ABSTRACT
Formative modeling can be useful when one is concerned with a construct that is dynamic and influenced by changes in observed variables. Well-being may be viewed not as a simple reflective construct, but rather is the product of the interplay of the different constructs. Just like well-being, interest in spirituality has shown tremendous growth in the past several years, and the literature has been plagued by very similar problems in terms of multiple definitions, lack of agreement, and disorganization of empirical findings. In order to accomplish the essential aim of this project, data from several measures were used to ensure a broad representation of well-being, spirituality, and existential constructs. Considering that the goal of the project is to examine the structure of well-being and to determine the extent to which it differs from spirituality and existential functioning, the main portion of analyses involved a three-tiered approach to what may essentially be described as a sequential exploratory latent trait analysis.
