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Psychological Mechanism of Subjective Well-Being: A Stable Trait or Situational Variability

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Abstract

In order to explore the stability and variation of the indicators of subjective well-being (SWB), the classic Latent State-Trait (LST), Trait-State-Occasion (TSO), and Indicator-Specific Trait (IT) models were employed to evaluate the stability and variability of life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The study was conducted based on a 1-year and three-wave longitudinal study with a sample of 360 college students. The results show the suitability of the IT model. The consistency coefficients (CO) of all variables are significantly higher than occasion-specificity coefficients (OSpe) in this model, indicating that stability is a remarkable feature of SWB. Moreover, the consistency coefficients of positive affection and negative affection are much higher than that of life satisfaction, suggesting that the positive and negative emotions of individuals are more stable than life satisfaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, #139 Ren-Min Zhong Road, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Zhihua Li & Taisheng Cai

  2. Institute of Education, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, People’s Republic of China

    Xiayun Yin

  3. Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, People’s Republic of China

    Sha Jiang

  4. Center for Psychology and Brain Science, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Mengcheng Wang

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  1. Zhihua Li
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Correspondence to Taisheng Cai.

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Li, Z., Yin, X., Jiang, S. et al. Psychological Mechanism of Subjective Well-Being: A Stable Trait or Situational Variability. Soc Indic Res 118, 523–534 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0449-x

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