Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: The contribution of social support beyond fluid intelligence and personality traits in Italian high school students considering gender differences

Social support is a key factor in the well-being of individuals. The present study investigated the relationship between social support and both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being controlling for the effects of fluid intelligence and personality traits in 216 Italian high school students. The Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Meaningful Life Measure (MLM), the Authenticity Scale (AS) were administered to the participants in the study. Hierarchical regressions were carried out for the total sample and also separately for the girls and the boys. The results showed that social support added a significant percentage of incremental variance beyond fluid intelligence and personality traits to life satisfaction, positive affect, life meaning, and authenticity, particularly for the female students. These results underline the value of social support in both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, thus offering new perspectives for research and intervention.