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To study the relationship between well-being and all-cause mortality, we estimated mortality among women in four classes of well-being using the well-being profile from the Women’s Health Initiative Study (WHI). Demographic characteristics were self-reported at enrollment (1993-98). All-cause mortality included death from any cause between 2012-2020. We used logistic regression to examine all-cause mortality risk across the classes, using Class 4 (highest hedonic and eudaemonic well-being scores) as the referent, adjusting for age and race. Compared to Class 4, all other classes had higher age- and race-adjusted odds of death. Highest risks were in Class 1 women (OR=2.61; 95% CI: 2.46-2.76) and Class 3 women (OR=1.62; 95% CI: 1.55-1.68). Women in Class 4 had the lowest risk of all-cause mortality over an 18-year follow-up. These results confirm the utility of a profile of well-being for predicting all-cause mortality while preserving ability to identify the differences among well-being indicators across classes.

Our aim was to develop a profile of well-being preserving the ability to estimate differential effects of both hedonic and eudaemonic dimensions of well-being on health outcomes. Numerous indicators of well-being from over 80,000 aging women included hedonic (enjoyment of life, happiness, satisfaction with life, quality of life) and eudaemonic (personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, control, self mastery) dimensions. Using latent class analysis, we identified groups of women with distinct profiles of well-being. A four-class solution had both good statistical fit and made conceptual sense. Class 1 (n=9,146, 11%) had the lowest scores on hedonic and eudaemonic indicators, while Class 4 (n=38,246 47%) had the highest levels of all well-being indicators. Class 2 (n=7,106, 9%) had higher hedonic and lower eudaemonic scores and Class 3 (n=26,650, 33%) had lower hedonic and higher eudaemonic scores. These classes form a well-being profile useful for estimating differential effects on health outcomes.