Authenticity and Well-Being among European and Eurasian Young Adults

Authenticity in peoples' lives, that is living according to one's true nature (also called eudaimonia; Ryan & Deci, 2001), has been a topic of great interest among humanistic and existential scholars for some time (May, 1981; Rogers, 1959, 1961; Yalom, 1980). The common assertions of these leading figures and their followers have been that the lack of authenticity leads to negative consequences (e.g., psychopathology), whereas the presence of authenticity contributes to individual well-being. For many years, practitioners that worked within the humanistic-existential paradigm took the assumptions regarding the relationship between authenticity and well-being for granted, and it was only recently that hypotheses regarding self - organism congruence have been empirically tested with scientific rigor (see Sheldon & Kasser, 2001). Rogers' person-centered theory proposes that congruence (i.e., self-concept in line with values informed by uniquely personal experience) leads to individual well-being, whereas incongruence (i.e., a form of alienation of the self in which the self is does not follow from and, therefore, is discrepant from personal experience) results in various forms psychopathology (Boeree, 2006; Rogers, 1959). Self-determination theory (SDT) makes similar claims, asserting that congruence between self-concept and organismic experience yields the same positive consequences as described above because the favorable conditions of individual growth are met (Patterson & Joseph, 2007). As already noted, these assumptions have been empirically supported. For example, Deci and Ryan (1985) studied causality orientations and found that autonomy orientation was positively correlated with self-esteem, ego development, and self-actualization. Many similar studies have been conducted, and their results can be interpreted as supporting the initial claims made by Rogers and other humanistic-existential psychologists (e.g., Hodgins, Koestner, & Duncan, 1996; Kasser & Ryan, 1993; Koestner, Bernieri, & Holt, 1992). More recently, Stevens, Constantinescu, and Butucescu (2011), like earlier studies (e.g., Schmuck, Kasser, & Ryan, 2000), found that some of the assumptions of SDT are applicable cross-nationally. This line of research has generally found that aspirations or goals that are more congruent with the self are related to happiness (hedonic well-being) and eudaimonic well-being. These findings also have ties to other multidisciplinary viewpoints in which coherence and meaning are key determinants of health and well-being (e.g., Antonovsky, 1987). A healthy identity and individual well-being can be favored or hindered by the physical, social, and psychological environments in which we chose to live. Living with and being in accord with one's true nature (e.g., values, goals) has been the focus of humanistic-existential theory, and according to recent research leads to well-being, especially eudaimonic well-being (e.g., Ryff& Keyes, 1995). This perspective holds that 'right living', as defined by personal experience, leads to happiness via meaningful personal fulfillment. This variant of happiness diverges somewhat from more tangible forms of happiness (i.e., hedonic or subjective well-being) (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Although research on goals and aspirations has shown that authenticity is related to individual well-being, for many years a psychometrically sound instrument to assess authenticity was unavailable. Wood, Maltby, Caliousis, Linley, and Joseph (2008) developed the Authenticity Scale based on Carl Rogers' person-centered theory (Rogers, 1961). Unlike goals and aspirations which can be modified by various social influences upon the individual, Wood et al. (2008) stressed that authenticity within an orthodox humanistic-existential paradigm is more personologic, that is it reflects a natural tendency in individuals to express their organismically based selves. Subscales of the Authenticity Scale, which represent distinct dimensions of authenticity (i. …