Factor structure of mental well-being: Contributions of exploratory structural equation modeling

• Factor structure of the tripartite model of well-being was examined.
• The tripartite model was supported.
• ESEM produced better fit and lower factor correlations than CFA.
• Results indicate that the three well-being dimensions are empirically distinguishable.

The tripartite model of well-being views mental well-being as encompassing three distinct but related components of hedonic, psychological, and social well-being. The latter two components are posited to constitute eudaimonic well-being. The present study uses confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) to investigate the tripartite model in a sample of 1250 immigrants in Spain (mean age = 33.22, SD = 9.44). The results indicate that the model is consistent with the data. We also find that ESEM yields better fit and considerably smaller factor correlations than CFA, supporting the notion that the hedonic and eudaimonic components are empirically distinguishable. These results suggest that the correlations between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being have been substantially overestimated in prior CFA studies, and that ESEM is a more appropriate method for examining the factor structure of well-being scales.