IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v26y2025i5d10.1007_s10902-025-00907-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Inner Peace is the Good Life’’: Conceptualizations of Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults Aged 60 and Over in Rural Northern Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Mark A. Aviisah

    (University of Groningen
    University of Health and Allied Sciences)

  • Hinke H. Haisma

    (University of Groningen)

  • Francis B. Zotor

    (University of Health and Allied Sciences)

  • Tobias C. Vogt

    (University of Groningen
    Manipal Academy of Higher Education)

Abstract

Improving well-being has increasingly become an important policy outcome for governments globally, prompting a focus on its conception and measurement. Existing studies on conceptions of well-being in Ghana have mainly focused on adolescents and adults. Given that Ghana’s population is ageing, exploring conceptions of well-being among older adults is important for improving their well-being. This study explores how older adults aged 60 and above conceptualize well-being and how the socio-cultural context shapes these conceptions in rural northern Ghana, West Africa. We undertook 17 in-depth interviews in a low resource setting in Ghana focusing on community-dwelling older adults from three socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Interviews were analysed thematically. Overall, older adults conceptualized well-being as multidimensional, largely shaped by their socio-cultural context consisting of: (1) material security, (2) physical and cultural work capacity, (3) health, affect and psychological well-being, (4) religiosity/spirituality, and (5) contributing to others. In this context, a low-arousal positive affect, inner peace, was central to a ‘good life’ in older adulthood. Given the multidimensional conceptualization of well-being and how inner peace was central to the good life, a multi-faceted approach that addresses the different dimensions to ensure emotional stability, resilience and security is required for improving well-being among older adults in Ghana.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark A. Aviisah & Hinke H. Haisma & Francis B. Zotor & Tobias C. Vogt, 2025. "“Inner Peace is the Good Life’’: Conceptualizations of Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults Aged 60 and Over in Rural Northern Ghana," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-025-00907-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-025-00907-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-025-00907-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-025-00907-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jelena Pokimica & Isaac Addai & Baffour Takyi, 2012. "Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 61-79, March.
    2. Joseph Henrich & Steve J. Heine & Ara Norenzayan, 2010. "The Weirdest People in the World?," RatSWD Working Papers 139, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    3. Aaron Adibe Agbo & Blessing Ome, 2017. "Happiness: Meaning and Determinants Among Young Adults of the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 151-175, February.
    4. White, Sarah C. & Jha, Shreya, 2018. "Towards an interdisciplinary approach to wellbeing: Life histories and Self-Determination Theory in rural Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 153-160.
    5. Karen M van Leeuwen & Miriam S van Loon & Fenna A van Nes & Judith E Bosmans & Henrica C W de Vet & Johannes C F Ket & Guy A M Widdershoven & Raymond W J G Ostelo, 2019. "What does quality of life mean to older adults? A thematic synthesis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-39, March.
    6. Bjorn F.H. Van Campenhout, 2007. "Locally Adapted Poverty Indicators Derived from Participatory Wealth Rankings: A Case of Four Villages in Rural Tanzania," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(3), pages 406-438, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darlingtina K. Esiaka & Glenn Adams, 2020. "Epistemic Violence in Research on Eldercare," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 32(2), pages 176-200, September.
    2. Hind Dib‐slamani & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2021. "Is theft considered less severe when the victim is a foreign company?," Post-Print hal-03340844, HAL.
    3. Shi, Yun & Cui, Xiangyu & Zhou, Xunyu, 2020. "Beta and Coskewness Pricing: Perspective from Probability Weighting," SocArXiv 5rqhv, Center for Open Science.
    4. Stephen L. Cheung & Agnieszka Tymula & Xueting Wang, 2022. "Present bias for monetary and dietary rewards," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(4), pages 1202-1233, September.
    5. Plante, Charles & Lassoued, Rim & Phillips, Peter W.B., 2017. "The Social Determinants of Cognitive Bias: The Effects of Low Capability on Decision Making in a Framing Experiment," SocArXiv u62cx, Center for Open Science.
    6. John A. List, 2024. "Optimally generate policy-based evidence before scaling," Nature, Nature, vol. 626(7999), pages 491-499, February.
    7. Nicolas Jacquemet & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2014. "What drives failure to maximize payoffs in the lab? A test of the inequality aversion hypothesis," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 18(4), pages 243-264, December.
    8. Dai, Zhixin & Zheng, Jiwei & Zizzo, Daniel John, 2024. "Theories of reasoning and focal point play with a matched non-student sample," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Jenny C Su & Chi-Yue Chiu & Wei-Fang Lin & Shigehiro Oishi, 2016. "Social Monitoring Matters for Deterring Social Deviance in Stable but Not Mobile Socio-Ecological Contexts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Goran Calic & Moren Lévesque & Anton Shevchenko, 2024. "On why women-owned businesses take more time to secure microloans," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 917-938, October.
    11. Sirola, Nina, 2023. "Going beyond the call of duty under conditions of economic threat: Integrating life history and temporal dilemma perspectives," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    12. Holli-Anne Passmore & Ying Yang & Sarena Sabine, 2022. "An Extended Replication Study of the Well-Being Intervention, the Noticing Nature Intervention (NNI)," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2663-2683, August.
    13. Pamela Jakiela & Edward Miguel & Vera Velde, 2015. "You’ve earned it: estimating the impact of human capital on social preferences," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(3), pages 385-407, September.
    14. Epton, Tracy & Ghio, Daniela & Ballard, Lisa M. & Allen, Sarah F. & Kassianos, Angelos P. & Hewitt, Rachael & Swainston, Katherine & Fynn, Wendy Irene & Rowland, Vickie & Westbrook, Juliette & Jenkins, 2022. "Interventions to promote physical distancing behaviour during infectious disease pandemics or epidemics: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    15. Adam B. Cohen & Kathryn A. Johnson, 2017. "The Relation between Religion and Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(3), pages 533-547, September.
    16. Leon D. Lotter & Amin Saberi & Justine Y. Hansen & Bratislav Misic & Casey Paquola & Gareth J. Barker & Arun L. W. Bokde & Sylvane Desrivières & Herta Flor & Antoine Grigis & Hugh Garavan & Penny Gowl, 2024. "Regional patterns of human cortex development correlate with underlying neurobiology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    17. El Harbi, Sana & Bekir, Insaf & Grolleau, Gilles & Sutan, Angela, 2015. "Efficiency, equality, positionality: What do people maximize? Experimental vs. hypothetical evidence from Tunisia," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 77-84.
    18. Jorge Sinval & M. Joseph Sirgy & Dong-Jin Lee & João Marôco, 2020. "The Quality of Work Life Scale: Validity Evidence from Brazil and Portugal," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(5), pages 1323-1351, November.
    19. Cornand, Camille & Hubert, Paul, 2020. "On the external validity of experimental inflation forecasts: A comparison with five categories of field expectations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    20. Steger, Diana & Schroeders, Ulrich & Wilhelm, Oliver, 2019. "On the dimensionality of crystallized intelligence: A smartphone-based assessment," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 76-85.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-025-00907-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.