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Current theorizing on socioeconomic status (SES) focuses on the availability of resources and the freedom they afford as a key determinant of the association between high SES and stronger orientation toward the self and, by implication, weaker orientation toward others. However, this work relies nearly exclusively on data from Western countries where self-orientation is strongly sanctioned. In the present work, we predicted and found that especially in East Asian countries, where other-orientation is strongly sanctioned, high SES is associated with stronger other-orientation as well as with self-orientation. We first examined both psychological attributes (Study 1, N = 2,832) and socialization values (Study 2a, N = 4,675) in Japan and the United States. In line with the existent evidence, SES was associated with greater self-oriented psychological attributes and socialization values in both the U.S. and Japan. Importantly, however, higher SES was associated with greater other orientation in Japan, whereas this association was weaker or even reversed in the United States. Study 2b (N = 85,296) indicated that the positive association between SES and self-orientation is found, overall, across 60 nations. Further, Study 2b showed that the positive association between SES and other-orientation in Japan can be generalized to other Confucian cultures, whereas the negative association between SES and other-orientation in the U.S. can be generalized to other Frontier cultures. Implications of the current findings for modernization and globalization are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Subjective well-being (SWB) is evaluation of life in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect; psychological well-being (PWB) entails perception of engagement with existential challenges of life. The authors hypothesized that these research streams are conceptually related but empirically distinct and that combinations of them relate differentially to sociodemographics and personality. Data are from a national sample of 3,032 Americans aged 25–74. Factor analyses confirmed the related-but-distinct status of SWB and PWB. The probability of optimal well-being (high SWB and PWB) increased as age, education, extraversion, and conscientiousness increased and as neuroticism decreased. Compared with adults with higher SWB than PWB, adults with higher PWB than SWB were younger, had more education, and showed more openness to experience. Research on well-being has flourished in recent decades (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999), with increasing recognition of the different streams of inquiry guiding this broad domain. Ryan and Deci’s (2001) integrative review organized the field of well-being into two broad traditions: one dealing with happiness (hedonic well-being), and one dealing with human potential (eudaimonic well-being; Ryan & Deci, 2001; see also Waterman, 1993). In the present study, we draw and extend these distinctions, which we refer to as traditions of research on subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB). We use these terms to underscore the fact that studies of SWB have repeatedly included not only affective indicators of happiness (hedonic well-being) but also cognitive assessments of life satisfaction. In addition, some aspects of PWB (e.g., personal growth, purpose in life) but not others (e.g., positive relations with others, self-acceptance) reflect the self-fulfillment meanings of eudaimonic well-being. As described below, SWB and PWB are also the overarching phrases most frequently used in studies that constitute these traditions, both of which are fundamentally concerned with subjective accounts of well-being. Our specific empirical aims are to examine whether indicators of SWB and PWB constitute taxonomically distinct reflections of well-being in a national sample of U.S. adults. Although both approaches assess well-being, they address different features of what it means to be well: SWB involves more global evaluations of affect and life quality, whereas PWB examines perceived thriving vis-a `-vis the existential challenges of life (e.g., pursuing meaningful goals, growing and developing as a person, establishing quality ties to others). We further test the hypothesis that these distinct varieties of well-being are contoured by the broad categories of sociodemographic and personality factors. Specifically, we investigate the role of location in the life course (i.e., age) and position in the socioeconomic hierarchy (e.g., educational status) as well as personality traits in accounting for different profiles of well-being. To put the inquiry in historical context, we provide a brief summary of each tradition.

This study investigates the influence of personality on adjustment to a particular life transition, community relocation. Participants were 285 women (average age = 69.5) who were interviewed once before they moved, and then multiple times after the move. Within the context of this multiwave design, personality traits were used to predict changes in depressive symptoms (DS) and self-esteem (SE) across the move. Neuroticism and Openness to Experience predicted increases in DS over time, whereas Extraversion and Openness predicted increases in SE. Stressful reactions to the move and sense of mastery about the move partially mediated these effects. The study documents the dynamic influence of personality on positive and negative aspects of adjustment and investigates differing routes through which such effects occur.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is evaluation of life in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect; psychological well-being (PWB) entails perception of engagement with existential challenges of life. The authors hypothesized that these research streams are conceptually related but empirically distinct and that combinations of them relate differentially to sociodemographics and personality. Data are from a national sample of 3,032 Americans aged 25-74. Factor analyses confirmed the related-but-distinct status of SWB and PWB. The probability of optimal well-being (high SWB and PWB) increased as age, education, extraversion, and conscientiousness increased and as neuroticism decreased. Compared with adults with higher SWB than PWB. adults with higher PWB than SWB were younger, had more education, and showed more openness to experience.

Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research.