2. Personality and Wellbeing
Created @August 11, 2025 3:12 PM
Class PS2050
Wellbeing: Huppert (2009)
The combination of feeling good and functioning well
The experience of positive emotions such as happiness and contentment
The development of one’s potential
Having some control over one’s life and having a sense of purpose
Experiencing positive relationships
Subjective Wellbeing: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect
Psychological wellbeing: positive relations, autonomy, environmental mastery,
purpose in life, self-acceptance, and personal growth
Definitions of Resilience
Rutter (1999)
Dynamic process involving an interaction between both risk and protective
process, internal and external to the individual, that act to modify the effects of
an adverse life event
Resilience as a Trait
Resilience is referred to as heritable characteristics, distinctive qualities,
strengths, or aspects of personality (e.g., big five), which are relatively stable
over time
Connor and Davidson 2003
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC): widely used measure of
resilience as a personality trait
2. Personality and Wellbeing 1
, Five-factor model for 25-items (domains such as personal competence,
control, spirituality)
Contents of scale drawn from several studies
CD‑RISC uses only positively phrased statements, potentially
leading to acquiescence bias or socially desirable responses
Wagnild and Young 1993
Resilience as a positive personality characteristic that enhances individual
adaptation
Developed 25-item Resilience Scale with 5 components: equanimity,
perseverance, self-reliance, meaningfulness, and existential aloneness
Block and Block (1980)
Ego-resiliency is a dynamic personality trait reflecting an individual’s capacity
to flexibly and adaptively regulate impulses, emotions, and behaviour in
response to changing situational demands
Supporting Studies
Researcher Method Results
Qualiative study looking at resilience in
24 older women, 67–92 yrs These themes showed
Benetti and Self-report: a recent major loss and balanced perspective of
Kambouropoulos were considered successfully adjusted life, perseverance, self-
(2006) reliance, and attributing
Investigated themes shown in wagnild a meaning to life
and young resilience scale
Riolli, Savicki, • Comparative, cross-sectional design Resilience was linked to
and Cepani • 1999 Kosovo crisis: Resilience under
(2002) real-world adversity Higher
• Participants were drawn from three extraversion
distinct groups: opennes
◦ Kosovar refugees conscientiousness
◦ Albanian citizens assisting refugees control-oriented coping
in Albania strategies
◦ Albanian immigrants living in the
United States
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