Personality Profiles and Life Satisfaction in Aging: A Growth Mixture Modeling Approach

TL;DR

This study explores how personality types influence life satisfaction in older adults and finds that all groups experience increased well-being over time.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach by linking personality profiles with life satisfaction trajectories in aging populations.

Findings

Resilient Extraverts had the highest initial life satisfaction compared to other personality groups.

All personality groups showed an increasing trend in life satisfaction over time.

Older age was associated with slower growth in life satisfaction despite overall improvement.

Abstract

This study examined life satisfaction trajectories among individuals 65 years and older using growth mixture modeling (GMM) with pre-identified personality profiles from latent profile analysis (LPA) and covariates. The targeted sample (N = 2,424) was from the merged data of the 2020 RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and 2022 Core data, covering three time points (T1=2012/2014, T2=2016/2018, T3=2020/2022). Given the alternating design of data collection, each point pooled two consecutive waves for the complete sample for psychosocial questions. Three personality profiles: Resilient Extraverts (53.26%), Balanced (40.18%), and Sensitive Introverts (6.56%), were identified and used to predict life satisfaction trajectories. Results found significant baseline differences across the sub-groups. Resilient Extraverts showed the highest life satisfaction at T1 (B = 1.984, SE = .44, p < .001), followed by the Balanced group (B = 1.695, SE = .44, p < .001) and Sensitive Introverts (B = 1.405, SE = .44, p < .01). Despite these initial differences, all groups demonstrated an increasing trend in life satisfaction over time (p < .01). Better subjective health, older age, and being married were positively associated with life satisfaction at baseline. However, older age was linked to a slower rate of change. These findings suggest that psychosocial resources could involve sustaining well-being. Although aging was associated with a slower rate of growth, the overall upward trend suggests the possibility of continued psychological well-being, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions that utilize individual personality strengths and social resources to enhance well-being in later life.