Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Predicting Psychological and Subjective Well-Being from Personality: Incremental Prediction from 30 Facets Over the Big 5

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

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the Big 5, measured at factor and facet levels, and dimensions of both psychological and subjective well-being. Three hundred and thirty-seven participants completed the 30 Facet International Personality Item Pool Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule, and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Cross-correlation decomposition presented a parsimonious picture of how well-being is related to personality factors. Incremental facet prediction was examined using double-adjusted r2 confidence intervals and semi-partial correlations. Incremental prediction by facets over factors ranged from almost nothing to a third more variance explained, suggesting a more modest incremental prediction than presented in the literature previously. Examination of semi-partial correlations controlling for factors revealed a small number of important facet-well-being correlations. All data and R analysis scripts are made available in an online repository.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bardi, A., & Ryff, C. D. (2007). Interactive effects of traits on adjustment to a life transition. Journal of Personality, 75(5), 955–984. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00462.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchard, T. J, Jr, & Loehlin, J. C. (2001). Genes, evolution, and personality. Behavior Genetics, 31(3), 243–273. doi:10.1023/A:1012294324713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brickman, P., & Campbell, D. T. (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. In M. H. Apley (Ed.), Adaptation-level theory (pp. 287–305). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butkovic, A., Brkovic, I., & Bratko, D. (2012). Predicting well-being from personality in adolescents and older adults. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(3), 455–467. doi:10.1007/s10902-011-9273-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compton, W. C. (1998). Measures of mental health and a five factor theory of personality. Psychological Reports, 83(1), 371–381. doi:10.2466/pr0.1998.83.1.371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory and NEO five factor inventory: professional manual (Vol. 396). Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2008). The revised NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R). The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment, 2, 179–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 1–11. doi:10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 197–229. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (Ed.). (2009). Culture and well-being: The collected works of Ed Diener (Vol. 38). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 403–425. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Digman, J. M. (1997). Higher-order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6), 1246–1256. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.6.1246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 158–164. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.1.158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–34. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48(1), 26–34. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.48.1.26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. Personality Psychology in Europe, 7, 7–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., et al. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84–96. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, S., Langan-Fox, J., & Anglim, J. (2009). The Big Five traits as predictors of subjective and psycholoical well-being. Psychological Reports, 105(1), 205–231. doi:10.2466/PR0.105.1.205-231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Headey, B., & Wearing, A. J. (1992). Understanding happiness: A theory of subjective well-being. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inquisit 3.0 [Computer software]. (2012). Seattle: Millisecond Software.

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. A. (2000). Web-based personality assessment: Project description and rationale. Paper presented at the 71st annual meeting of the eastern psychological association, Baltimore, MD.

  • Keyes, C. L., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. D. (2002). Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 1007–1022. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.1007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., & Diener, E. (2008). Subjective well-being. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 471–484). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1996). Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(3), 616–628. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.3.616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7(3), 186–189. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00355.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60(2), 175–215. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00970.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, I., & Little, B. R. (1998). Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: On doing well and being yourself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2), 494–512. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.2.494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musek, J. (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(6), 1213–1233. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.02.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Ashton, M. C. (2001). Big five factors and facets and the prediction of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(3), 524–539. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.3.524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Jackson, D. N. (2000). What is beyond the big five? Plenty! Journal of Personality, 68(5), 821–835. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quevedo, R. J. M., & Abella, M. C. (2011). Well-being and personality: Facet-level analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 206–211. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 141–166. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D., & Essex, M. J. (1992). The interpretation of life experience and well-being: the sample case of relocation. Psychology and Aging, 7(4), 507. doi:10.1037//0882-7974.7.4.507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9(1), 1–28. doi:10.1159/000289026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2006). Best news yet on the six-factor model of well-being. Social Science Research, 35(4), 1103–1119. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.01.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Oishi, S., Furr, R. M., & Funder, D. C. (2004). Personality and life satisfaction: A facet-level analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(8), 1062–1075. doi:10.1177/0146167204264292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmutte, P. S., & Ryff, C. D. (1997). Personality and well-being: Reexamining methods and meanings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3), 549–559. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.3.549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegler, I. C., & Brummett, B. H. (2000). Associations among NEO personality assessments and well-being at midlife: Facet-level analyses. Psychology and Aging, 15(4), 710–714. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.15.4.710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soto, C. J. (2014). Is happiness good for your personality? Concurrent and prospective relations of the Big Five with subjective well-being. Journal of Personality. doi:10.1111/jopy.12081.

  • Steel, P., Schmidt, J., & Shultz, J. (2008). Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 134(1), 138–161. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.1.138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, A., Bates, T. C., & Luciano, M. (2008). Happiness is a personal(ity) thing: The genetics of personality and well-being in a representative sample. Psychological Science, 19(3), 205–210. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02068.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Sue Carmen for her assistance with data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeromy Anglim.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Anglim, J., Grant, S. Predicting Psychological and Subjective Well-Being from Personality: Incremental Prediction from 30 Facets Over the Big 5. J Happiness Stud 17, 59–80 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9583-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9583-7

Keywords

Navigation