals affected by a particular factor.
For example, it is helpful to keep track of how many people:
- Have cancer.
- Are single, married or divorced.
- Exercise on a regular basis.
- Smoke or drink.
- Are on unemployment benefits.
- Are victims of crime.
- Are unable to read or write.
Keeping track of a population's wellbeing helps governments to decide on particular policies. For example, knowing the average weekly income of a population helps to set the 'poverty line', which may then influence decisions on social welfare reform.
Results depend on what is measured
Survey results tend to differ depending on what was measured. For example, an Australian survey of young people found that eight in every 10 reported feeling satisfied with their lives, including how they felt about their work, studies, income and relationships. However, this positive picture is contradicted by another survey, which found that about half of all young Australians are grappling with a difficult problem such as depression or alcohol abuse. Wellbeing is an unclear concept that is hard to pin down with graphs, charts and statistics.
How to achieve wellbeing
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with family and friends.
- Make regular time available for social contact.
- Try to find work that you find enjoyable and rewarding, rather than just working for the best pay.
- Eat wholesome, nutritious foods.
- Do regular physical activity.
- Become involved in activities that interest you.
- Join local organisations or clubs that appeal to you.
- Set yourself achievable goals and work towards them.
- Try to be optimistic and enjoy each day.
Where to get help
Situational Factors (also known as External Factors) are influences that do not occur from within the individual but from elsewhere like the environment and others around you. Examples of situational factors are your environment, work and school, and the people around you. The opposite is dispositional factors that are are individual characteristics that influence behavior and actions in a person like personality traits, temperament, and genetics. People tend to cite dispositional factors as the reason for success ("I passed the test because I am smart", "I worked hard for that grade") where people tend to blame failure on situational factors ("The test wasn't fair", "The teacher doesn't like me").
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity. / ˈfæk tər / one of the elements contributing to a particular result or situation: Poverty is only one of the factors in crime. Mathematics. one of two or more numbers, algebraic expressions, or the like, that when multiplied together produce a given product; a divisor: 6 and 3 are factors of 18. Biochemistry. any of certain substances necessary to a biochemical or physiological process, especially those whose exact nature and function are unknown.
a business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
a person who acts or transacts business for another; an agent.
an agent entrusted with the possession of goods to be sold in the agent's name; a merchant earning a commission by selling goods belonging to others.
a person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
Scot. the steward or bailiff of an estate.
Mathematics. to express (a mathematical quantity) as a product of two or more quantities of like kind, as 30 = 2·3·5, or x2 − y2 = (x + y) (x − y).Compare expand (def. 4a).
verb (used without object)
factor in / into to include as an essential element, especially in forecasting or planning: You must factor insurance payments into the cost of maintaining a car.
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First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English facto(u)r, from Latin factor “maker, perpetrator,” equivalent to fac(ere) “to make, do” + -tor agent noun suffix; see -tor
fac·tor·a·ble, adjectivefac·tor·a·bil·i·ty, nounfac·tor·ship, nounsub·fac·tor, noun
un·der·fac·tor, nounun·fac·tor·a·ble, adjectiveun·fac·tored, adjective
factitious disorder, factitive, factive, fact of life, factoid, factor, factorage, factor analysis, factor cost, factor group, factor I
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
aspect, cause, circumstance, component, consideration, element, influence, ingredient, part, point, thing, agency, agent, aid, antecedent, board, constituent, instrument, instrumentality, item
No single factor can explain, say, why one person pursues a life of crime and another excels in college.
It is the steady accretion of detail that may yet be the most damaging factor in the battle for British hearts and minds.
From Playboy Prince to Dirty Old Man?|Tom Sykes|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The quality of the music is a major factor in this recent surge.
Therefore in our view we need to talk about our wood management before any other factor in the maturation of The Macallan.
But while the GoPro is impressive by itself, it has some serious wow factor when combined with a drone.
The main factor at the time was simply a lack of opportunity before we ended the book for the big New 52 line-wide relaunch.
Where goods are confided to a factor without instructions, authority to exercise a fair and reasonable discretion is implied.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
The authority of a factor to fix the terms of selling may be by agreement or by usage, like any other agent.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
A factor is employed to sell goods, and not to barter or exchange them, and if he should do this his principal could recover them.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
The true causes of the depression were not within the control of the Insular Government or of any ruling factor.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
This pronunciation of the nasal vowels in French is, as is well known, an important factor in the famous "accent du Midi."
Frdric Mistral|Charles Alfred Downer
an element or cause that contributes to a result maths
(foll by identifying numeral) med any of several substances that participate in the clotting of bloodfactor VIII
a person who acts on another's behalf, esp one who transacts business for another
commerce a business that makes loans in return for or on security of trade debts
commercial law a person to whom goods are consigned for sale and who is paid a factorage
(in Scotland) the manager of an estate
(intr) to engage in the business of a factor
factorable, adjectivefactorability, nounfactorship, noun
C15: from Latin: one who acts, from facere to do
Factor (sense 1) should only be used to refer to something which contributes to a result. It should not be used to refer to a part of something such as a plan or arrangement; instead a word such as component or element should be used
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
One that contributes in the cause of an action. A mathematical component that by multiplication makes up a number or expression. A substance, such as a vitamin, that functions in a specific biochemical reaction or bodily process, such as blood coagulation.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
One of two or more numbers or expressions that are multiplied to obtain a given product. For example, 2 and 3 are factors of 6, and a + b and a - b are factors of a2 - b2. A substance found in the body, such as a protein, that is essential to a biological process. For example, growth factors are needed for proper cell growth and development. To find the factors of a number or expression. For example, the number 12 can be factored into 2 and 6, or 3 and 4, or 1 and 12.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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