Stability and change in genetic and environmental components of personality in old age

Stability and change in the mean levels and sources of variation in personality was examined. A sample of 149 monozygotic and 202 dizygotic twin pairs over 80 years were studied three times with a 2-year interval between measurement occasions. The Eysenck Personality Inventory to measure extraversion and neuroticism was used. Linear mixed models and Cholesky variance decomposition were carried out (age, gender and mortality controlled). High mean level stability was found in extraversion and neuroticism. Mortality was related to lower scores in extraversion and higher scores in neuroticism. In extraversion and neuroticism, genetic effects were moderate. Though no new genetic contributions emerged over time, significant new environmental effects were found over time. Controlling for mortality slightly increased genetic effect in extraversion.     

Emotional stability as a major dimension of happiness

Happiness is associated with both extraversion and neuroticism, and extraversion is generally considered the more important. A recent study of happy introverts has shown that extraversion is not always an essential correlate of happiness, and an extensive meta-analysis has found that neuroticism is a greater predictor of both happiness and life satisfaction. It is suggested that the reason for the importance of neuroticism having been overlooked in the past, is the difficulty of handling the idea that (positive) happiness is related to the absence of a (negative) construct. This difficulty could be resolved by the reversal of neuroticism into an alternative and positive concept of “emotional stability”. Happiness could then be regarded as being associated with two positive qualities. With this change of emphasis, a short empirical study has been made of the relationships between happiness as measured by the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) and extraversion and emotional stability. In bivariate and partial correlation, emotional stability was more strongly associated with happiness than extraversion, and accounted for more of the total variability in multiple regression. Emotional stability was also the greater correlate for a majority of the 29 items of the OHI, and the sole significant predictor of the happiness of younger people.     

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.     

Adaption-Innovation and Self-Esteem

Abstract

Psychosocial factors that may influence subjective well-being were examined. A random sample of 581 Chinese adults living in a metropolitan Taiwanese city completed questionnaires concerning demographic variables, personality traits, life stress, and social support. The results of multivariate analyses indicated that (a) extraversion and social support were related to better mental health, whereas neuroticism and stress were related to poorer mental health; (b) older age, better education, and social support were related to higher life satisfaction, whereas neuroticism and stress were related to lower life satisfaction; and (c) older age, extraversion, and social support were related to higher happiness, whereas neuroticism was related to lower happiness.     

Do humor styles matter in the relationship between personality and subjective well‐being?

The primary goal of this research was to examine the role of humor styles in the relationships between personality (extraversion and neuroticism) and two components of subjective well-being: life satisfaction and affective well-being. The sample consisted of 225 young adults, with mean age 23.61 years. Results indicated that the relationship between both extraversion and neuroticism and satisfaction with life could be partially explained by the mediating role of self-enhancing humor. Additionally, affiliative humor proved to be a partial mediator of the relationship between neuroticism and affective well-being. The findings of this research suggested that adaptive humor styles might be one of the mechanisms linking personality and subjective well-being.     

Mobility,extraversion, and neuroticism

Mobility, a property of Pavlovian higher nervous activity, was measured using an induction task. Negative induction, following presentation of an excitatory stimulus, is an index of mobility of excitation and positive induction, following presentation of an inhibitory stimulus is an index of mobility of inhibition. Mobility scores from 27 male and 37 female first-year psychology students, age 17 to 42 years were related to extraversion and neuroticism derived from Eysenck’s Personality Inventory (Form A). Mobility of excitation and mobility of inhibition were found to be unrelated. Individual differences in the magnitude and latency of induction indicate that individuals can be typed according to low, medium, or high mobility of either nervous process. No relationship was found between neuroticism and mobility, and no relationship was found between extraversion and mobility of excitation. However, a significant negative relationship was found between extraversion and mobility of inhibition, providing a link between Pavlovian properties of the nervous system and Eysenck’s personality dimension of extraversion.     

Personality Change in the Oldest‐Old: Is It a Matter of Compromised Health and Functioning?

The present longitudinal study investigates continuity and change in the personality dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism among the oldest‐old. Overall disease load, self‐rated health, functional capacity, impaired vision and hearing, self‐reported cognitive impairment, and measured cognitive status were tested for their role as potentially relevant late‐life predictors of personality change. The sample consists of 408 individuals aged 80–98 in the Swedish OCTO‐Twin Study who completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory at four measurement occasions during a 6‐year period. Growth curve analyses revealed an age‐related linear decrease in extraversion and stability in neuroticism. More extraverted individuals were more educated and perceived their health and cognition as better. Notably, only hearing impairment was found to be related to a steeper age‐related decline in extraversion. A life span developmental model focusing on health‐related changes can improve our understanding of personality change in late life.     

The effects of chronological age on the relationship of intelligence and academic achievement with extraversion and neuroticism.

