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Predicting Well-Being From Personality in Adolescents and Older Adults

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Abstract

The relationship between personality and well-being is dynamic and therefore should be examined within aging perspective. In study presented here we compared the prediction of well-being from personality in two samples–223 adolescents attending high-school (16–19 years; M = 16.94, SD = 0.51) and 134 older adults (54–90 years; M = 77.20, SD = 7.39) living in retirement home or at home. Different aspects of well-being were included in the study. Subjective well-being was measured with Index of Well-Being, but also self-esteem and loneliness were included as measures of psychological well-being. Personality (measured with FFPI; Hendriks et al. in Pers Individ Dif 27:307–325, 1999) significantly predicted indicators of well-being (Self-Esteem, Loneliness and Index of Well-Being) in both samples, with emotional stability and extraversion as most pronounced predictors. Personality explained more variance of well-being in adolescents than in older adults, and more variance in eudaimonic than hedonic aspects of well-being.

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Correspondence to Ana Butkovic.

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Butkovic, A., Brkovic, I. & Bratko, D. Predicting Well-Being From Personality in Adolescents and Older Adults. J Happiness Stud 13, 455–467 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9273-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9273-7

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