The Three Pathways to Happiness: How Orientations to Pleasure, Engagement, and Meaning Relate to Grit and Well-Being in a Longitudinal, International Sample

Orientations to happiness (OTH)--to what extent people endorse pleasure, engagement, and meaning--and Grit--perseverance and passion for long term goals--have not been studied together longitudinally before. Further, grit and OTH have not been investigated together along with a measure of psychological well-being before. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the links between and among OTH, grit, and well-being through a number of longitudinal mediation analyses. Data from the International Well-Being Study was used, in which 755 participants completed surveys at five time points over one year. The results illustrated that all of the variables were positively related to each other over time, except for a negative relationship found between grit and pleasure OTH. Pleasure, meaning and engagement were all found to be significant predictors and outcomes of the longitudinal mediations of grit to well-being and of well-being to grit. Additionally, engagement was found to be the only OTH pathway that was a marginally significant mediator of the relationship between grit and well-being. Future research should further investigate the relationships between OTH, grit and well-being. This research also has implications for devising and implementing interventions that increase grit and OTH, which also in turn are likely to improve well-being, decrease mental illness, and improve levels of success.