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The happy personality: Mediational role of trait emotional intelligence

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (Gosling et al., 2003), trait emotional intelligence (EI) (Petrides & Furnham, 2001) and happiness (Argyle et al., 1989) in a sample of 112 (61 female) student and non-student participants. Strong dispositional determinants of happiness were identified. In line with previous findings, four of the Big Five, namely stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, were positively correlated with both happiness and trait EI, which explained 18% of unique variance (over and above age and the Big Five) in happiness. Furthermore, a significant amount of shared variance between happiness and the Big Five was explained by trait EI, which partly mediated the paths from stability and conscientiousness to happiness, and fully mediated the link between agreeableness and happiness. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Introduction

Although few goals are more valued in society than happiness, psychologists have traditionally focused on human “unhappiness” (e.g., depression, anxiety and emotional disorders) (Argyle, 2001, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). However, recent years have seen an upsurge in studies on happiness (e. g., Argyle, 2001, Diener, 2000, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), which is defined in terms of the average level of satisfaction over a specific time period, the frequency and degree of positive affect manifestations, and the relative absence of negative affect (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland, 1989).

Although happiness depends on situational factors, reflected in within-individual variations of affect, the fact that some individuals are consistently happier than others suggests dispositional causes underlying the pursuit and experience of happiness. Indeed, personality traits are arguably the most robust predictors of happiness, if not the major determinant. Hence Eysenck’s (1983) famous assertion that “happiness is a thing called stable extraversion” (p. 87).

The most compelling evidence for the strong associations between personality traits and happiness derived from DeNeve and Cooper’s (1998) meta-analysis, which indicated that four of the so-called Big Five personality factors, namely emotional stability (ES), conscientiousness (C), extraversion (E), and agreeableness (A) – usually in that order – predispose individuals towards happiness. There is also wide consensus on the fact that ES and E, linked to temperamental differences in positive and negative affect, provide the biological basis of happiness, with A providing the social, and C the achievement, components of happiness (Carver and Scheier, 2004, Furnham and Cheng, 1997, Hayes and Joseph, 2003).

In recent years, dispositional explanations of happiness have also emphasized the importance of emotional intelligence (EI), which, among other things, refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s and others’ emotions (Palmer et al., 2002; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Unlike cognitive ability, EI is most reliably assessed via self-report inventories, rather than objective performance tests. Therefore the label “trait EI” has been put forward to reflect its taxonomic position within the realm of personality.

Given the conceptual and empirical overlap between trait EI and other personality dimensions, notably ES, E, and A (Petrides & Furnham, 2001) it is particularly important to test whether trait EI may explain variance in happiness beyond other personality traits. Accordingly, a recent study (Furnham & Petrides, 2003) found trait EI predicted happiness over and above the Big Five personality dimensions. Furthermore, the significant links between the Big Five and happiness were fully accounted for by trait EI. Thus the present study set out to explore the mediational role of trait EI in the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and happiness.

To our knowledge, no other studies have simultaneously examined the Big Five and Petrides’ trait EI as predictors of happiness. However, a growing number of studies suggest that despite the considerable overlap between trait EI and the Big Five personality factors, trait EI explains additional and unique variance in a number of important outcomes. For instance, Saklofske, Austin, and Minski (2003) found that trait EI (assessed via Schutte et al., 1998 inventory) predicted life satisfaction and depression-proneness beyond the Big Five. Petrides and Furnham (2003) reported that, although trait EI was substantially related to extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and autonomy, EI-facets predicted additional variance over and above the Big Five in competency to support. Petrides, Frederickson, and Furnham (2004) showed that trait EI explained several educational outcomes (notably truancy and attendance) even when major personality factors – this time assessed via Eysenck’s Giant Three (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985) – were considered. Last, but not least, a recent paper (Petrides, Perez-Gonzalez, & Furnham, in press) showed that in two studies trait EI significantly predicted rumination, life satisfaction, depression, dysfunctional attitudes, and coping, even when controlling for Big Five variance. Thus one may expect trait EI to explain happiness even when major personality factors are taken into account.

In the present study, it was predicted that:

  • H1: Four of the Big Five personality traits, namely ES, E, C and A, would be significantly and positively correlated with both happiness and trait EI.

  • H2: Trait EI would be significantly and positively correlated with happiness.

  • H3: The relationship between the Big Five and happiness would be fully mediated (accounted for) by trait EI.

As the sample comprised a similar number of female and male participants, as well as a wide range of age, possible effects of age and gender were also examined to ensure that any relationship between the central variables of the study was not a function of these demographic factors.

Section snippets

Participants

One hundred and twelve (61 female) participants, aged 13 to 59 (M = 25.1, SD = 9.4) years, took part in this study. Approximately 50% of the sample was composed of undergraduate students (arts, media, psychology, and computer sciences) from the University of London, with the rest being drawn from the general population (mostly family members or friends of the participating students, as well as people approached in the city of London).

Measures

The Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI; Argyle et al., 1989): This is a widely used, 29-item, happiness scale, where participants respond on a 7-point Likert-type scale (ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”). The OHI has been shown to have adequate test-retest reliability (7-week period = .78; 5-months period = .67) and moderate to high internal consistency (typical Cronbachα between .64 and .87) (see Argyle et al., 1989), and has been translated into several languages, including

Procedure

Participants were tested individually. Order effects were controlled by randomly counterbalancing the order of administration. Battery completion time took approximately 12 minutes. All participants were fully de-briefed upon completion and provided with individual feedback if requested.

Results

Descriptive statistics (M and SD) and inter-correlation coefficients (Pearson’s r) for all measures are reported in Table 1. As shown, happiness correlated positively with ES, E, C, and A, fully supporting H1. The high and positive correlation between trait EI and happiness yielded support for H2.

In the first regression, age and gender accounted for 11% of the variance in happiness scores for the overall sample, with age (but not gender) as a significant predictor in the model. When the big

Discussion

In all, results suggest strong dispositional influences on happiness. Although established personality traits (notably ES, A, and C) explained a considerable amount of variance in happiness, some of these paths (partly in the case of ES and C, and fully in the case of A) were explained by trait EI, which was a much stronger predictor than the Big Five (and age) of happiness.

One possible explanation for the higher predictive validity of trait EI compared to the Big Five is that the former was

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