Researchers have found direct and positive effects of gregariousness in early life on wellbeing and satisfaction later in life.
A new British study has found positive effects of sociability and higher emotional stability of young adults on wellbeing and content in later life. Researchers of the study also found that those young adults who are more reclusive or less emotionally stable have a negative impact on their later life, mainly resulting in more health problems, feelings of anxiety and depression.
Researchers looked at data of 4,583 people who were a part of the National Survey for Health and Development. All the participants were born in 1946, took part in a personality test at the age of 16- and again at the age of 26. Dr Catharine Gale from the University of Southampton and a team from the University of Edinburgh and University College London found enduring influence on well-being later in life from personality disposition during young adulthood.
Previous studies have linked personality traits in youth with happiness and life satisfaction later in life. The new study has found both positive and negative impact of personality disposition during young adulthood.
"Extroversion in youth had direct, positive effects on wellbeing and life satisfaction in later life. Neuroticism, in contrast, had a negative impact," Gale said in a press statement.
For the study, researchers assessed extroversion by questions about the participants' sociability, energy, and activity orientation, while neuroticism was assessed based on participants' emotional stability, mood, and distractibility.
Participants were again interviewed when they reached the ages of 60 and 64. Researchers questioned 2,529 participants about their well-being and their level of satisfaction with life. Their mental and physical health was also taken into consideration.
The results of the study concluded that greater extroversion in young adulthood was directly related with higher satisfaction results in later life, while neuroticism predicted poor levels of well-being.
"In this study, we found that levels of neuroticism and extroversion measured over 40 years earlier were strongly predictive of well-being and life satisfaction in older men and women. Personality in youth appears to have an enduring influence on happiness decades later," Gale concluded.
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
