Personality traits predicting different aspects of subjective well-being in elderly adults

Abstract

The study examined unique predictive relations of personality traits with three components of subjective well-being (WB) in a normative sample (N = 272; 70% females) of Slovene elderly (M = 71.82 years, SD = 6.03). Investigating the concurrent relationships, we relied on the Big Five personality model and the Keyes’s model of WB, which entails emotional well-being (EWB), psychological well-being (PWB), and social well-being (SoWB). We also considered the participants’ background characteristics (age, gender, marital status and educational level), and their subjective health status in predicting the components of WB. The respondents filled-in a scale of subjective health, constructed for the purpose of the study, the Big Five Inventory and the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form. The demographic characteristics did not significantly contribute to any aspect of WB, whereas self-reported health significantly improved the prediction of EWB and PWB. The Big Five uniquely predicted all of the components of WB, over and above demographics and subjective health. Agreeableness was a significant single predictor across the components of WB. Higher levels of conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism contributed to EWB. Conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness predicted PWB, and openness predicted SoWB.

Professional status matters: Differences in flow proneness between professional and amateur contemporary musicians.

“…Second, our study focused strategically on contemporary musicians only, so caution must be exercised before generalizing our findings to other types of musicians. Earlier research on musical flow proneness focuses exclusively on classical musicians (Cohen & Bodner, 2019a; Fritz & Avsec, 2007; Marin & Bhattacharya, 2013), and we believe it is important to recognize that contemporary musicians have different employment opportunities, stressors, training, motivation, and values than classical musicians (Green, 2002; Gross & Musgrave, 2020). Third, we did not measure the state anxiety.…”

“…Conversely, it is plausible that individuals who are naturally prone to flow may be more inclined to pursue a professional career in music. The positive impact of frequent flow experiences on happiness and well-being (Asakawa, 2010; Csíkszentmihályi, 2002; Fritz & Avsec, 2007; Sedlár, 2014), or simply the flow experiences themselves, may serve as motivation for young musicians to dedicate more hours to perfecting their craft, ultimately attaining professional opportunities. It is important to note here that our findings do not allow inferring the direction of causation.…”

“…Musicians frequently contend with music performance anxiety (MPA), commonly referred to as stage fright, which is known to have an inverse relationship with flow proneness (Cohen & Bodner, 2019a). Anxiety is often described as the antithesis of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1990), and musicians who achieve flow regularly report a greater sense of well-being (Fritz & Avsec, 2007), along with lower levels of anxiety, both at the trait (Rakei et al, 2022) and at the state level—MPA in this case (Cohen & Bodner, 2019a; Kirchner et al, 2008). Cohen and Bodner (2019a, 2019b, 2021) have suggested the possibility of utilizing flow as a means to managing MPA and have found differences in both anxiety and flow among orchestral musicians.…”

Development and validation of the Mechanisms of Engagement in the Arts and Humanities scales.

“…Within immersion, the passage of time was not consistently predictive of flourishing outcomes, while effortless involvement was a consistent predictor of well-being when referring to engagement in both arts and humanities. This suggests that the experience of feeling that time stops during an engagement with the arts and humanities may be less relevant to long-term well-being outcomes and is perhaps more tied to more proximal physiological and psychological reactions or in-the-moment experiences (Fritz & Avsec, 2007; Hallam et al, 2014). However, feeling of distance from everyday problems and a feeling of effortless involvement may have added long-term benefits through the same means as reprise from daily problems and leisure can affect well-being (Newman et al, 2014).…”

“…Engagement in AH can be beneficial through the immersive nature of the activity. The immersion mechanism represents attention captured during engagement in AH, potentially resulting in a feeling of “being carried away” or in its ideal form, an experience of “flow.” Immersive experiences of this sort have been related to positive physiological and psychological reactions (Fritz & Avsec, 2007; Hallam et al, 2014). In particular, such immersive experiences can derive affective states such as awe (Busch & Gick, 2012; De Bolla, 2003), and can also lead to greater in-the-moment sensory experiences (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).…”