The primary goal of this study was to explore the influence of neuroticism and resilience on life satisfaction and investigate the mediating effects of positive and negative affect on this relationship. A total of 282 participants were administered a battery of questionnaires that assessed neuroticism, resilience, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction. Results from path analyses (AMOS) revealed that positive affect partially mediated the association between neuroticism and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the association between resilience and life satisfaction was fully mediated by positive affect. These findings highlight the mediational role of positive rather than negative affect in the relationships between neuroticism, resilience and life satisfaction. Results elaborate on the earlier findings connecting neuroticism and resilience to life satisfaction. Limitations of the study are considered and implications of the results for promotion of individuals’ life satisfaction are discussed.
Life satisfaction is generally defined as a global cognitive evaluation of an individual as to the satisfaction with her/his own life as a whole (Diener et al., 2003 and Lucas et al., 1996). As numerous studies indicate, life satisfaction is a key indicator of quality of life. Life satisfaction is found to be correlated with a vast array of positive personal, psychological, social, interpersonal, and intrapersonal outcomes (for a review see Proctor, Linley, & Maltby, 2009). For example, people who are higher in global life satisfaction achieve better life outcomes, including financial success, academic achievement, self-esteem, self-efficacy, mental health, supportive relationships, effective coping, and even physical health and longevity (Gilman and Huebner, 2006, Proctor et al., 2009 and Suldo and Huebner, 2006). In contrast, people who are lower in life satisfaction have higher levels of anxiety and depression, and more experiences of emotional and behavioral problems (Suldo & Huebner, 2006). Therefore, life satisfaction is an important positive indicator of people’s psychological and social well-being.
Since the domain of life satisfaction is of immense importance to the quality of life of an individual, psychologists have made numerous attempts to find the correlates and predictors of people’s life satisfaction. Research has consistently shown that personality traits tend to be among the foremost predictors of life satisfaction (Diener et al., 2003 and Steel et al., 2008). For example, neuroticism, as a risk factor for quality of life, has been found to have a detrimental effect in life satisfaction. In contrast, resilience, as a protective factor for quality of life, has been found to be important in increasing life satisfaction. An alternative line of research has confirmed the role of positive and negative affect (PA and NA) in influencing life satisfaction (Kuppens et al., 2008, Lucas et al., 1996 and Suh et al., 1998). The purpose of the current study is to incorporate these two lines of research to investigate the processes underlying the associations between neuroticism, resilience and life satisfaction. Specifically, this study is focused on the possible mediating effects of PA and NA on the relationships between neuroticism, resilience and life satisfaction.
