Abstract
Objective: One large focus of personality psychology is to understand the biopsychosocial factors responsible for adult personality development and well-being change. However, little is known about how macro-level contextual factors, such as rurality–urbanicity, are related to personality development and well-being change. Method: The present study uses data from two large longitudinal studies of U.S. Americans (MIDUS, HRS) to examine whether there are rural–urban differences in levels and changes in the Big Five personality traits and well-being (i.e., psychological well-being, and life satisfaction) in adulthood. Results: Multilevel models showed that Americans who lived in more rural areas tended to have lower levels of openness, conscientiousness, and psychological well-being, and higher levels of neuroticism. With the exception of psychological well-being (which replicated across MIDUS and HRS), rural–urban differences in personality traits were only evident in the HRS sample. The effect of neuroticism was fully robust to the inclusion of socio-demographic and social network covariates, but other effects were partially robust (i.e., conscientiousness and openness) or were not robust at all (i.e., psychological well-being). In both samples, there were no rural–urban differences in Big Five or well-being change. Conclusions: We discuss the implications of these findings for personality and rural health research.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 73-87 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Personality |
Volume | 92 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2024 |
Funding
This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Aging including R01-AG018436 to Daniel K. Mroczek; K99-AG071838 to Emily C. Willroth; and P30-AG059988 to Marquita W. Lewis-Thames, as well as a grant from the National Cancer Institute, awarded to Marquita W. Lewis-Thames (K01-CA262342). This work was also supported by funds from the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (UL1TR001422), the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHA2020-01), and the Northwestern University Center for Community Health, all to Marquita W. Lewis-Thames. Publicly available data from the MIDUS study was used for this research. Since 1995 the MIDUS study has been funded by the following: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network; National Institute on Aging (P01-AG020166); National Institute on Aging (U19-AG051426). The majority of the work was conducted while OEA was at Northwestern University, but her current affiliation is the University of Houston. This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Aging including R01‐AG018436 to Daniel K. Mroczek; K99‐AG071838 to Emily C. Willroth; and P30‐AG059988 to Marquita W. Lewis‐Thames, as well as a grant from the National Cancer Institute, awarded to Marquita W. Lewis‐Thames (K01‐CA262342). This work was also supported by funds from the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (UL1TR001422), the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHA2020‐01), and the Northwestern University Center for Community Health, all to Marquita W. Lewis‐Thames. Publicly available data from the MIDUS study was used for this research. Since 1995 the MIDUS study has been funded by the following: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network; National Institute on Aging (P01‐AG020166); National Institute on Aging (U19‐AG051426). The majority of the work was conducted while OEA was at Northwestern University, but her current affiliation is the University of Houston.
Keywords
- Big Five
- HRS
- MIDUS
- life satisfaction
- longitudinal
- psychological well-being
- rurality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology