Three subdisciplines in psychology are critical for the study of psychological well-being:[24]
Developmental psychology, in which psychological well-being may be analyzed in terms of a pattern of growth across the lifespan.
Personality psychology, in which it is possible to apply Maslow's concept of self-actualization, Rogers' concept of the fully functioning person, Jung's concept of individuation, and Allport's concept of maturity to account for psychological well-being.[25]
Clinical psychology, in which well-being consists of biological, psychological and social needs being met.
According to Corey Keyes' five-component model, social well-being is constituted by the following factors:
social integration,
social contribution,
social coherence,
social actualization,
social acceptance.[26]
There are two approaches typically taken to understand psychological well-being:
Distinguishing positive and negative effects and defining optimal psychological well-being and happiness as a balance between the two.[27]
Emphasizes life satisfaction as the key indicator of psychological well-being.[25]
According to Guttman and Levy (1982) well-being is "...a special case of attitude".[28] This approach serves two purposes in the study of well-being: "developing and testing a [systematic] theory for the structure of [interrelationships] among varieties of well-being, and integration of well-being theory with the ongoing[when?] cumulative theory[clarification needed] development in the fields of attitude of related research".[