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.     

Positive Affect and Self-Efficacy as Mediators Between Personality and Life Satisfaction in Chinese College Freshmen

Personality traits and self-efficacy have been shown to predict subjective well-being, but the two predictors have rarely been investigated together and it remains unknown whether personality traits and self-efficacy are associated with life satisfaction through affect. In the present study, a total of 318 college freshmen in China were administered a battery of questionnaires that assessed Big Five personality traits, generalized self-efficacy, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction. Results from path analyses (AMOS) indicated that generalized self-efficacy mediated the relationship of extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism to positive affect. Furthermore, the association between self-efficacy and life satisfaction was fully mediated by positive affect. However, the regression coefficient for self-efficacy on positive affect was low and self-efficacy was not predictive of negative affect. Contrary to expectations, self-efficacy was of limited value in the prediction of subjective well-being. The current study may help explain how personality operates with self-efficacy and affect to predict life satisfaction in Chinese college freshmen.     

Big Five personality traits: Are they really important for the subjective well‐being of Indians?

This study empirically examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and subjective well‐being (SWB) in India. SWB variables used were life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. A total of 183 participants in the age range 30–40 years from Pune, India, completed the personality and SWB measures. Backward stepwise regression analysis showed that the Big Five traits accounted for 17% of the variance in life satisfaction, 35% variance in positive affect and 28% variance in negative affect. Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. In line with the earlier research findings, neuroticism and extraversion were found to predict negative affect and positive affect, respectively. Neither openness to experience nor agreeableness contributed to SWB. The research emphasises the need to revisit the association between personality and SWB across different cultures, especially non‐western cultures.     

Do Orientations to Happiness Mediate the Associations Between Personality Traits and Subjective Well-Being?

Personality traits have frequently been observed to be associated with subjective well-being. It has been suggested that personality traits may lead individuals to experience life in certain ways which, in turn, influences their subjective well-being. However, the exact mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. The present study hypothesized that the ways in which individuals endorse strategies for achieving happiness (i.e., orientations to happiness: through a life of pleasure, through a life of engagement, or through a life of meaning) mediates the associations that personality traits have with subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect). Our results indicated that an orientation to meaning in life partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and life satisfaction. In addition, all three orientations to happiness (i.e., pleasure, engagement, and meaning) partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and positive affect. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding the connection between personality traits and subjective well-being.     

The Instrumental Role of Personality Traits: Using Mixture Structural Equation Modeling to Investigate Individual Differences in the Relationships Between the Big Five Traits and Life Satisfaction

Adopting a social-cognitive view of personality, this study investigated individual differences in the direct (i.e., temperamental) and indirect (i.e., instrumental) effects of the Big Five traits on life satisfaction. For that purpose, we examined a process model in which domain-based emotional experiences mediated the instrumental effects of personality traits. Using mixture structural equation modeling (n = 2682 adults) we found that the direct effects of neuroticism and extraversion were invariant across individuals, whereas the instrumental effects of the Big Five traits varied across two unobserved subgroups. In one of these subgroups (60 %), conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism had relatively larger effects on domain-based affect and life satisfaction. In a second subgroup (40 %), extraversion was comparatively more relevant for explaining domain-based affect and life satisfaction. Our findings provide evidence that the instrumental role of personality traits and judgmental processes may act in accord to promote subjective well-being.     

Big Five Personality Traits and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Life Satisfaction in Iranian Muslim University Students

This study presents the first examination of the relation between the Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in Iran, which is an understudied country in the well-being literature. Participants were 235 university students at the University of Tehran, all reporting their religious affiliation as Muslim. Findings revealed that the Big Five personality traits explained about 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores. Among the Big Five traits, extraversion and neuroticism were found to be the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. In addition, it was found that self-esteem significantly predicted life satisfaction over and above the Big Five personality traits. Findings also showed that self-esteem completely mediated the influence of conscientiousness and agreeableness on life satisfaction, while the influence of extraversion and neuroticism on life satisfaction was partially mediated by self-esteem. Furthermore, findings revealed that female students scored significantly higher than male students on life satisfaction. Sex also could moderate the relation between conscientiousness and life satisfaction. This relation was found to be significantly stronger for female students. Implications of the results are discussed with reference to prior studies on the relation between personality traits and different aspects of well-being in Iran.     

Marital discord and well-being in older adults: is the association confounded by personality?

The associations between marital discord and multiple measures of well-being (depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem) were evaluated in a population-based sample of 416 couples in which the husband was 65 years or older. Results indicated that greater marital discord was associated with greater depression and lower life satisfaction and self-esteem. Furthermore, the associations between marital discord and well-being remained significant when statistically controlling for the rival explanation of the Big Five personality traits. Finally, there was little evidence for gender differences in the magnitude of the associations between marital discord and well-being. Findings suggest that marital discord is an important correlate of multiple measures of well-being in older individuals and that this association is not confounded by the Big Five personality traits.     

