Associations between fragility of happiness beliefs and subjective well-being among Chinese: Inconsistent mediation by valuing happiness

Conceptions of happiness refer to people’s beliefs and ideas about the nature and experience of happiness. They have become an important area for happiness research, and studies have shown that they can affect people’s well-being and mental health. Recently, a new conception of happiness, called fragility of happiness, has been introduced to the happiness literature. Fragility of happiness is the belief that happiness is fleeting and short-lived, and it has been shown to be associated with poor well-being and adjustment. To date, research on fragility of happiness is still limited and no study has examined mediators that account for its negative association with well-being. The present study hence aimed to fill this research gap and examined valuing happiness as one such mediator. A total of 448 Chinese participants in Hong Kong completed an online survey for this study. Results indicated that valuing happiness had an inconsistent mediation effect. The direction of the association between fragility of happiness and well-being was different depending on whether the association was mediated by valuing happiness. In terms of direct effects, fragility of happiness was negatively associated with subjective happiness and life satisfaction. In terms of mediated effects, however, fragility of happiness was positively associated with subjective happiness and life satisfaction through valuing happiness. In sum, higher fragility of happiness itself was related to worse well-being, but when it increased the value of happiness to people, it was related to better well-being. The overall results suggest the relationship between fragility of happiness and well-being may vary as a result of different intervening processes and mechanisms involved. Suggestions for furthering the understanding of fragility of happiness are discussed.