Positive health in a group of Swedish white-collar workers

Ryff's Psychological Well-being scales cover six dimensions of psychological well-being (Self-acceptance, Environmental mastery, Positive relations with others, Personal growth, Purpose in life, and Autonomy) and have been suggested as an adequate measure of positive psychological functioning. Apart from translating the scales to Swedish and examining the psychometric properties of the measure, the present study aimed to explore the relationships between the Ryff scales and the General Health Questionnaire, negative affectivity, and physical symptoms using self-ratings from 91 full-time employed women and men. Given low internal consistency for the different dimensions of the Ryff scales, correlational analyses were based on a composite index. Analysis indicated negative relations between the Ryff index and other measures and are in line with prior findings showing that the index taps positive psychological functioning while other indices focus on negative functioning.