The positive association between intrinsic, as opposed to extrinsic, goal importance and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is well-documented. However, less is known whether these associations are consistent across age groups and when simultaneously considering personality traits. Structural equation models conducted with young, middle-aged, and older adults indicated that neuroticism was negatively related to SWB across age groups, while extraversion and intrinsic goal importance held age-differential associations: Extraversion was related to SWB in the two younger age groups, whereas in older adults only an indirect effect emerged via intrinsic goal importance. Intrinsic goal importance was related to SWB among young and older adults but not among middle-aged adults. These results underscore the importance of age-differential associations in determinants of SWB.
The lifelong ability of people to continually adapt to changes in life circumstances and to attain a positive developmental trajectory in psychological functioning has received great attention within the scope of life span psychology. Positive psychological functioning implies attainment or maintenance of an optimal level of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), the universal relevance of which is rooted in the assumption that the quest for happiness represents a fundamental human need, regardless of age. As a consequence, a great deal of research has focused on what constitutes happiness, in order to attain a complete description of SWB and of its causes and correlates (for an overview see Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). Personality traits, especially neuroticism and extraversion, reflect major determinants of SWB (for comprehensive meta-analyses see DeNeve and Cooper, 1998 and Steel et al., 2008). However, dispositional traits represent only one possible group of determinants of SWB. Another group of determinants highlights the relevance of having and pursuing subjectively important goals for one’s well-being (e.g., Diener et al., 1999).
Accordingly, a recent elaboration by Sheldon and Hoon (2007) highlights the importance of simultaneously considering different factors as determinants of SWB for a comprehensive description of its causes and correlates. From a theoretical point of view, the multidimensional nature of SWB co-determined by multiple situational and dispositional factors is widely proffered across standard textbooks (e.g., Kahnemann et al., 1999 and Mroczek and Little, 2006). From an empirical point of view, however, efforts to simultaneously address different factors as determinants of SWB are scarce and lack an explicit life span perspective (e.g., Haslam et al., 2009, Romero et al., 2009 and Sheldon and Hoon, 2007). The present study aims to address these issues by examining how personality traits and subjective goal importance are related to SWB from a life span developmental perspective across young, middle-aged, and older adulthood.