The Relative Importance of Personality,Financial Satisfaction,and Autonomy for Different Subjective Well-Being Facets

Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample (N?=?507) from Singapore, this study examined whether personality, financial satisfaction, and autonomy were important to subjective well-being (SWB), and how the importance of these predictors varied across different SWB facets—life satisfaction, happiness, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The findings indicated that neuroticism, financial satisfaction, and autonomy, were important predictors of happiness. Personality was most important for affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative feelings), whereas financial satisfaction was most important for life satisfaction. Specifically, neuroticism accounted for substantial variance in positive and negative feelings, and was the strongest correlate among the Big Five traits. In contrast, financial satisfaction explained most of the variance in life satisfaction. This highlights that the importance of well-being predictors depended on the facet of well-being examined. The findings suggest that residents in an affluent nation like Singapore do not emphasize only postmaterialist values (e.g., autonomy) and disregard materialist concerns (e.g., financial satisfaction). Though certain SWB facets (positive and negative affect) are largely influenced by dispositional factors, other facets (life satisfaction and happiness) are closely related to factors (e.g., financial satisfaction, autonomy) that may be affected by social policies. Policymakers can thus target those aspects to enhance people’s SWB.     

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。     

Time Perspectives Predict Mood States and Satisfaction with Life over and above Personality

The present study aimed to test the incremental validity of Time Perspective (TP) scales in predicting satisfaction with life and mood, over and above the Big Five personality traits. It also investigated whether the new TP construct of Future Negative perspective contributed to prediction of these outcomes. Participants (N = 265) completed four measures: Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL), a modified Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), and NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Results confirmed the incremental validity of TP, although Big Five dimensions were independently predictive of life satisfaction and certain mood scales. Past Negative TP was the strongest single predictor of life satisfaction. However, Future Negative TP was be the strongest mood predictor from the TP universe, after controlling for the Big Five and remaining TP dimensions. Findings suggest that TP is an important aspect of personality for understanding individual differences in well-being.     

The Interplay Among Levels of Personality: The Mediator Effect of Personal Projects Between the Big Five and Subjective Well-Being

Comprehensive models of personality aspire to integrate the several aspects related to the study of personality in a coherent whole. One of the great research challenges in this field is to understand if and how different levels of personality analysis interrelate to promote human well-being. The aim of the present study is to explore the mediator effect of personal projects’ efficacy on the relationship between Big Five and subjective well-being (SWB) components. We conducted a cross-sectional study in which a battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess personality and SWB in 396 teachers. Path analysis results indicated that personal projects’ efficacy fully mediated the effects of openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on life satisfaction and on negative affect. The effects of neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on positive affect were direct but also indirect, partially mediated by personal projects’ efficacy. Neuroticism had a direct and an indirect effect through a decreased personal projects’ efficacy on the three components of SWB. Extraversion only directly predicted increased positive affect. These findings corroborate the conceptualization that these two types of personality analysis units (Big Five and personal projects) have their own direct, unique and irreducible effect on life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. However, their impact on SWB components seems to be also explained through their effect upon personal projects’ efficacy.     

On the incremental validity of irrational beliefs to predict subjective well-being while controlling for personality factors

This research examines the incremental validity of irrational thinking as conceptualized by Albert Ellis to predict diverse aspects of subjective well-being while controlling for the influence of personality factors. Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) argues that irrational beliefs result in maladaptive emotions leading to reduced well-being. Although there is some early scientific evidence for this relation, it has never been investigated whether this connection would still persist when statistically controlling for the Big Five personality factors, which were consistently found to be important determinants of well-being. Regression analyses revealed significant incremental validity of irrationality over personality factors when predicting life satisfaction, but not when predicting subjective happiness. Results are discussed with respect to conceptual differences between these two aspects of subjective well-being.     

The Development and Validation of a Personological Measure of Work Drive

Using six studies based on 23,823 individuals in diverse settings, we developed and validated a personality measure of Work Drive—a disposition to work long hours and extend oneself for one's job. The factor structure was confirmed in four settings. Work Drive was related to job performance showing incremental validity beyond cognitive aptitude and Big Five personality traits in five validation studies. It predicted academic performance at six different grade levels, even beyond Big Five traits. Construct validity was examined via work values, job involvement, normal personality scales, satisfaction measures, and cognitive ability. Little adverse impact was found. Occupational groups differed on Work Drive. Overall validity and areas of application were discussed.     

The construct and criterion validity of emotional intelligence and its potential utility for management studies

In this study, the authors reviewed the definition of emotional intelligence (EI) and argued that El is conceptually distinct from personality. In Study 1, the authors showed that EI was related to yet distinct from personality dimensions and that it had incremental predictive power on life satisfaction. The authors examined the construct validity of self-reports and others' ratings of EI using two samples in Study 2. In a student sample, parents' ratings explained additional variance in the students' life satisfaction and feelings of powerlessness after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. In the work sample, peer ratings were found to be significant predictors of job performance ratings provided by supervisors after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. Other implications for future research on EI are discussed.     

