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Ryff’s six-factor model of eudaimonic well-being describes the six aspects of positive functioning that an individual who strives to lead a fulfilled life must endorse. She states that the pursuit and acquisition of positive relationships is an intrinsically motivated desire that is endorsed cross-culturally as a route to being void of ill-being as well as leading a meaningful life.

The results of a study conducted in the early 90s exploring the relationship between well-being and those aspects of positive functioning that were put forth in Ryff’s model, indicate that persons who aspired more for financial success relative to affiliation with others or their community scored lower on various measures of well-being.

Individuals that strive for a life defined by affiliation, intimacy and contributing to one’s community can be described as aspiring to fulfil their intrinsic psychological needs. In contrast those individuals who aspire for wealth and material, social recognition, fame, image or attractiveness can be described as aiming to fulfil their extrinsic psychological needs. The strength of an individual’s intrinsic (relative to extrinsic) aspirations as indicated by rankings of importance correlates with an array of psychological outcomes. Positive correlations have been found with indications of psychological well-being: positive affect, vitality, and self-actualization. Negative correlations have been found with indicators of psychological ill-being: negative affect, depression and anxiety.

A more recent study confirming Ryff’s notion of maintaining positive relations with others as a way of leading a meaningful life involved comparing levels of self-reported life satisfaction and subjective well-being (positive/negative affect). Results suggested that individuals whose actions had underlying eudaimonic tendencies as indicated by their self-reports (e.g., I seek out situations that challenge my skills and abilities) were found to possess higher subjective well-being and life satisfaction scores compared to participants who did not. Individuals were grouped according to their chosen paths/strategies to happiness as identified by their answers on an Orientation to Happiness Questionnaire. The questionnaire describes and differentiates individuals on the basis of three orientations to happiness which can be pursued, though some individuals do not pursue any. The “pleasure” orientation describes a path to happiness that is associated with adopting hedonistic life goals to satisfy only one’s extrinsic needs. Engagement and meaning orientations describe a pursuit of happiness that integrates two positive psychology constructs “flow/engagement” and “eudaimonia/meaning”. Both of the latter orientations are also associated with aspiring to meet intrinsic needs for affiliation and community and were amalgamated by Anić and Tončić into a single “eudaimonic” path to happiness that elicited high scores on all measures of well-being and life satisfaction.