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The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being K M DeNeve  1 , H Cooper Affiliations Expand Affiliation 1 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798-7334, USA. kristina__deneve@baylor.edu PMID: 9747186 DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.197 Item in Clipboard Meta-Analysis The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being K M DeNeve et al. Psychol Bull. 1998 Sep. Show details Display options Display options Format Abstract PubMed PMID Psychol Bull Actions Search in PubMed Search in NLM Catalog Add to Search . 1998 Sep;124(2):197-229. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.197. Authors K M DeNeve  1 , H Cooper Affiliation 1 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798-7334, USA. kristina__deneve@baylor.edu PMID: 9747186 DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.197 Item in Clipboard Full-text links CiteDisplay options Display options Format Abstract PubMed PMID Abstract This meta-analysis used 9 literature search strategies to examine 137 distinct personality constructs as correlates of subjective well-being (SWB). Personality was found to be equally predictive of life satisfaction, happiness, and positive affect, but significantly less predictive of negative affect. The traits most closely associated with SWB were repressive-defensiveness, trust, emotional stability, locus of control-chance, desire for control, hardiness, positive affectivity, private collective self-esteem, and tension. When personality traits were grouped according to the Big Five factors, Neuroticism was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, happiness, and negative affect. Positive affect was predicted equally well by Extraversion and Agreeableness. The relative importance of personality for predicting SWB, how personality might influence SWB, and limitations of the present review are discussed. Comment in Is a repressive-defensive coping style really so bad? Comment on DeNeve and Cooper (1998). Pauls CA. Pauls CA. Psychol Bull. 2007 Nov;133(6):907-9; discussion 910. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.6.907. Psychol Bull. 2007. PMID: 17967085 Similar articles Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: self-efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well-being. Strobel M, Tumasjan A, Spörrle M. Strobel M, et al. Scand J Psychol. 2011 Feb;52(1):43-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00826.x. Scand J Psychol. 2011. PMID: 20497398 Big Five personality traits: are they really important for the subjective well-being of Indians? Tanksale D. Tanksale D. Int J Psychol. 2015 Feb;50(1):64-9. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12060. Epub 2014 Mar 27. Int J Psychol. 2015. PMID: 25611929 The Relative Importance of Personality, Financial Satisfaction, and Autonomy for Different Subjective Well-Being Facets. Ng W, Russell Kua WS, Kang SH. Ng W, et al. J Psychol. 2019;153(7):680-700. doi: 10.1080/00223980.2019.1598928. Epub 2019 Apr 19. J Psychol. 2019. PMID: 31002585 Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Diener E, Oishi S, Lucas RE. Diener E, et al. Annu Rev Psychol. 2003;54:403-25. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056. Epub 2002 Jun 10. Annu Rev Psychol. 2003. PMID: 12172000 Review. How strongly related are health status and subjective well-being? Systematic review and meta-analysis. Ngamaba KH, Panagioti M, Armitage CJ. Ngamaba KH, et al. Eur J Public Health. 2017 Oct 1;27(5):879-885. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckx081. Eur J Public Health. 2017. PMID: 28957478 Review. See all similar articles Cited by 174 articles Understanding subjective well-being: perspectives from psychology and public health. Das KV, Jones-Harrell C, Fan Y, Ramaswami A, Orlove B, Botchwey N. Das KV, et al. Public Health Rev. 2020 Nov 19;41(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s40985-020-00142-5. Public Health Rev. 2020. PMID: 33292677 Free PMC article. Review. Loneliness and Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Associations with Personality and Emotion Regulation. Gubler DA, Makowski LM, Troche SJ, Schlegel K. Gubler DA, et al. J Happiness Stud. 2020 Oct 20:1-20. doi: 10.1007/s10902-020-00326-5. Online ahead of print. J Happiness Stud. 2020. PMID: 33100896 Free PMC article. Personality traits mediate the association between perceived parental bonding and well-being in adult volunteers from the community. 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