Gratitude,forgivingness, and well-being in adulthood: Tests of moderation and incremental prediction

Following recent guidelines for moral personality research, this study sought to provide insights into how moral personality traits influence well-being in adulthood. Using a large sample of Swiss adults (N?=?962), we examined the roles of gratitude and forgivingness on well-being in adulthood (assessed as positive affect, negative affect, optimism, pessimism, and satisfaction with life). Our results point to three primary findings. First, grateful and forgiving adults report greater well-being in adulthood and these effects are not moderated by age, gender, or marital status. Second, both traits uniquely predict well-being when controlling for each other, suggesting the importance of studying multiple moral personality variables. Third, these two traits largely remained significant predictors of well-being when controlling for the Big Five traits. Results are discussed with respect to their place within current directions in moral personality research as well as how they provide a foundation for future work.     

On the temporal stability of personality: evidence for differential stability and the role of life experiences

The authors investigated the stability of personality and trait affect in young adults. In Studies 1 and 2, young adults were retested on a Big Five personality measure and a trait affect inventory over a 2.5-year and a 2-month period, respectively. Results from Study 1 point to positive mean-level changes; participants scored higher on Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness at Time 2. Affectively, participants experienced less negative affect and more positive affect at Time 2. Results from both retests provide clear evidence of differential stability. Affective traits were consistently less stable than the Big Five. Other analyses suggest that life events influence the stability of affective traits more than the Big Five.     

Well-being during the coronavirus pandemic: The effect of big five personality and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors

This study examined the relationship between personality traits, COVID-specific beliefs and behaviors, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, at the onset of a second major lockdown, Australian adults (n = 1453) completed measures of Big Five personality, COVID beliefs and behaviors (i.e., belief in a rapid recovery, perceived risk, compliance, change in exercise, and change in interpersonal conflict), subjective well-being and COVID-specific well-being. Personality correlates of COVID-specific well-being differed from those with general life satisfaction. The benefits of conscientiousness were elevated whereas the benefits of extraversion and agreeableness were reduced. Neuroticism was related to greater perceived risk from the pandemic, elevated interpersonal conflict during the pandemic, and more pessimistic views about the rate at which society would recover from the pandemic. In contrast, conscientiousness was notably related to greater compliance with directions from public health authorities. While regression models showed that general well-being was largely explained by personality, COVID factors provided incremental prediction, and this was greatest when predicting COVID-specific well-being and lowest for global evaluations of life satisfaction. The observed prediction by beliefs and behaviors on well-being beyond personality, provides potential opportunities for targeted interventions to support the management of future novel stressors.     

Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: integrating process models of life satisfaction

The authors examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in the prediction of the affective (hedonic balance) and the cognitive (life satisfaction) components of subjective well-being (SWB). They predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is mediated by hedonic balance and that the relation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction is moderated by culture. As a consequence, they predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is also moderated by culture. Participants from 2 individualistic cultures (United States, Germany) and 3 collectivistic cultures (Japan, Mexico, Ghana) completed measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, hedonic balance, and life satisfaction. As predicted, Extraversion and Neuroticism influenced hedonic balance to the same degree in all cultures, and hedonic balance was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. The influence of Extraversion and Neuroticism on life satisfaction was largely mediated by hedonic balance. The results suggest that the influence of personality on the emotional component of SWB is pancultural, whereas the influence of personality on the cognitive component of SWB is moderated by culture.     

The Influence of Major Life Events and Personality Traits on the Stability of Affective Well-Being

The current study examines the influence of major life events compared to personality traits on the stability of affective well-being (AWB). It is shown how the decomposition of autocovariances can be used to estimate the degree of stability that is due to life events and personality traits. The approach is illustrated by an analysis of data from a nationally representative Australian sample with four consecutive waves of measurement. The autocovariances of positive and negative mood served as indicators of the stability of AWB. Big five personality traits as well as 21 major life events were used as predictor variables in a path analysis. In comparison to previous studies, this allowed to directly compare the effects of multiple events to the influence of personality traits in a longitudinal design. Results indicated medium stability coefficients for AWB. Ca. 10 % of the autocovariances could be accounted for by life events and about 20 % by personality traits. Both types of predictors together accounted for about 30 %. Among personality traits, emotional stability followed by extraversion had the highest effects. Among life events “financial worsening” and “serious personal injury/illness” had the highest effects. Additionally, life events were significantly correlated with personality traits as well as with other life events. In a next step, it might be interesting to compare the influence of Big Five personality traits and stable life circumstances on the stability of the cognitive well-being component, using a similar statistical procedure. Also, as the number of variables in large panel studies is limited, results should be complemented by more in-depth studies, favourably using multi-method approaches.     

Career adaptability predicts subjective career success above and beyond personality traits and core self-evaluations

The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) measures career adaptability as a higher-order construct that integrates four psychosocial resources of employees for managing their career development: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. The goal of the present study was to investigate the validity of the CAAS with regard to its effects on two indicators of subjective career success (career satisfaction and self-rated career performance) above and beyond the effects of employees' Big Five personality traits and core self-evaluations. Data came from a large and heterogeneous sample of employees in Australia (N = 1723). Results showed that overall career adaptability positively predicted career satisfaction and self-rated career performance above and beyond the Big Five personality traits and core self-evaluations. In addition, concern and confidence positively predicted the two indicators of subjective career success. The findings provide further support for the incremental validity of the CAAS.