Personality, well-being and deprivation theory

Abstract

Two hundred and thirty-eight university students were administered scales of the latent (social support, status, time use, collective purpose, activity) and manifest (financial) benefits of employment, the five main personality factors (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeability, conscientiousness, and intellect/openness), and psychological well-being. Results indicated that the latent and manifest benefits of employment were significantly associated with well-being in a student sample, that personality was able to account for a significant amount of the explained variance in well-being over and above the situational variables covered by the latent and manifest benefits, and that neuroticism was the main individual difference influencing well-being. The results were examined in the context of a bottom-up/top-down explanatory model of well-being, and recommendations are made regarding an expanded role for manifest benefits, and for the inclusion of personality variables in the latent deprivation model (Jahoda, 1982), the most influential situation model accounting for deterioration in well-being.