Network Dynamics in Subjective Well-Being and Their Differences Across Age Groups

Although the structure of subjective well-being (SWB) has been examined in various studies, no consensus on its structure has yet been reached. This may be due to a neglect of the construct's dynamic aspects and domain satisfaction as a core aspect of SWB. This article aimed to overcome existing research gaps by applying network modeling to longitudinal data of 32,700 adults (24-64 years old) from the German Socioeconomic Panel to analyze within- and between-person dynamics in the structure of SWB across the lifespan. Results indicated that the relationships across SWB components differed across the investigated within- and between-person network structures. Family, work, and income satisfaction tended to be the most central domains across different levels of analysis. The relationship between life and domain satisfaction was neither solely top-down nor bottom-up but instead characterized by distinct, mostly reciprocal relationships. Furthermore, the dynamic relationships of SWB were similar across compared age groups. In sum, the results suggest that the structure of SWB differs between the within-person level and the between-person level but does not change fundamentally throughout middle adulthood. Additionally, this study demonstrates the importance of considering domain satisfaction as an essential component of SWB and that psychometric network models can advance our understanding of the structure and dynamics of SWB.