The effects of a personality intervention on satisfaction in 10 domains of life: Evidence for increases and correlated change with personality traits.

Abstract

The desire to change one’s personality traits has been shown to be stronger if people are dissatisfied with associated aspects of their life. While evidence for the effects of interventions on personality trait change is increasing, it is unclear whether these lead to subsequent improvements in the satisfaction with various domains of life. In this study, we examined the effects of a 3-month digital-coaching personality change intervention study on 10 domains of satisfaction. We focused on the three largest intervention groups of the study (N = 418), which included participants who wanted to increase their Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, or Extraversion. Bivariate latent change score models were used to examine correlated change between the targeted personality traits and satisfaction domains. We found that global life satisfaction and satisfaction with oneself as a person increased in all three intervention groups. In addition, increases in specific satisfaction domains were reported for the Conscientiousness (e.g., work/school, health, friendships) and Emotional Stability (e.g., family, sexual relationships, emotions) group. Increases were stable up to the 3-month follow-up. In contrast, the waitlist control group did not report any changes in global or domain-specific life satisfaction. Changes in the satisfaction domains were positively correlated with self-reported personality trait change to a similar degree as the cross-sectional associations, but not to observer-reported personality trait change. The personality intervention thus seemed to have a positive effect on satisfaction with various domains of life, which was associated with the degree of self-reported personality trait change.

Intervention-related correlated change between personality traits and self-esteem.

“…Data, analysis code, and research materials are available in a repository on Open Science Framework (OSF; Olaru & Allemand, 2021). Previous articles have used outcome data from the digital intervention trial to examine the effects of the digital coaching intervention on personality traits (Stieger et al, 2021), facets and nuances (Olaru et al, 2022), satisfaction with life domains (Olaru et al, 2023), and predictors of personality-change goals including self-esteem at pretest (Stieger, Eck, et al, 2020). Other articles have used ambulatory assessment data from the study to examine associations between personality states and situational cues (Lindner et al, 2023) and associations between personality states and smartphone sensing (Rüegger et al, 2020).…”

University students' and lecturers' perceived stress and satisfaction with life during the COVID‐19 pandemic: The role of personality traits and self‐efficacy

“…On the other hand, extraversion has both direct and indirect effects on life satisfaction. Other personality traits from the Big Five model are anticipated to have an indirect link to satisfaction with life (Olaru et al, 2023). Both before and during the pandemic, the strongest association was maintained for the trait of negative emotionality, where a direct link to life satisfaction is assumed.…”

“…From a developmental perspective, higher levels of extraversion may be integral for satisfaction in adolescence and young adulthood, where individuals typically establish social networks and find partners. However, these associations may diminish in relevance in middle and older adulthood when individuals primarily maintain existing social relationships (Olaru et al, 2023). During the period when students were prohibited from visiting universities, lecturers retained access to these institutions.…”

One year later: Longer‐term maintenance effects of a digital intervention to change personality traits

“…This realization could have led to increased confidence, driven by positive outcomes resulting from their altered behaviors. Also, the satisfaction derived from observing positive changes could have functioned as a motivational catalyst, propelling them to persist in their journey of ongoing improvement (Hudson & Fraley, 2016;Olaru et al, 2023).…”

“…Data and analyses code are available at the OSF repository and can be accessed at https://osf.io/n6xdg/?view_only=a7200d4cdb28477683d10216de903175. Previous articles have used the dataset to examine the effects of the digital intervention on personality traits (Stieger et al, 2021) and personality facets and nuances (Olaru et al, 2022) during and until three months after the end of the intervention, predictors of personality change goals at pretest (Stieger, Eck et al, 2020), and associations between changes in personality traits and changes in life satisfaction (Olaru et al, 2023), associations between personality states and situational cues (Lindner et al, 2023), and associations between personality states and smartphone sensing (Rüegger et al, 2020). Data from the 1-year follow-up assessment are unique to this study.…”