How satisfied are you with where life has taken you? The subject came up in discussion with friends last week. Before that I'd never given it much thought.
In reflection, I'd have to say my satisfaction level remains high after 76 years. I managed to carve out a career for myself at a relatively early age after getting married, having a child and finishing college, which got me started.
I can't help but believe my natural propensity toward being a "people person" only helped boost my overall satisfaction level.
And now a study in the Netherlands published in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and summarized by Robby Berman of Medical News Today seems to verify that, saying the connection between certain personality types associated with higher life satisfaction persists throughout life and strengthens with age.
It cites the "Big Five personality traits" believed to be connected with higher life satisfaction. "The Big Five are broad personality traits that characterize how a person feels, thinks and behaves," Berman reported.
Some psychologists use different names for the traits, and no personality can be exclusively described by any one trait, as most people have a combination. The traits are described below by their most extreme expressions.
1. Openness, or being open to new experiences. Those with a high level of this trait may engage in so-called magical thinking, and be considered eccentric. Someone with a lack of openness is inflexible and closed-minded.
2. Conscientiousness describes either "a motivated, perfectionist workaholic with high conscientiousness" or the opposite, "an irresponsible, distractible, or thoughtless person with too little of this trait."
3. Extraversion is "a social person who may also be an excitement- and attention-seeker. With a shortage of extraversion, a person is withdrawn or may be cold to others."
4. Agreeableness describes those seeking to get along and perhaps selfless in their attempts to do so; they may also be submissive and gullible. Those with low levels of this trait appear deceitful, manipulative, uncaring, or suspicious.
5. Neuroticism describes insecure, overly emotional people who are perhaps depressive and helpless. Conversely, low levels of the trait are associated with fearlessness and shamelessness.
Emotional stability, the fundamental driver of satisfaction, occurs when a person is neither high- nor low-neurotic but balanced between them.
The study, reported Berman, analyzed public anonymized data collected for the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences panel survey from 2008 to 2019. The 9,110 participants were a nationally representative sample of people ages 16 to 95 living in the Netherlands.
The study found personality traits primarily associated with a person's satisfaction level apply equally to all phases of a person's life, growing stronger in later years. Those who are emotionally stable are those most likely to feel generally satisfied with their lives.
Researchers determined "work satisfaction is closely tied to conscientiousness while social satisfaction is linked to extraversion and agreeableness," Berman wrote.
Human personalities are not fixed, but heredity plays a potentially large role. Dr. Adam Feltz, who wasn't involved in the study, told Berman the best estimates are about 50 percent of our personalities involve our heredity. "There is a lot of controversy around these estimates because it is very difficult to identify how much of the variation in personality is a result of shared environments versus shared genes."
Feltz, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma, said data suggests our personalities are relatively stable during early childhood, undergo a significant change through adolescence, and restabilize in adulthood. "People on average tend to become more agreeable with age," he said. "Through working on organizational skills, being more open, more friendly and outgoing, we can increase our happiness in different areas of our life over time."
California therapist Dr. Alisa Ruby Bash said one finding was the relationship between personality traits and satisfaction grows stronger.
"It has to do with the saying, 'what you put out, you get back,'" said Dr. Bash. "When we are uplifting and positive, people want to be around us, and give us more love and appreciation."
Let lawmakers know
Rep. Mary Bentley was planning to introduce her revised HB1610 as soon as Monday. It is by far the worst bill for the free flow of public information in Arkansas ever constructed, unless you and your legislator favor public boards and agencies meeting in secret.
I encourage all my valued readers to please take a moment and reach out to urge your legislators to vote against this terrible and needless attack on the open-meetings provision of our state's widely envied Freedom of Information Act of 1967.
Allowing one-third of an elected body to meet serially in secret will destroy FOIA, and all to benefit those who want to conduct our business in private.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].