Socioeconomic Status, Need Fulfillment, and Subjective Well-Being

Based on a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework, this study investigates the relationships between multiple components of socioeconomic status (income, occupation, and education), basic need fulfillment (autonomy, competence, relatedness, security, and respect), and subjective well-being (life satisfaction and emotional well-being). Using high-quality Swedish survey data, we applied Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. To address potential mood bias, we measured socioeconomic status, need fulfillment, and subjective well-being at different time points, reflecting the theorized sequential order of these constructs. Empirically, household income stood out as the strongest socioeconomic predictor of both need fulfillment and subjective well-being. However, higher occupational status was also positively associated with multiple types of need fulfillment and with greater subjective well-being. Educational level, by comparison, was linked only to greater fulfillment of competence in multivariate analyses. All five needs were positively associated with subjective well-being in bivariate analyses; however, only the fulfillment of autonomy and security remained significant predictors and mediators of the relationship between socioeconomic status and subjective well-being in structural equation models. The findings underscore the substantial influence of income, the additional benefits of occupational status, and the importance of autonomy and security needs in understanding subjective well-being and its socioeconomic gradient.