Psychological maturity and subjective well-being: Toward a new synthesis.

Abstract

Alker and Gawin (1978) proposed that happiness or well-being is higher among more psychologically mature individuals, and that happiness is qualitatively different for individuals of different levels of maturity. Using the Loevinger Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Loevinger & Wessler, 1970) as a measure of developmental maturity, together with the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale (Bradburn, 1969) and two additional measures of subjective wellbeing in a sample of 240 adult males, the present study failed to replicate the association of maturity with well-being. Further, the personality dispositions of neuroticism and extraversion were found to show significant relations to happiness regardless of maturity level of subjects. It was proposed that developmental level may determine the occasions or interpretations of happiness or unhappiness but that the quality and quantity of the experience of subjective well-being itself is independent of maturity. Theory and research on the nature of happiness (or the closely related constructs of life satisfaction, morale, and subjective wellbeing) have resulted in a growing understanding of its determinants. Survey research (Andrews & Withey, 1976) has shown the modest contributions of sociodemographic variables to well-being. Adaptation-level theory has been used to explain the unexpectedly small differences in happiness between groups sharply contrasted in objective quality of life (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1978). The role of the enduring personality dispositions of neuroticism and extraversion in predicting characteristic levels of well-being has been demonstrated using a variety of measures of both personality and well-being, with predictive intervals of over 10 years (Costa & McCrae, 1980a; Costa, McCrae,