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Factors Predicting Life Satisfaction: A Process Model of Personality, Multidimensional Self-Concept, and Life Satisfaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Philip D. Parker ,
Andrew J. Martin  and
Herbert W. Marsh
Philip D. Parker
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia.
Andrew J. Martin*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia. a.martin@edfac.usyd.edu.au
Herbert W. Marsh
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
*
*Address for Correspondence: Associate Professor Andrew J. Martin, Faculty of Education and Social Work, A35 – Education Building, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Abstract

Life satisfaction is an important component of psychological health and wellbeing. Although personality is consistently linked to life satisfaction, its ‘innate’ and stable nature can make it a difficult target for intervention by practitioners. More malleable and context-specific factors such as multidimensional self-concept may prove to be better targets for such intervention. However, the extent to which multidimensional self-concept predicts life satisfaction over and above personality is unclear. The present study, then, examines the extent to which these two factors predict life satisfaction with a view to ascertaining their relative salience for subsequent research and practice. Among a sample of 523 (predominantly young) adult students from two universities/colleges in Sydney, structural equation modelling using LISREL examined a process model of personality, multidimensional self-concept, and life satisfaction. Results suggest a strong direct role for the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness but also an important mediating role for parent, same-sex peer, physical ability, and appearance self-concepts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords

personalityself-conceptuniversity populationsindividual differenceslatent modelling
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , July 2008 , pp. 15 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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