The relations among prosocial behavior, hedonic, and eudaimonic well-being in everyday life

Existing research highlights the significance of prosocial behavior (voluntary, intentional behavior that results in benefits for another) to people's well-being. Yet, the extent to which this expected positive relation operates at the within-person level (e.g., is more prosocial behavior than usual related to a higher than usual level of well-being?) while taking into account stable interindividual differences, remains a research question that deserves further investigation. In this study, we aimed to explore the relations between prosocial behavior and hedonic (HWB; subjective assessment of life satisfaction and happiness) and eudaimonic (EWB; actualization of human potential in alignment with personal goals, including concepts like meaning in life and closeness to others) well-being in daily life.

Using ecological momentary assessment for 4 weeks, data were collected from two British samples, comprising 82 adolescents and 166 adults.

Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed a positive relations between prosocial behavior and HWB/EWB at both between and within-person levels across the samples.

In summary, these findings further support the positive link between prosocial behavior and well-being in everyday life. Notably, this association was consistent across different age groups (adolescent and adults) at both between and within-person levels.