Be yourself,believe in yourself,and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being

Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A. & Spörrle, M. (2011). Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 43–48. Research has shown close connections between personality and subjective well‐being (SWB), suggesting that personality traits predispose individuals to experience different levels of SWB. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that self‐efficacy is related to both personality factors and SWB. Extending previous research, we show that general self‐efficacy functionally connects personality factors and two components of SWB (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). Our results demonstrate the mediating role of self‐efficacy in linking personality factors and SWB. Consistent with our expectations, the influence of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness on life satisfaction was mediated by self‐efficacy. Furthermore, self‐efficacy mediated the influence of openness and conscientiousness, but not that of neuroticism and extraversion, on subjective happiness. Results highlight the importance of cognitive beliefs in functionally linking personality traits and SWB.     

Compensatory Conscientiousness and Health in Older Couples

ABSTRACT— The present study tested the effect of conscientiousness and neuroticism on health and physical limitations in a representative sample of older couples ( N = 2,203) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. As in past research, conscientiousness predicted better health and physical functioning, whereas neuroticism predicted worse health and physical functioning. Unique to this study was the finding that conscientiousness demonstrated a compensatory effect, such that husbands' conscientiousness predicted wives' health outcomes above and beyond wives' own personality. The same pattern held true for wives' conscientiousness as a predictor of husbands' health outcomes. Furthermore, conscientiousness and neuroticism acted synergistically, such that people who scored high for both traits were healthier than others. Finally, we found that the combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism was also compensatory, such that the wives of men with this combination of personality traits reported better health than other women.     

Sleep: A pathway linking personality to mortality risk

Personality and sleep predict longevity; however, no investigation has tested whether sleep mediates this association. Thus, we tested this effect across a 20-year follow-up (N = 3759) in the Midlife Development in the United States cohort (baseline M_age = 47.15) using proportional hazards in a structural equation modeling framework. Lower conscientiousness predicted increased death risk via the direct, indirect, and total effect of quadratic sleep duration. Although there were no other direct personality-mortality effects, higher neuroticism and agreeableness and lower conscientiousness predicted increased death risk via the joint indirect effects of quadratic sleep duration and higher daytime dysfunction. Lower extraversion predicted increased mortality risk via the indirect effect of daytime dysfunction. Our findings have implications for personality-based health interventions.     

Do core self‐evaluations and trait emotional intelligence predict subjective well‐being in dental students?

We examined unique associations between surface personality traits of emotional intelligence, core self‐evaluations, and subjective well‐being in dental students. A cross‐sectional study of 218 undergraduates showed that trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and core self‐evaluations (CSE) predicted subjective well‐being controlling the Big Five personality traits. Structural equation modeling showed that trait EI and the neuroticism component of CSE better predicted affective components of subjective well‐being, and cognitive CSE traits (self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and locus of control) better predicted life satisfaction, the cognitive component of subjective well‐being. These findings demonstrate the utility of a parallel‐process approach that specifies differential prediction of cognitive and affective subjective well‐being components.     

Personality and Substance Use in Midlife: Conscientiousness as a Moderator and the Effects of Trait Change

Personality traits predict substance use in adolescence, but less is known about prospective substance use in middle age and beyond. Moreover, there is growing interest in how personality change and the multiplicative effects among personality traits relate to substance use. Participants included approximately 4000 adults aged 25-74 who participated in two waves of the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study. Higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted longitudinal substance use. Increases in neuroticism and openness predicted increased substance use while increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted decreased substance use. Higher levels of conscientiousness moderated two of the other trait main effects. Personality, trait change, and interactions among traits reliably forecasted 10-year substance-use behaviors.     

Why is personality tied to sleep quality? A biometric analysis of twins

Despite consistent links between personality traits and poor sleep, little is known about genetic and environmental influences that may produce them. This study examined how much genetic background and environmental experiences contributed to phenotypic linkages between personality and subjective sleep quality. Seven hundred and thirty-four twin pairs from the Minnesota Study of Twin Aging and Development rated their sleep quality and provided personality reports. Bi-variate analyses revealed that genetic factors accounted for the majority of observed associations between subjective sleep quality and traits, but also that non-shared environmental experience played a role that varied across traits. The findings strongly implicate genotype in tying subjective sleep quality to personality variation, alongside non-shared environmental influences, and suggest indicate influences unique to individual traits.     