This study examines the possibility that the relationships of intelligence and academic achievement with both extraversion and neuroticism may vary with chronological age. A sample of 741 students in the 15-19 age group worked through a battery of four tests, two of which were tests of intelligence and two tests of achievement in chemistry. The nature of the relationships between performance on these tests and measures of extraversion, neuroticism and chronological age were then expressed as multiple regression equations. The results whoed a consistently different pattern of significant relationships for both extraversion and neuroticism with the achievement tests on the one hand and with the intelligence tests on the other. Only the performance on the two achievement tests depended upon an interaction between extraversion and chronological age. There were no such interactions involving neuroticism and chronological age.     

Personality moderates the interaction between positive and negative daily events predicting negative affect and stress

A 30-day diary study examined personality moderators (neuroticism and extraversion) of the interaction between positive and negative daily events predicting daily negative affect and night-time stress. Multilevel analyses revealed positive daily events buffered the effect of negative daily events on negative affect for individuals low in neuroticism and individuals high in extraversion, but not for individuals high in neuroticism or individuals low in extraversion. Positive daily events also buffered the effect of negative daily events on that night’s stress, but only for participants low in neuroticism. As such, this research linked today’s events to tonight’s stressfulness. This study advances our understanding of how neuroticism and extraversion influence within-person associations between positive and negative events predicting negative affect and stress.     

Psychoticism scores in graphic design students

Of a group of graphic design students, males were found to have higher psychoticism and neuroticism scores than normal on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Extraversion and lie scores were not significantly different from normal. Females did not differ significantly from the normative data on psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism or lie scores. A further group of new 1st year students showed raised psychoticism scores for females but not for males. The meaning of psychoticism in relation to the personality of artists is questioned by way of two paradoxes.     

Do extraversion and neuroticism moderate the association between bullying victimization and internalizing symptoms? A three-wave longitudinal study

The current study examined the moderating roles of neuroticism and extraversion in victims of bullying. According to a stress-diathesis model, we hypothesized that adolescents with high levels of neuroticism and low levels of extraversion would react to victimization with increased symptoms of depression and social anxiety. A sample of 1440 adolescents (648 girls and 792 boys; ages between 13- and 17-years-old) completed measures of extraversion and neuroticism at time 1, as well as measures of bullying victimization, depressive symptoms and social anxiety symptoms at time 1, time 2, and time 3 (in intervals of six months). The results of multilevel analyses for longitudinal data indicated that there was a weak association between bullying victimization and social anxiety symptoms for the adolescents who scored high on extraversion. In addition, the adolescents with high levels of extraversion presented a greater reduction in depressive symptoms over time than adolescents with low levels. Although neuroticism predicted both depression and social anxiety, no significant interactions were evident between neuroticism and bullying victimization. Regarding gender differences, the association between bullying victimization and social anxiety was stronger for boys than for girls, whereas the association between neuroticism and depression was stronger for girls.     

Neuroticism and extraversion as mediators between positive/negative life events and resilience

Positive and negative life events have been demonstrated to play an important role regarding the development of resilience. However, it is less clear how life events interact with personality factors in forming individual resilience. Thus, the present study investigates the mediating effects of the two main complementary personality dimensions extraversion and neuroticism on the relationship between life events and resilience in adulthood. Traumatic Antecedent Questionnaire (TAQ), NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) were administered to 201 healthy subjects. Results from path analyses (AMOS) revealed that the personality factors neuroticism and extraversion (measured by NEO-FFI) fully mediated the association between positive life events and resilience. This is the first study to date using psychometric assessment to explore the possible pathways from positive/negative life experiences to resilience.     

Personality dimensions and subjective well-being

This work examines the association between personality dimensions (extraversion and neuroticism) and subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is associated both with extraversion and neuroticism, and currently, neuroticism is generally considered the more important. A total of 368 students from the University of Rovira i Virgili completed the Extraversion and Neuroticism subscales of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck, and Barrett, 1985), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin, 1985), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, and Tellegen, 1988). Regression analyses revealed the personality variable of neuroticism as one of the most important correlates of subjective well-being. Regression analyses also showed that 44% of the variance of subjective well-being was accounted for by neuroticism, whereas extraversion only explained 8% of the variance.     

Existential meaning's role in the enhancement of hope and prevention of depressive symptoms

The authors confirmed that existential meaning has a unique relationship with and can prospectively predict levels of hope and depressive symptoms within a population of college students. Baseline measures of explicit meaning (i.e., an individual's self-reported experience of a sense of coherence and purpose in life) and implicit meaning (i.e., an individual's self-reported embodiment of the factors that are normatively viewed as comprising a meaningful life) explained significant amounts of variance in hope and depressive symptoms 2 months later beyond the variance explained by baseline levels of hope/depression, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, and social desirability. The authors discuss implications of these findings for the field of mental health treatment and suggest ways of influencing individuals' experience of existential meaning.     

