Abstract
BackgroundPrevious studies reported that subjective well-being in adulthood correlates with perceived parental bonding in childhood as well as personality traits. However, whether personality traits mediate the effect of perceived parental bonding on well-being or not has not been reported to date. In this study, we hypothesized that ‘parental care and overprotection’ in childhood affect ‘well-being’ in adulthood through various ‘personality traits’, and analyzed this using structural equation modeling.MethodsA total of 402 adult volunteers from the community provided responses to the following questionnaires: 1) Parental Bonding Instrument, 2) Temperament and Character Inventory, and 3) The Subjective Well-being Inventory. Two structural equation models were designed and the maximum likelihood estimation method was used for covariance structure analysis.ResultsParental care in childhood directly increased well-being in adulthood and indirectly increased it through personality traits (harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-directedness). Parental overprotection in childhood had no direct effect on well-being in adulthood but decreased well-being in adulthood indirectly through personality traits (harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-directedness) and increased it through one personality trait (self-transcendence).ConclusionsThis study showed that the influences of perceived parental bonding on well-being in adulthood are mediated by self-directedness, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-transcendence among the seven personality dimensions evaluated by the Temperament and Character Inventory.
Highlights
Previous studies reported that subjective well-being in adulthood correlates with perceived parental bonding in childhood as well as personality traits
The previous studies investigated the influence of seven personality traits evaluated by the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) on well-being [15] and found reproducible results that high self-directedness and high cooperativeness are associated with high well-being and that high harm avoidance is associated with low well-being [10,11,12,13,14]
This study demonstrated that higher levels of parental care were associated with higher psychological well-being, whereas higher parental non-engagement or control was associated with lower levels of psychological well-being [21]
Summary
Previous studies reported that subjective well-being in adulthood correlates with perceived parental bonding in childhood as well as personality traits. We hypothesized that ‘parental care and overprotection’ in childhood affect ‘well-being’ in adulthood through various ‘personality traits’, and analyzed this using structural equation modeling. In psychiatric treatments, such as pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, ill-being, such as depressive and anxious symptoms and fatigability, are treated thoroughly, whereas the promotion of well-being has been ignored. In the five affective temperament dimensions of Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego auto-questionnaire version (TEMPSA), four affective temperaments (depressive, cyclothymic, irritable, and anxious) were negatively associated with well-being, but hyperthymic temperament was positively associated with well-being [6]
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