Transactional development of parent personality and child temperament

Stability and change in parental extraversion and neuroticism were studied in transaction with their views of their child's temperament from the age of six months to the age of five‐and‐a‐half years in 109 mother–father–child triads (parent–daughter: n = 61, parent–son: n = 48). While parental traits showed high stability, infants' higher positive affectivity predicted an increase in parental extraversion over 5 years, and infant's higher activity predicted a decrease in parental neuroticism. Parent‐rated temperament showed expected heterotypic continuity. Initially higher parental extraversion predicted an increase in the child's effortful control, and higher parental neuroticism predicted an increase in the child's negative affectivity. The results indicate that parental personality and child temperament develop in transaction promoting change in each other. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality and Health, Subjective Well-Being, and Longevity

ABSTRACT Personality traits can be employed to guide understanding of trajectories to health and longevity, but long-term longitudinal study and multifaceted assessment of healthy aging are crucial. Following up on the life span study initiated by Lewis Terman, we assessed 4 validated factors of personality in young adulthood in 1940, constructed a multifactor measure of participants' healthy aging in 1986, and collected death certificates through 2007 (to determine longevity) on a sample of 1,312 Terman participants (732 men). Neuroticism predicted worse physical health and subjective well-being in old age and, for women, higher mortality risk, but for men, neuroticism predicted decreased mortality risk. For both sexes, extraversion predicted old-age social competence, whereas conscientiousness predicted men's old-age productivity. Differential patterns of association between personality traits and healthy aging components are informative about individual personality characteristics and long-term health outcomes.     

Longitudinal associations of cognitive ability,personality traits and school grades with antisocial behaviour

This study investigated the role of adolescents' cognitive ability, personality traits and school success in predicting later criminal behaviour. Cognitive ability, the five‐factor model personality traits and the school grades of a large sample of Estonian schoolboys (N = 1919) were measured between 2001 and 2005. In 2009, judicial databases were searched to identify participants who had been convicted of misdemeanours or criminal offences. Consistent with previous findings, having a judicial record was associated with lower cognitive ability, grade point average, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and higher neuroticism. In multivariate path models, however, the contributions of cognitive ability and conscientiousness were accounted for by school grades and the effect of neuroticism was also accounted for by other variables, leaving grade point average and agreeableness the only independent predictors of judicial record status. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大学生人格特质与主观幸福感的关系:儒家心理资产的中介作用

以308名大学生为被试,以《大五人格问卷》、《儒家心理资产问卷》、《生活满意度量表》和《积极消极情感量表》为工具,考察人格特质、儒家心理资产与主观幸福感的关系。结果表明:(1)五种人格特质与儒家心理资产的八个维度存在不同程度的相关;(2)儒家心理资产八个维度与主观幸福感的不同指标相关不同;(3)爱人、务民、崇德、学等儒家心理资产维度在人格特质与主观幸福感总分之间起部分中介作用。本研究是对《论语》管理智慧实证化的创新性尝试。     

Personality and student self-handicapping: A cross-validated regression approach

Researchers have suggested that self-handicapping is a function of personality. According to the Five Factor Model, personality can be understood in terms of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Ross et al. (2002) found lower conscientiousness predicted higher self-handicapping. However, their study was limited by the use of concurrent data. As a result, the purpose of this study was to (1) replicate the findings of Ross et al. (2002) in predicting self-handicapping from conscientiousness and neuroticism, and (2) extend on those findings by cross-validating the prediction equation in a longitudinal sample. The results essentially replicated the findings of Ross et al. (2002), and demonstrated the relationship between personality and self-handicapping tendencies was stable over a one-semester timeframe.     

