A Cross-Generational Study of Adlerian Personality Traits and Life Satisfaction in Mainland China.

Social interest is a cornerstone construct in the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler (1932). A serious lack of community interest, gemeinshaftsgefühl, is said to injure the self-image and incline the individual toward neurosis (Adler, 1927/1954). Research in North American and European countries has established a connection between personality traits and life satisfaction (Diener, 1984; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), but the influence of personality on subjective well-being might well be pancultural (Schimmack, Radhakrishnan, Oishi, Dzokoto, & Ahadi, 2002). People with high social interest and a positive attitude toward life have been found to have greater coping resources, less vulnerability to disease (Ryff, 1991) and higher levels of life satisfaction, even in stressful working environments (Kobasa, 1979). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]