Determinants of Subjective Well Being

Abstract

The Subjective Well-being (SWB) refers to an individual experience and subjective evaluation of life as positive, and includes variables such as satisfaction with life and experience of positive affect. Several studies describe the main determinants of SWB, such as personality traits, social support, economic and cultural factors and life events. This study aimed to verify, through a literature review, held in the databases Web of Science and SciELO, the determinants of subjective well-being that are most frequently cited and researched. The review points out to the possibility of an interaction between personality, life events and environment influencing the subjective well-being, and thus, suggesting an interactionist approach to a better understanding of the major factors causing a higher or lower subjective well-being.