Living the ‘Good Life’ in Solitude: Exploring the Roles of Motivations and Character Strengths in the Relations between Time Alone and Well-Being

A building body of research indicates that depending on one’s motivations toward solitude (i.e., chosen vs. unchosen), spending time alone can be both costly and beneficial for well-being. However, not everyone experiences solitude in the same way. For example, espousing hedonic (i.e., pleasure oriented) and eudaimonic (i.e., self-growth oriented) motivations toward spending time alone may impact upon experiences of solitude and relations with aspects of well-being. For example, people may seek out pleasure in solitude as a way to regulate one’s emotions and relax, which may elicit more low arousal positive emotions (e.g., calm; Nguyen et al., 2024; Thomas, 2023), whereas others may seek out time alone to engage in self-reflection and mastery, which may in turn, relate to greater feelings of meaning and elevation (Chen & Zang, 2021). In addition, although unchosen solitude is more likely to be related to loneliness and other symptoms of internalizing difficulties, some individuals appear to be able to cope and even flourish in their time alone. To further understand the conditions that promote versus hinder well-being during chosen and unchosen episodes of solitude, the proposed research has two overarching goals. This first aim is to explore how hedonic and eudaimonic motivations to choose solitude relate to experiences of being alone and indices of well-being. The second goal is to explore if self-transcendent character strengths can attenuate (i.e., buffer) the negative impacts of unchosen solitude. To accomplish these goals, two studies are proposed. Study 1: This first study of this dissertation will explore experiences of chosen and unchosen solitude among a sample of emerging adults. To accomplish this goal, participants will be asked to describe when they: (1) chose to spend time in solitude for hedonic reasons; (2) chose to spend time in solitude for eudaimonic reasons; or (3) were forced into unchosen solitude. Text-based responses to open-ended questions in each of these scenarios will be coded using content analysis and will focus on: (1) affective states while alone; and (2) selected solitary activities. Study 2: The goal of the second study in this dissertation is to explore the complex inter-relations among motivations for solitude, character strengths, and indices of well-being. As discussed, previous research suggests that solitary activities that are purposely sought out (i.e., chosen) are more likely to promote well-being than unchosen time alone (Tse et al., 2021). However, it is unclear how motivations (i.e., hedonic vs. eudaimonic) for chosen solitary activities might differentially impact their associations with indices of well-being. Furthermore, previous research suggests that self-transcendent character strengths may weaken the negative impacts of (particularly unchosen) solitude by reducing feelings of loneliness (Henriks et al., 2025; Muhammad et al., 2023) increasing coping self-efficacy (Klibert et al., 2019) and promoting well-being during stressful times (Margalit, 2023; Tucker et al., 2013). Accordingly, this study will also explore the moderating role of self-transcendent character strengths in the relation between chosen vs. unchosen time alone and indices of well-being.