Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Marianne Woodside

Committee Members

Ronald E. Hopson, Schuyler W. Huck, W. Lee Humphreys, R. Steve McCallum

Abstract

This study, "More Than Feeling Good: Investigating College Students' Experience of Well-Being." is a first-person, phenomenological investigation of the experience of well-being. Twelve traditional-college-age students attending a large, comprehensive public university in the south were interviewed. The students were asked to respond to the request: "Think about some times in your life when you experienced well-being. Tell me about them." The taped interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using an established phenomenological method that included the involvement of a research group. The thematic analysis produced a description of well-being based on the co-participants' reported experiences. Well-being was identified as a positive state, yet the co-participants were unable to talk about the positive without describing negative experiences as well. The basis to understanding well-being is recognizing that it is an experience that involves an awareness of comparisons. Well-being emerges from a context of change/comparison and is dependent on what is important to me (the individual). The description of well-being also involves three themes and three occasions or whens. Well-being is characterized by a sense of being in control of, completeness in, and feeling good about one's sense of self, one's relationships with others, or one's doings. The themes of well-being are known in comparison through changes that are identified as transformations, havens, or contrasts. The whens involving well-being emerge in comparison between what is important and what is not, between a change in the number of things that are important, or between a change in the intensity of the importance of a particular doing, relationship, or sense of self. The thematic structure presented in this study provides a framework for interpretating and integrating many of the currently used conceptualizations of well-being. The themes of well-being have been compared to frequently used measures and models of well-being and wellness. The common aspects of life identified by these co-participants have been targeted as issues for consideration for those involved in higher education. Several suggestions are made for researchers and practitioners concerning the importance of change/comparison and personal meaning in the experience of well-being.

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