Associations between personality traits and psychological well-being across time in middle adulthood

• We analyzed associations of personality traits with psychological well-being (PWB).
• Low neuroticism and high extraversion correlated strongly with high PWB.
• Conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness were also linked to PWB.
• Personality traits were more strongly linked to PWB than emotional well-being.

Associations of personality traits with psychological well-being (PWB) were analyzed across ages 33–50 as part of an ongoing Finnish longitudinal study (initial N = 369). Bivariate latent growth curve analyses indicated that a low initial level of neuroticism (.75) and high extraversion (.55) correlated strongly with a high level of PWB. Moreover, a high level of conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness also correlated significantly with PWB. The change factor was significant only for openness: the higher the initial level of PWB, the higher the increase in openness from age 33–50. In comparison with emotional well-being, indicated by general life satisfaction, the associations of the personality traits with PWB were significantly stronger for neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.