Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Investigation of Taiwanese College Students’ Personality Traits and Self-worth

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated a model of the associations between personality traits of male and female college students in Taiwan and their self-worth using structural equation modeling (SEM). College students (1,305 males and 1,494 females) were stratified randomly selected from 12 universities to complete the College Students Questionnaire. SEM results supported the model and network of paths amongst these participating students’ self-worth and the Big-five personality traits. Results indicated significant positive predictive pathways between self-worth and extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness and a significant negative predictive pathway between self-worth and neuroticism. The results of restricting measurement weights indicated that the Big-five traits and self-worth model was adequate for all college students of different ages. In addition, it was found that males had significantly higher academic/general competence and athletic competence/physical appearance scores than females, while females had significantly higher close friendship, conduct behavior, and extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism traits than males. Older college students had significantly higher academic/general competence, close friendship, conduct behavior, job competence, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness mean scores than their younger counterparts, whereas they had significantly lower neuroticism scores than the younger participants. Finally, the results suggest that self-worth was important in the development of positive personality traits in college students.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrews, J. D. W. (1991). The active self in psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development. Six theories of child development (Vol. 6, pp. 1–60). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? International Journal of Selection & Assessment, 9, 9–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bem, S. L. (1985). Androgyny and gender schema theory: Conceptual and empirical intergradations. In T. B. Sonderegger (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Psychology of gender (pp. 179–226). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M. (1995). EQS structural equations program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Yuan, K.-H. (1999). Structural equation modeling with small samples: Test statistics. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 34, 181–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In W. L. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caprara, G. V., Steca, P., Gerbino, M., Paciello, M., & Vecchio, G. (2006). Looking for adolescents’ well-being: Self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and happiness. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale, 15, 30–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2003). Personality predicts academic performance: Evidence from two longitudinal studies on university students. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 319–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, D. W. (1997). Self-concept domains and global self-worth among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 511–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 233–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T, Jr, & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, J., Karpinski, A., Quinn, D. M., & Chase, S. (2003a). When grades determine self-worth: Consequences of contingent self-worth for male and female engineering and psychology majors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 507–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R. K., Cooper, M. L., & Bouvrette, S. (2003b). Contingencies of self-worth in college students: Theory and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 894–908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bruijn, G. J., Brug, J., & Van Lenthe, F. (2009). Neuroticism, conscientiousness and fruit consumption: Exploring mediator and moderator effects in the theory of planned behaviour. Psychology and Health, 24(9), 1051–1069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demetriou, A. (2003). Mind, self, and personality: Dynamic interactions from late childhood to early adulthood. Journal of Adult Development, 10(3), 151–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. (2013). Survey and analysis of human resources on gender. Taipei, Taiwan: Executive Yuan. Retrieved from http://www.Dgbas.gov.tw/public/Attachment/332514572571.pdf [in Chinese]

  • Dollinger, S. J., & LaMartina, A. K. (1998). A note on moral reasoning and the five-factor model. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 13, 349–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dusek, J. B., & Flaherty, J. F. (1981). The development of self-concept during the adolescent years. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 46(4), 1–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George, R., & Kaplan, D. (1998). A structural model of parent and teacher influences on science attitudes of eighth graders. Science Education, 82(1), 93–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guttman, D. L. (1987). Reclaimed powers: Toward a new psychology of men and women in later life. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, D., Fegley, S., & Brengelman, D. (1993). Perceptions of past, present, and future selves among children and adolescents. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11, 265–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1986). Processes underlying the construction, maintenance, and enhancement of self-concept in children. In J. Suls & A. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (pp. 137–181). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1988). Manual for the self-perception profile for adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S., & Whitesell, N. R. (2003). Beyond the debate: Why some adolescents report stable self-worth over time and situation, whereas others report changes in self-worth. Journal of Personality, 71(6), 1027–1058.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heatherton, T. F., & Nichols, P. A. (1994). Personal accounts of successful versus failed attempts at life change. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 664–675.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helson, R., & Kwan, V. S. Y. (2000). Personality change in adulthood: The broad picture and processes in one longitudinal study. In S. Hampson (Ed.), Advances in personality psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 77–106). Hove: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, J., & Ones, D. S. (1997). Conscientiousness and integrity at work. In R. Hogan, J. A. Johnson, & S. R. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 849–870). New York, NY: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Holmlund, U. (1991). Change and stability of needs from middle adolescence to young adulthood in Swedish females. European Journal of Personality, 5, 379–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong, Z. R. (2004). An investigation of Taiwanese female college students’sexist attitudes. Sex-Roles—A Journal of Research, 51(7/8), 455–467.

