Young adults who are more extrovert or more emotionally stable lead happier and healthier lives than their more introverted or less emotionally stable peers, a British study has discovered.
The research using data from over five decades examined the effects of neuroticism and extroversion at ages 16 and 26 years on mental well-being and life satisfaction of some of the same people in their 60s.
They found that personality dispositions by the time of early adulthood had an enduring influence on well-being, including physical health, decades later.
In the study, Dr Catharine Gale from the University of Southampton and a team from the University of Edinburgh and University College London examined the lives of nearly 4,600 people.
"Few studies have examined the long-term influence of personality traits in youth on happiness and life satisfaction later in life," Gale said.
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"We found that extroversion in youth had direct, positive effects on well-being and life satisfaction in later life.
"Neuroticism, in contrast, had a negative impact, largely because it tends to make people more susceptible to feelings of anxiety and depression and to physical health problems."
The study examined data on 4,583 people who are members of the National Survey for Health and Development, conducted by the Medical Research Council.
All were born in 1946 and they completed a short personality inventory at age 16, and again at age 26.
Extroversion was assessed by questions about their sociability, energy, and activity orientation.
Neuroticism was assessed by questions about their emotional stability, mood, and distractibility.
Decades later, when the participants were 60 to 64-years-old, 2,529 of them answered a series of questions measuring well-being and their level of satisfaction with life.
They also reported on their mental and physical health.
Their answers point to a distinct pattern, the study claimed.
Specifically, greater extroversion, as assessed in young adulthood, was directly associated with higher scores for well-being and for satisfaction with life.
Neuroticism, in contrast, predicted poorer levels of well-being, but it did so indirectly.
People higher in neuroticism as young adults were more susceptible to psychological distress later in life and to a lesser extent, poorer physical health.
"Understanding what determines how happy people feel in later life is of particular interest because there is good evidence that happier people tend to live longer," Gale said.
"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."
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
