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Most people's life satisfaction matches their personality traits: True correlations in multitrait, multirater,
René Mõttus1, Anu Realo2, Jüri Allik2
1Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 13, 2024
Summary
Life satisfaction strongly reflects personality traits, with accurate predictions up to 90%. Specific traits like emotional stability and extraversion show significant links, while nuanced aspects reveal deeper connections to satisfaction levels across many years.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Personality Science
- Well-being Research
Background:
- Previous research on life satisfaction and personality traits is limited by methodological biases.
- A need exists to clarify the true extent of personality's influence on life satisfaction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the true correlations between personality traits and life satisfaction, controlling for methodological limitations.
- To investigate the associations at both broad personality domains and specific nuance levels.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multi-sample data (Estonian, Russian, English) with self- and informant-reports.
- Employed statistical methods to correct for single-method biases, random error, and construct overlaps.
- Estimated true correlations (rtrue) between personality and life satisfaction (LS) and domain satisfactions (DSs).
Main Results:
- Personality traits predicted life satisfaction with high accuracy (rtrue ≈ .80-.90).
- Emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness showed moderate correlations with LS (rtrue ≈ .30-.50).
- Specific personality nuances, such as feeling misunderstood or unrewarded, strongly correlated with low LS (rtrue ≈ .40-.70).
Conclusions:
- Life satisfaction is substantially and consistently shaped by stable personality traits, even over a decade.
- The findings support the construct validity of life satisfaction, demonstrating its deep connection to core personality characteristics.
- Methodological advancements allow for a clearer understanding of the robust link between personality and well-being.
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