Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Meta-analysis of observational and correlational psychometric studies
PubMed 18193998 · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.1.138
What was done
The authors conducted a meta-analysis assessing the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being (SWB). To address commensurability issues from pooling disparate measures, the analysis evaluated specific personality inventories (such as the NEO Personality Inventory) and distinct categories of SWB (such as life satisfaction). A multivariate approach was used to determine the variance in SWB explained by personality traits both individually and together.
What was found
Accounting for scale-level distinctions yielded associations up to 4 times larger than reported in previous meta-analyses. In multivariate analyses, personality traits accounted for up to 39% of the variance in SWB, reaching 63% when disattenuated for measurement error.
Why it matters
This paper demonstrates that personality traits explain substantially more variance in subjective well-being than earlier meta-analyses suggested, highlighting the importance of scale commensurability in psychometric synthesis.
Limits
The abstract does not report the total number of studies, aggregate sample size, or specific demographic characteristics included. The underlying studies are observational and correlational, precluding causal conclusions and carrying risk of shared method bias from self-report instruments.
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