Personality vulnerability to stress-related sleep disruption: Pathways to adverse mental and physical health outcomes

This study examined the associations among neuroticism (N), conscientiousness (C), and sleep quality in the context of a life transition. The interactive effects of N and C on the association between sleep quality and mental and physical well-being were also examined. Seventy-seven college freshmen (mean age = 19.5) completed personality measures at the beginning of the academic year, and measures of sleep quality, daily hassles, functional status, depression, and self-assessed health approximately 2 months later. N was negatively and C was positively related to sleep quality, and daily hassles mediated these associations. Poor sleep predicted greater depressive symptoms and poorer functional status for high-N/low-C participants, but not for other N and C profiles. Results suggest that conscientiousness moderates the extent to which high-N individuals are vulnerable to the adverse effects of poor sleep.     

Five‐Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: The Importance of Agreeableness in a Tight and Collectivistic Asian Society

Results from predominantly US‐based research have shown that personality can partly explain job satisfaction. As the issue of globalisation grows in importance for organisations, I researched in this study whether meta‐analytic findings on the relationships between job satisfaction and the Big Five personality traits extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism would hold in a tight and collectivistic Asian society. Additionally, I expected that in a tight and collectivistic society the personality trait agreeableness would have a strong positive relationship with job satisfaction. Study participants were 354 employees from organisations in Singapore. Results confirmed that extraversion, conscientiousness, non‐neuroticism (emotional stability), and also agreeableness were related to job satisfaction. The study advises scholars and practitioners that even in a tight and collectivistic Asian society—despite situations that demand abiding by norms and fulfilling obligations—job satisfaction is related to stable personality traits.     

Person–city personality fit and entrepreneurial success: An explorative study in China

While the study of personality differences is a traditional psychological approach in entrepreneurship research, economic research directs attention towards the entrepreneurial ecosystems in which entrepreneurial activity are embedded. We combine both approaches and quantify the interplay between the individual personality make‐up of entrepreneurs and the local personality composition of ecosystems, with a special focus on person–city personality fit. Specifically, we analyse personality data from N = 26,405 Chinese residents across 42 major Chinese cities, including N = 1091 Chinese entrepreneurs. Multi‐level polynomial regression and response surface plots revealed that: (a) individual‐level conscientiousness had a positive effect and individual‐level agreeableness and neuroticism had a negative effect on entrepreneurial success, (b) city‐level conscientiousness had a positive, and city‐level neuroticism had a negative effect on entrepreneurial success, and (c) additional person–city personality fit effects existed for agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. For example, entrepreneurs who are high in agreeableness and conduct their business in a city with a low agreeableness level show the lowest entrepreneurial success. In contrast, entrepreneurs who are low in agreeableness and conduct their business in a city with a high agreeableness level show relatively high entrepreneurial success. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Self‐reported Big Five personality traits of individuals who have experienced partner infidelity

Infidelity is defined as unapproved romantic or sexual behaviors outside of one's relationship. Previous literature has identified characteristics of the partner involved in infidelity; this study investigates the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) of uninvolved partners. Relationship quality and physical intimacy are also examined within a married subsample. Data was drawn from the second wave of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), collected through telephone interviews and self‐administered questionnaires between 2004 and 2006. Results for the overall sample (N = 1,577) indicate that conscientiousness is negatively associated with lifetime partner infidelity. Within the married subsample (n = 898), conscientiousness is negatively associated with spousal infidelity, and agreeableness is positively associated with spousal infidelity.     

责任感、神经质与心理契约违背关系研究:以人力资源实践为调节

对浙江地区551名企业管理者问卷调查,探讨组织中管理者大五人格的责任感、神经质维度与心理契约违背感知的关系,以及组织人力资源实践水平对此两者关系的调节作用.研究发现:(1)责任感水平与管理者对心理契约违背的感知呈负相关;神经质水平与管理者对心理契约违背的感知呈正相关.(2)组织人力资源实践水平在管理者人格特质与心理契约违背感知关系起显著调节作用.     