  • Hong, Z. R. & Lin, H. S. (2011). An Investigation of students’ personality traits and attitudes toward science. International Journal of Science Education, 33(7),1001–1028.

  • Hong, Z. R. & Lin, H. S. (2012). Impacts of a book reading club intervention on enhancing parents’ positive thinking. Journal of Health Psychology, 17(2), 273–284.

  • Hong, Z. R., McCarthy Veach, P., & Lawrenz, F. (2003). An investigation of the gender stereotyped thinking of Taiwanese secondary school boys and girls. Sex-Roles-A Journal of Research, 48(11/12), 495–504.

  • Hong, Z. R., Lin, H. S., & McCarthy Veach, P. (2008). Effects of an extracurricular science intervention on science performance, self-worth, social skills, and sexist attitudes of Taiwanese adolescents from single-parent families. Sex-Roles-A Journal of Research,59,555–567.

  • Hopwood, C. J., & Donnellan, M. B. (2010). How should the internal structure of personality inventories be evaluated? Personality Society Psychology Review, 14(3), 332–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. (1995). Evaluating model fit. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 76–99). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative big-five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 114–158). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The big-five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Josephs, R. A., Markus, H. R., & Tafarodi, R. W. (1992). Gender and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(3), 391–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, D. K., & Power, F. C. (Eds.). (1988). Self, ego, identity: Integrative approaches. New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. J. (1986). A conception of adult development. American Psychologist, 41(1), 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (1999). On the development of personality. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 327–346). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo, T. Y. (2000). Marrying my rapist?! The cultural trauma among Chinese survivors. Gender and Society, 14, 581–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T, Jr, Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., Hřebíčková, M., Avia, M. D., et al. (2000). Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and lifespan development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 173–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moskowitz, D. S., & Zuroff, D. C. (2004). Flux, pulse, and spin: Dynamic additions to the personality lexicon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 880–893.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nieswandt, M. (2007). Student affect and conceptual understanding in learning chemistry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(7), 908–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orth, U., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Robbins, R. W. (2010). Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: A cohort-sequential longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(4), 645–658. doi:10.1037/a0018769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pervin, L. A. (2003). The science of personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B. W., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. (2001). The kids are alright: Growth and stability in personality development from adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 670–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B. W., & Chapman, C. (2000). Change in dispositional well-being and its relation to role quality: A 30-year longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 26–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B. W., Walton, K., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robins, R. W., Fraley, R. C., Roberts, B. W., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001). A longitudinal study of personality change in young adulthood. Journal of Personality, 69(4), 617–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowley, S. J., Kurtz-Costes, B., Mistry, R., & Feagans, L. (2007). Social status as a predictor of race and gender stereotypes in late childhood and early adolescence. Social Development, 16, 150–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sasson, R. (2010). The power of positive thinking: Positive thinking your key to success. Retrieved from http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_00003a.htm.

  • Schwalbe, M. L., & Staples, C. L. (1991). Gender differences in sources of self-esteem. Social Psychology Quarterly, 54, 158–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheeran, P., Orbell, S., & Trafimow, D. (1999). Does the temporal stability of behavioral intentions moderate intention-behavior and past behavior-future behavior relations? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6(25), 724–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Hubbard, B., & Wiese, D. (2000). Self-other agreement in personality and affectivity: The role of acquaintanceship, trait visibility, and assumed similarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 546–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, W., Christensen, P. N., Hebl, M. R., & Rothgerber, H. (1997). Conformity to sex-typed norms, affect, and the self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 735, 523–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful for the financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan with the grant number of NSC-101-2511-S-110-001-MY3. Special thanks go to the editors and anonymous reviewers’ constructive suggestions. We are grateful to Mrs. Shari Yore for her technical revissions of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    Hsin-Hui Wang, Hsiang-Ting Chen & Zuway-R Hong

  2. University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada

    Larry D. Yore

  3. 18-1 F No. 5, Cheng Hsin Road, San Ming District, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan, ROC

    Zuway-R Hong

Authors
  1. Hsin-Hui Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hsiang-Ting Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zuway-R Hong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Larry D. Yore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zuway-R Hong.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, HH., Chen, HT., Hong, ZR. et al. An Investigation of Taiwanese College Students’ Personality Traits and Self-worth. J Happiness Stud 16, 1593–1613 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9579-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9579-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation