Abstract
Contemporary models emphasize linkages between malleable positive psychological orientations and enhanced quality of life. As such, it is important to consider if these positive orientations provide unique explanatory power beyond the long-established relations between quality of life and within-person, less malleable personality traits. This study contributed to the literature by examining the relations among adolescents’ personality traits, positive psychology orientations, and self-reported quality of life indicators. These relations were further examined by considering the mediating effects of the important contextual influences of school connectedness. Self-report responses of 1867 California high school students to an 88-item schoolwide online survey that included the Big Five Inventory-10 (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness), the Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (Belief in Self, Belief in Others, Emotional Competence, and Engaged Living), the School Connectedness Scale, the Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Social Emotional Distress Scale-Secondary were used to examine relations. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that after controlling for demographic variables (Block 1: sex, grade, and ethnicity) the personality traits (Block 2) were, as expected, significantly associated with life satisfaction and emotional distress. Supporting study hypotheses, the inclusion of positive psychological orientations (Block 3) explained significantly more variance of students’ life satisfaction (△R2 = 26%) and emotional distress (△R2 = 5%). Mediation analyses using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) found that only positive psychological orientations had significant indirect relations with quality of life through school connectedness. Implications and future research and practice are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldridge, J. M., & McChesney, K. (2018). The relationships between school climate and adolescent mental health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Educational Research, 88, 121–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.01.012.
Allen, K., Vella-Brodrick, D., & Waters, L. (2016). Fostering school belonging in secondary schools using a socio-ecological framework. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 33, 97–121. https://doi.org/10.1017/edp.2016.5.
Anderman, E. M. (2002). School effects on psychological outcomes during adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 795–809. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.4.795.
Avey, J. B., Wernsing, T. S., & Mhatre, K. H. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of positive psychological constructs and emotions on stress, anxiety, and well-being. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 18, 216–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051810397368.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238.
Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness-of-fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–600. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238.
Bilewicz, M., & Wojcik, A. D. (2018). Visiting Auschwitz: Evidence of secondary traumatization among high school students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88, 328–334. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000302.
Block, J. H., Gjerde, P. F., & Block, J. H. (1991). Personality antecedents of depressive tendencies in 18-year-olds: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 726–738. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.5.726.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
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: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Deighton, J., Humphrey, N., Belsky, J., Boehnke, J., Vostanis, P., & Patalay, P. (2018). Longitudinal pathways between mental health difficulties and academic performance during middle childhood and early adolescence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 36, 110–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12218.
Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Social-emotional competence: An essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development, 88, 408–416. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12739.
Dowdy, E., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., Moore, S., & Moffa, K. (2018). Initial validation of the social emotional distress survey – Secondary to support complete mental health screening. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 43, 241–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508417749871.
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springfield: Thomas.
Fogle, L. M., Huebner, E. S., & Laughlin, J. E. (2002). The relationship between temperament and life satisfaction in early adolescence: Cognitive and behavioral mediation models. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 373–392. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021883830847.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59–109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059.
Funder, D. C. (1998). On the pros and cons of delay of gratification. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 211–212. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0903_3.
Funk, B. I., Huebner, E. S., & Valois, R. F. (2006). Reliability and validity of a brief life satisfaction scale with a high school sample. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-0869-7.
Furlong, M. J., O’Brennan, L. M., & You, S. (2011). Psychometric properties of the ADD health school connectedness scale for 18 sociocultural groups. Psychology in the Schools, 48, 986–997. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20609.
Furlong, M. J., Gilman, R., & Huebner, E. S. (2014a). Handbook of positive psychology in schools. New York: Routledge, Taylor/Francis.
Furlong, M. J., You, S., Renshaw, T. L., Smith, D. C., & O’Malley, M. D. (2014b). Preliminary development and validation of the social and emotional health survey for secondary students. Social Indicators Research, 117, 1011–1032. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0373-0.
Grav, S., Stordal, E., Romild, U. K., & Hellzen, O. (2012). The relationship among neuroticism, extraversion, and depression in the HUNT study: In relation to age and gender. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 33, 777–785. https://doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2012.713082.
Greenberg, M. T., Domitrovich, C. E., Weissberg, R. P., & Durlak, J. A. (2017). Social and emotional learning as a public health approach to education. The Future of Children, 27, 13–32 https://www.jstor.org/stable/44219019.
Guerra, N., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2008). Linking the prevention of problem behaviors and positive youth development: Core competencies for positive youth development. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 122, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.225.
Heaven, P. C. (1991). Personality correlates of functional and dysfunctional impulsiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1213–1217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(91)90087-R.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118.
Hymel, S., Low, A., Starosta, L., Gill, R., & Schonert-Reichl, K. (2018). Promoting mental well-being through social-emotional learning in schools: Examples from British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 36, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2017-029.
Joyce, H. D., & Early, T. J. (2014). The impact of school connectedness and teacher support on depressive symptoms in adolescents: A multilevel analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 39, 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.02.005.
Jylhä, P., & Isometsä, E. (2006). The relationship of neuroticism and extraversion to symptoms of anxiety and depression in the general population. Depression and Anxiety, 23, 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20167.
Kim, E., Furlong, J. M., Dowdy, E., & Felix, D. E. (2014). Exploring the relative contributions of the strength and distress components of dual-factor complete mental health screening. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 29, 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573514529567.
Kim, E., Dowdy, E., Furlong, M., & You, S. (2018). Complete mental health screening: Psychological strengths and life satisfaction in Korean students. Child Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-018-9561-4.
Klem, A. M., & Connell, J. P. (2004). Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement. Journal of School Health, 74, 262–273.
Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford.
Kotov, R., Gamez, W., Schmidt, F., & Watson, D. (2010). Linking 'big' personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 768–821. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020327.
Lee, S., You, S., & Furlong, M. J. (2016). Validation of the social emotional health survey for Korean school students. Child Indicators Research, 9, 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-014-9294-y.
Lenzi, M., Sharkey, J., Wroblewski, A., Furlong, M. J., & Santinello, M. (2018). Protecting youth from gang membership: Individual and school–level emotional competence. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22138.
Lopez, S. J., Pedrotti, J. T., & Snyder, C. R. (2014). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Loukas, A., Suzuki, R., & Horton, K. D. (2006). Examining school connectedness as a mediator of school climate effects. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16, 491–502. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2006.00504.x.
Lui, P. P., Rollock, D., Chang, E. C., Leong, F. L., & Zamboanga, B. L. (2016). Big 5 personality and subjective well-being in Asian Americans: Testing optimism and pessimism as mediators. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 7, 274–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000054.
Marcionetti, J., & Rossier, J. (2016). Global life satisfaction in adolescence: The role of personality traits, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Journal of Individual Differences, 37, 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000198.
Marraccini, M. E., & Brier, Z. F. (2017). School connectedness and suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A systematic meta-analysis. School Psychology Quarterly, 32, 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000192.
McCrae, R. R., Terracciano, A., & 78 Members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2005). Universal features of personality traits from the observer’s perspective: Data from 50 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 547–561. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.547.
McDonald, R. P., & Ho, M. H. R. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7, 64–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.547.
McGraw, K., Moore, S., Fuller, A., & Bates, G. (2008). Family, peer and school connectedness in final year secondary school students. Australian Psychologist, 43, 27–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/0005006070166863.
McKnight, C. G., Huebner, E. S., & Suldo, S. (2002). Relationships among stressful life events, temperament, problem behavior, and global life satisfaction in adolescents. Psychology in the Schools, 39, 677–687. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.10062.
McNeely, C., Nonnemaker, J. M., & Blum, R. W. (2002). Promoting school connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of adolescent health. Journal of School Health, 72, 138–146.
Murphy, B. A., Costello, T. H., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2018). Is empathic contagion helpful or harmful? Overlooked heterogeneity in the empathy index. Psychological Assessment, 30, 1703–1708. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000641.
Ng, Z. J., Huebner, S. E., & Hills, K. J. (2015). Life satisfaction and academic performance in early adolescents: Evidence for reciprocal association. Journal of School Psychology, 53, 479–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2015.09.004.
Ng, Z. J., Huebner, E. S., Maydeu-Olivares, A., & Hills, K. J. (2018). Confirmatory factor analytic structure and measurement invariance of the brief multidimensional students’ life satisfaction scale (BMSLSS) in a longitudinal sample of adolescents. Child Indicators Research, 11, 1237–1247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9468-5.
Parker, P. D., Ciarrochi, J., Heaven, P., Marshall, S., Sahdra, B., & Kiuru, N. (2015). Hope, friends, and subjective well-being: A social network approach to peer group contextual effects. Child Development, 86, 642–650. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12308.
Pate, C. M., Maras, M. A., Whitney, S. D., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2017). Exploring psychosocial mechanisms and interactions: Links between adolescent emotional distress, school connectedness, and educational achievement. School Mental Health, 9, 28–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9202-3.
Proctor, C., Linley, P. A., & Maltby, J. (2010). Very happy youths: Benefits of very high life satisfaction among adolescents. Social Indicators Research, 98, 519–532. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9562-2.
Rammstedt, B., & John, O. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the big five inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.001.
Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., & ... Udry, J. R. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on adolescent health. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 823–832. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.278.10.823.
Rigby, B. T., & Huebner, E. S. (2005). Do causal attributions mediate the relationship between personality characteristics and life satisfaction in adolescence? Psychology in the Schools, 42, 91–99. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20026.
Roeser, R. W., & Eccles, J. S. (2014). Schooling and the mental health of children and adolescents in the United States. In M. Lewis, K. D. Rudolph, M. Lewis, & K. D. Rudolph (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychopathology (pp. 163–184). New York: Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9608-3_9.
Seligson, J. L., Huebner, E. S., & Valois, R. F. (2003). Preliminary validation of the brief multidimensional students’ life satisfaction scale (BMSLSS). Social Indicators Research, 61, 121–145. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021326822957.
Shaffer-Hudkins, E., Suldo, S., Loker, T., & March, A. (2010). How adolescents’ mental health predicts their physical health: Unique contributions of indicators of subjective well-being and psychopathology. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 5, 203–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-010-9105-7.
Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.4.422.
Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 467–487. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20593.
Steiger, J. H., & Lind, J. M. (1980). Statistically based tests for the number of common factors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the psychometric society, Iowa City, IA.
Suldo, S. M., Minch, D., & Hearon, B. V. (2015). Adolescent life satisfaction and personality characteristics: Investigating relationships using a five factor model. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16, 965–983. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9544-1.
Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects. Child Development, 88, 1156–1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12864.
Telef, B. B., & Furlong, M. J. (2017). Adaptation and validation of the social emotional health survey-secondary into Turkish culture. International Journal of School and Educational Psychology, 5, 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2016.1234988.
Thalmayer, A. G., Saucier, G., & Eigenhuis, A. (2011). Comparative validity of brief to medium-length big five and big six personality questionnaires. Psychological Assessment, 23, 995–1009. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024165.
Tian, L., Jiang, S., & Huebner, E. S. (2018). The big two personality traits and adolescents’ complete mental health: The mediation role of perceived school stress. School Psychology Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000257.
Weber, M., & Huebner, E. S. (2015). Early adolescents’ personality and life satisfaction: A closer look at global vs. domain-specific satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.042.
You, S., Furlong, M. J., Felix, E., Sharkey, J. D., Tanigawa, D., & Green, J. G. (2008). Relations among school connectedness, hope, life satisfaction, and bully victimization. Psychology in the Schools, 45, 446–460. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20308.
You, S., Furlong, M. J., Dowdy, E., Renshaw, T. L., Smith, D. C., & O’Malley, M. D. (2014). Further validation of the social and emotional health survey for high school students. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 9, 997–1015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9282-2.
You, S., Furlong, M. J., Felix, E., & O’Malley, M. (2015). Validation of the social and emotional health survey for five sociocultural groups: Multigroup invariance and latent mean analyses. Psychology in the Schools, 52, 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21828.
Zayas, V., Mischel, W., & Pandey, G. (2014). Mind and brain in delay of gratification. In V. F. Reyna & V. Zayas (Eds.), The neuroscience of risky decision making (pp. 145–176). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14322-007.
Zullig, K. J., Valois, R. F., Huebner, E. S., Oeltmann, J. E., & Drane, J. W. (2001). Relationship between perceived life satisfaction and adolescents’ substance abuse. Journal of Adolescent Health, 29, 279–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(01)00269-5.
Funding
The research reported here was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant # R305A160157 to the University of California, Santa Barbara. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute of Education Sciences or the U.S. Department of Education.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, E.K., Furlong, M.J. & Dowdy, E. Adolescents’ Personality Traits and Positive Psychological Orientations: Relations with Emotional Distress and Life Satisfaction Mediated by School Connectedness. Child Ind Res 12, 1951–1969 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-9619-y
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-9619-y