Love, work, and changes in extraversion and neuroticism over time

The present study examined individual differences in change in extraversion, neuroticism, and work and relationship satisfaction. Of particular interest were the correlations between changes. Data were from the Victorian Quality of Life Panel Study (B. Headey & A. Wearing, 1989, 1992), in which an overall 1,130 individuals participated (ages 16 to 70). Respondents were assessed every 2 years from 1981 to 1989. Four major findings emerged. (a) There were significant individual differences in changes in extraversion and neuroticism. (b) Change was not limited to young adulthood. (c) Development was systematic in that increased work and relationship satisfaction was associated with decreases in neuroticism and increases in extraversion over time; on average, the magnitude of the relation between changes in work and relationship satisfaction and traits was .40. (d) Cross-lagged models indicated traits had a greater influence on role satisfaction; however, marginal support emerged for work satisfaction leading to increased extraversion. Implications of correlated change are discussed.     

The relationship of Laing's concept of ontological insecurity to extraversion and neuroticism

Four components were extracted from Laing's concept of ontological insecurity and operationally measured. The desire to be noticed was found to be correlated with extraversion while doubts in one's existence was related to neuroticism. The desire to be remembered after death and the rootedness of the mind in the body were not related to extraversion or neuroticism scores.     

The Role of a “Happy Personality” in the Relationship of Subjective Social Status and Domain-Specific Satisfaction in China

Most scholars have focused on group differences in overall life satisfaction, and little research has explored group differences in domain-specific satisfaction. This study investigated the variation in the effects of subjective social status on domain-specific satisfaction across personality styles (combined extraversion and neuroticism) in a sample of 1120 female and 745 male Chinese. Participants completed a questionnaire comprising demographics factors, MacArthur Scale, BFI personality scale and self-rated domain-specific satisfaction with interpersonal, health, political, financial, environmental, environmental, and cultural. The findings revealed that subjective social status positively, extraversion positively, and neuroticism negatively predicted six domain-specific satisfactions. Additionally, the results of the hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that the moderating roles of personality traits, but neither extraversion nor neuroticism alone moderated the effects of subjective social status on six domains of life satisfaction. Higher subjective social status related to a substantial increase in domainspecific satisfaction with health, political and environmental for respondents with high extraversion and low neuroticism. Taking together, from the “bottom-up” perspectives, these findings provide support to extend Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory to explain the relationship between subjective social status and domain-specific satisfaction.

     

The Relationship between Temperament and Life Satisfaction in Early Adolescence: Cognitive and Behavioral Mediation Models

This study investigated the interrelationships among temperament, social self-efficacy, social competence, and life satisfaction in a sample of 160 early adolescents. A model was proposed based on previous research by Argyle and Lu (1990, Personality and Individual Differences 11, pp. 1255–1261) in which social competence mediates the relationship between temperament (i.e. extraversion and neuroticism) and life satisfaction. However, this study extended the work of Argyle and Lu by including an objective measure of social competence, in addition to a measure of social self-efficacy, to test as a potential mediator between temperament and life satisfaction. Results indicated that social self-efficacy mediated the relationship between extraversion and life satisfaction, but not between neuroticism and life satisfaction. Teacher-rated social competence did not mediate the effects of temperament on life satisfaction. The importance of integrating theories of trait psychology and cognitive psychology in adolescent life satisfaction research is discussed.     

A behavior genetic analysis of personality and loneliness

The phenotypic, genetic, and environmental correlations between the Big Five factors of personality and loneliness were examined. At the phenotypic level, loneliness had a strong significant positive correlation with neuroticism, significant moderate negative correlations with agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, and a small positive correlation with openness. Both loneliness and personality were found to be heritable. Bivariate genetic analyses resulted in significant positive genetic correlations between loneliness and neuroticism and openness, and significant negative genetic correlations with agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion. Significant unique environment correlations were found between loneliness and four of the five personality factors (all negative except neuroticism) and a non-significant correlation with openness. The results suggest common genetic and unique environmental factors play a role in personality and loneliness.     

The interactive effect of neuroticism and extraversion on the daily variability of affective states

The interaction between neuroticism and extraversion is thought to predict affective variability. In this study, neuroticism and extraversion were assessed with questionnaires, and affects were measured by experience sampling, with five daily assessments over 2 weeks. Affective variability was studied within a three-dimensional affective space whose three axes were oriented along the main affective dimensions: positive affect, negative affect, and activation. Quantile regression mixed-effects models allowed predicting zones in which affective states were most likely to occur according to personality. Beyond the well-known effect of personality on affect level, high neuroticism and/or high extraversion were accompanied by heightened affective variability. Results were interpreted as potentially reflecting positive feedback loops oriented toward negative affect for neuroticism, and toward positive affect and activation for extraversion.