Global Life Satisfaction in Adolescence
The Role of Personality Traits, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy
Abstract
Abstract. Positive levels of global life satisfaction are associated with a broad range of positive personal, psychological, and social outcomes both in the present and future. However, for adolescents, little is known about the underlying personal characteristics that predict global life satisfaction. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and global life satisfaction in a sample of 437 Swiss adolescents attending the second last year of compulsory school. Results have shown that conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, self-esteem, and self-efficacy are significantly associated with global life satisfaction. Moreover, self-esteem seems to be a mediator of the relationship between personality traits and global life satisfaction, suggesting that it might be considered as a process variable regulating behaviors, feelings, and thoughts that are related to personality dimensions.
References
2012). IBM SPSS Amos 21 user's guide. Chicago, IL: SPSS.
(2000). Adolescents’ achievement strategies, school adjustment, and externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 289–306. doi: 10.1023/A:1005143607919
(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Freeman.
(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173
(2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 1, 1–44. doi: 10.1111/1529-1006.01431
(2010). The development of psychological well-being among first-year college students. Journal of College Student Development, 51, 180–200. doi: 10.1353/csd.0.0118
(2004). Life satisfaction among European American, African American, Chinese American, Mexican American, and Dominican American adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28, 385–400. doi: 10.1080/01650250444000072
(2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2000). Reliability generalization of the NEO personality scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 236–254. doi: 10.1177/00131640021970484
(2001). Validation of a new general self-efficacy scale. Organizational Research Methods, 4, 62–63. doi: 10.1177/109442810141004
(1967). The antecedents of self-esteem. San Francisco, CA: Freeman.
(1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 197–229. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.197
(1996). Personality in learning and education: A review. European Journal of Personality, 10, 303–336. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0984(199612)10:5<303::AID-PER262>3.0.CO;2-2
(1994). Adolescents’ perceived quality of life: An exploratory investigation. Journal of School Psychology, 32, 185–199. doi: 10.1016/0022-4405(94)90010-8
(1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.542
(2011). Happy people live longer: Subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3, 1–43. doi: 10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x
(1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653–663. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.68.4.653
(1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
(2002). Very happy people. Psychological Science, 13, 81–84. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00415
(1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276
(2012). La Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS): un contributo alla validazione italiana con lavoratori adulti.
([The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS): A contribution to the Italian validation with adults workers] Counseling, 5, 207–215.2002). The relationship between temperament and life satisfaction in early adolescence: Cognitive and behavioral mediation models. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 373–392. doi: 10.1023/A:1021883830847
(2000). Perceived parental behavior, self-esteem and happiness. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 463–470. doi: 10.1007/s001270050265
(2011). Two models of personality and well-being among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 1208–1212. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.02.009
(2013). Neuroticism and extraversion in youth predict mental well-being and life satisfaction 40 years later. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 687–697. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2013.06.005
(2012). Neuroticism, extraversion, goals, and subjective well-being: Exploring the relations in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 317–325. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2012.03.001
(2010). Personality and subjective well-being: One neglected model of personality and two forgotten aspects of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 631–635. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.12.008
(2002). Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 693–710. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.3.693
(2002). Relationship of personality to performance motivation: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 797–807. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.797
(1998). Dispositional effects on job and life satisfaction: The role of core evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 17–34. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.17
(1998). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford.
(1999). The handbook of psychological testing (2nd ed.). London, UK: Routledge.
(1997). Pancultural explanations for life-satisfaction: Adding relationship harmony to self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1038–1051. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1038
(2011). Estimating, testing, and comparing specific effects in structural equation models: The phantom model approach. Psychological Methods, 16, 34–43. doi: 10.1037/a0021763
(2010). NEO inventories professional manual: NEO-PI-3, NEO-FFI-3, NEO PI-R. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
(1998). Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: On doing well and being yourself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 494–512. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.2.494
(1994). A review of current practices for evaluating causal-models in organizational behavior and human resources management research. Journal of Management, 20, 439–464. doi: 10.1016/0149-2063(94)90022-1
(1997). La scala dell’autostima di Rosenberg: traduzione e validazione italiana
([The Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale: Translation and Italian validation] . Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata, 223, 35–44.2009). Youth life satisfaction: A review of the literature. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 583–630. doi: 10.1007/s10902-008-9110-9
(2005). A cross-cultural study of predictors of self-handicapping in university students. Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 727–737. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2005.02.008
(2009).
(Personality and emotions . In D. SandersK. S. SchererEds., The Oxford companion to emotion and the affective sciences (pp. 304–306). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.2013). Statistica degli allievi 2012–13
([Students’ statistic 2012–13] . Bellinzona, Switzerland: UMSS.2004). Parameter recovery and model fit using multidimensional composites: A comparison of four empirical parceling algorithms. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 379–412. doi: 10.1207/S15327906MBR3903_1
(1965). Society and the adolescence self-image. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
(2015a).
(Career adaptability and life designing . In L. NotaJ. RossierEds., Handbook of life design: From practice to theory and from theory to practice (pp. 153–167). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.2015b). Personality and career interventions. In P. J. HartungM. L. SavickasW. B. WalshEds., APA handbook of career intervention: Foundations (Vol. 1, 327–350). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi: 10.1037/1438-018
(2010). Adolescents’ life satisfaction during the transition to post-comprehensive education: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 683–701. doi: 10.1007/s10902-009-9156-3
(2002). Is perceived self-efficacy a universal construct? Psychometric findings from 25 countries. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 18, 242–251. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759.18.3.242
(1995).
(Generalized self-efficacy scale . In J. WeinmanS. WrightM. JohnstonEds., Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35–37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.1995). Generalized perceived self-efficacy. Retrieved from http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/selfscal.htm
(2008). Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 138–161. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.1.138
(2011). Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: Self-efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well-being. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52, 43–48. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00826.x
(2006). Is extremely high life satisfaction during adolescence advantageous? Social Indicators Research, 78, 179–203. doi: 10.1007/s11205-005-8208-2
(2015). Adolescent life satisfaction and personality characteristics: Investigating relationships using a five factor model. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16, 965–983. doi: 10.1007/s10902-014-9544-1
(2003). The Italian version of the NEO PI-R: Conceptual and empirical support for the use of targeted rotation. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1859–1872. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00035-7
(2015). Early adolescents’ personality and life satisfaction: A closer look at global vs. domain-specific satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 31–36. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.042
(