Quality of Life,Personality and Use of Pain Medication in Patients with Chronic Back Pain

The aim of the study was to assess whether the functional disability and the quality of life in patients with chronic back pain was associated with some personality traits and whether the use of pain medication in patients with chronic back pain can be predisposed with some personality traits. The study sample comprised 262 older patients with chronic back pain of non-inflammatory origin. The level of disability related to chronic back pain was assessed by Roland-Morris Questionnaire, health-related quality of life was assessed by Short Form 36 and personality traits by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Among analyzed personality traits (psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism, lie tendencies), only neuroticism significantly predicted self-reported disability caused by back pain. Patients on pain medication had significantly worse quality of life and disability caused by back pain, but they did not differ significantly in personality traits compared to patients without pain medication. There were no differences in disability due to back pain and in level of neuroticism between patients who had jobs with higher or lower physical demand. People with higher scores on neuroticism inclined more to report a lower functional disability and the quality of life caused by chronic back pain. Patients on pain medication reported more inferior physical than psychological concept of quality of life. Use of pain medication was not associated with personality traits assessed by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. In our elderly patients with chronic back pain, lower quality of life was associated with elevated neuroticism score and more frequent use of pain medication.     

Complex mediating effects of rumination facets between personality traits and depressive symptoms

This study investigates whether facets of rumination statistically mediate the relationships between Big Five personality traits and depressive symptoms. Self-reported personality traits and rumination were investigated as predictors of depressive symptoms in a cross-sectional sample of 3043 participants aged 18–60 years (68.8% female). Multiple regression analysis investigated which personality traits and rumination facets best explained variance in depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling was used to determine whether facets of rumination mediated the relationships between personality traits and depressive symptoms. Multiple regression analysis found that variance in depressive symptoms was best explained by the personality traits neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness; and both facets of rumination, brooding and reflection. Structural equation modelling added that the effects of neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness and openness on depressive symptoms were statistically mediated by brooding; the effects of neuroticism, extroversion and openness to depressive symptoms were statistically mediated by reflection. Rumination facets statistically mediated the effects of various personality traits on depressive symptoms. These results provide insights into which individuals may be best suited to treatments for depression targeting rumination.     

A Big‐Five Personality Profile of the Adaptor and Innovator

This study explored the relationship between two creative styles (adaptor and innovator) and the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience). 164 teachers from 3 secondary and 2 primary schools in Singapore completed a self‐report questionnaire, which consisted of the Kirton Adaption‐Innovation Inventory and the NEO‐Five Factor Inventory. It was found that adaptors were significantly more conscientious than innovators, while innovators were significantly more extraverted and open to experience than adaptors. No significant differences were found between adaptors and innovators in neuroticism and agreeableness. The study also revealed a meaningful pattern of relationships between the Big Five personality traits and the three facet scales of the KAI. Specifically, Sufficiency of Originality was negatively correlated with Openness to Experience and Extraversion; Rule Governance was positively correlated with conscientiousness but negatively correlated with openness to experience; Efficiency was positively correlated with conscientiousness. The overall findings supported the fundamental contention that different creative styles were due to different combinations of personality traits, with adaptors being more conscientious, while innovators being more extraverted and open to experience. These personality‐based differences in creative styles between adaptors and innovators had resulted in much social conflict between them. One way of resolving it is to make known the nature and value of different creative styles to these two different types of creators.     

Five-factor personality traits and subjective health among caregivers: the role of caregiver strain and self-efficacy

This study examined the association among caregivers' five-factor personality traits and subjective health with particular emphasis on the role of two theoretically implicated mediators: multi-domain self-efficacy and caregiver strain. The sample comprised 536 informal caregivers (mean age = 62.9 years, SD = 19.9, 72% female, 98% White) of community-dwelling older adults with multiple functional impairments. Both physical health and mental health were negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with extraversion and conscientiousness. Agreeableness and openness were associated with better subjective mental health and physical health, respectively. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that self-efficacy mediated all observed associations between personality and subjective health, whereas caregiver strain selectively mediated the associations of neuroticism and agreeableness with mental health.