Predicting relationship and life satisfaction from personality in nationally representative samples from three countries: the relative importance of actor, partner, and similarity effects.
Three very large, nationally representative samples of married couples were used to examine the relative importance of 3 types of personality effects on relationship and life satisfaction: actor effects, partner effects, and similarity effects. Using data sets from Australia (N = 5,278), the United Kingdom (N = 6,554), and Germany (N = 11,418) provided an opportunity to test whether effects replicated across samples. Actor effects accounted for approximately 6% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 10% and 15% of the variance in life satisfaction. Partner effects (which were largest for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability) accounted for between 1% and 3% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 1% and 2% of the variance in life satisfaction. Couple similarity consistently explained less than .5% of the variance in life and relationship satisfaction after controlling for actor and partner effects.
Dyrenforth
Portia S
PS
Department of Psychology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456, USA. Dyrenforth@hws.edu
Kashy
Deborah A
DA
Donnellan
M Brent
MB
Lucas
Richard E
RE
D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010551:Personality; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom