International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

In the Pursuit of Happiness: The Role of Personality

Open access
Happiness and personality are closely related, like hand in glove. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits and happiness among undergraduates in Malaysia. Using a convenient sampling method, 130 students of five academic programs from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia completed the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Correlation analysis, multiple regression and ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results showed that happiness scores were positively and significantly correlated (P < 0.001) with those on Openness to experience (r = 0.243), Conscientiousness (r = 0.609), Extraversion (r = 0.446), Agreeableness (r = 0.391), but were negatively correlated with Neuroticism (r = - 0.166, P > 0.05). Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism accounted for 48.2% of variance in predicting happiness. ANOVA results also showed that there was a statistically significant difference in happiness among respondents with different levels of Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness to experience. University Student Affair and Academic Affair Departments of the university should organise initiatives that could identify students’ personality traits as this has a bearing on their happiness and hence their performance. Relevant activities need to be organised to enhance students’ well-being. This is among the first papers that investigates the relationship between happiness and personality among non-medical undergraduates in Malaysia using OHQ and NEO-FFI.
Agbo, A. A., & Ngwu, C. N. (2017). Averson to happiness and the experience of happiness: The moderating roles of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 227- 231.
Al_naggar, R., Al-Jashamy, K. A., Yun, L/w., Isa, Z. M., Alsaror, M. I., and Al-Naggar, A. A. (2010). Perceptions and Opinion of Happiness Among University Students in a Malaysian University ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 11 (2) 1-8.
Argyle, M., & Lu, L. (1990). The happiness of extravert. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 1011-1-17.
Boo, M. C., Yen, S. H., Lim, H. E. (2016). A Noted on Happiness and life satisfaction in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies (53(2): 261-277.
Brebner, J., Donaldson, J., Kirby, N., & Ward, L. (1995). Relationships between happiness and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 251-258.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1989). The NEO-PI/NEO-FFI manual supplement. Odessa, FL.: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Dean, A., Gibbs, P. (2015) Student satisfaction or happiness? A preliminary rethink of what is important in the student experience, Quality Assurance in Education, 23(1), 5-19.
DeNeve, K. M. & Copper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 Personality Traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124 (4), 197-229.
Diener, R. B. & Dean, B. (2007). Positive Psychology Coaching. Putting the science of happiness to work for your clients. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc
Francis, L. J., Brown, L. B, Lester, D., & Philipchalk, R. (1998). Happiness as stable extraversion: a cross-cultural examination of the reliability and validity of the Oxford Happiness Inventory among students in UK, USA, Australia and Canada. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 167-171.
Furnham, A., & Brewin, C. R. (1990). Personality and happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 1093-1096. Hayes, N & Jospeh , S (2003). Big 5 correlates of three measures of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences. 34(4), 723-727
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences. 33, 1079-1082.
Jaafar, J. L., Idris, M. A., Ismuni, J., Fei, Y., Jaafar, S., Ahmad, Z., Suprayogi, Y. (2012). The Sources of Happiness to the Malaysians and Indonesians: Data from a Smaller Nation. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 65, 549-556.
Kashdan, T., B. (2004). The assessment of subjective well-being (issues raised by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire). Personality and Individual Differences. 36, 1225–1232.
Lane, T. (2017). How does happiness relate to economic behavior? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 68, 62-78.
Lu, L., & Argyle, M. (1991). Happiness and cooperation. Personality and Individual Difference, 12, 1019-1030
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diner, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect; does happiness lead to success? Psychology Bulletin, 131, 803- 855
McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60, 175–215.
Pishva, N., Ghalehban, M., Moradi, A., & Hoesini, L. (2011). Personality and Happiness. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30, 429-432.
Steptoe. A, & Wardle. J, (2011). Positive affect measured using ecological momentary assessment and survival in older men and women. Journal Proceddings of the National Academy of Science, 108, 18244-18248
Tan, C. S., Low, S. L., Viapude, G. N. (2018) Extraversion and happiness: The mediating role of social support and hope. Psychology Journal 7(3), 133-143.
In-Text Citation: (Chung, Mathew, & Subramaniam, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Chung, E., Mathew, V. N., & Subramaniam, G. (2019). In The Pursuit of Happiness: The Role of Personality. International Journal of Academic in Research Business and Social Sciences, 9(11), 10–19.