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Published on: January 11, 2020
The relationship between openness to experience and college students' well-being: the mediating roles of art-related
Yi Jin1,2, Xiaohang Wang3, Xingfa Long4
1School of Humanities and Museology (Art Research Institute), Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China.
Objectives:
Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study investigated the impact of openness to experience on both subjective and psychological well-being among college students, with a specific focus on the mediating mechanisms of art-related aesthetic perception and needs.
Methods:
A sample of 558 college students (Mage = 18.40, SD = 1.38) completed standardized assessments. Mediation modeling was employed to test the direct and indirect pathways between personality traits and well-being.
Results:
Openness to experience did not directly predict either dimension of well-being. Instead, it showed indirect associations with well-being through two pathways. (1) The independent mediation of art-related aesthetic needs, and (2) a sequential mediation involving both art-related aesthetic perception and needs.
Conclusion:
These findings clarify the psychological mechanisms by which aesthetic traits foster well-being, highlighting the critical role of art-related aesthetic needs in translating personality into positive adjustment. While providing cross-sectional evidence, future research should utilize longitudinal designs to confirm causal directions.
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