Family values and social well-being : do motives for activities mediate?

Abstract

This study explored the extent to which the relationship between family values and social well-being is explained by well-being orientations. We investigated whether hedonic and eudaimonic motives for activities mediate the effect of family values of roles hierarchy and kin relations on social well-being. Using a cross-sectional survey design, randomly sampled participants from Ghana (N = 390) completed the Family Values Scale, Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities scale, and the Social Well-Being subscale of the Mental Health Continuum. Using structural equation modelling, we tested for direct and indirect effects. The full mediation was well fititng (CFI = .910; RMSEA = .059 [90% CI: .052, .066]). Direct effects between roles hierarchy (family values) and social-well-being as well as between hedonic motives (well-being orientations) and social well-being were significant. The relationship between roles hierarchy and social well-being was mediated by hedonic motives. However, kin relations and eudaimonic motives had a non-sigificant relationship with social well-being. The empirical finding, of how family values as a cultural index intersects with well-being dispositional orientation in the promotion of social well-being, is helpful in the counselling psychology settings. This contribution is particularly relevant in an African sociocultural setting which is known to be characterised by interdependence.