Abstract

Personality characteristics as biological factors contribute to subjective well-being of the elder much more than demographic variables do. According to Costa &. McCrae's model, extraversion which made up of traits of sociability, tempo, vigor and social involvement, is associated with positive affect and higher levels of happiness, whereas neuroticism which made up of traits of anxiety, anger, impulsivity, psychosomatic complaints, is associated with negative affect and lower levels of happiness. This study attempted to find out the relationship between personality dimension(E,N) and subjective well being of the elder based on the Costa & McCrae's model. The EPQ, the Hopeless scale, the MUNSH and the Happiness scale were administrated to 71 subjects aged over 55(31 males and 40 females). The results supported experimental hypotheses and it is obviously concluded that personality characteristics are suggested as more important variables than any other demographic variables to account for subjective well-being.