Temperament, Life Satisfaction, and the Role of Psychological Flexibility

Abstract: Temperament is related to well-being. Establishing mediators of this relationship, especially mediators which can be influenced through psychological interventions, may contribute to tailoring these interventions to people’s needs determined by temperament. Psychological flexibility may be considered such a mediator. This study aims to examine the relationships between temperament traits and structures, satisfaction with life, and psychological flexibility, with the latter as a possible mediator of the relationship between temperament structures and life satisfaction. 538 participants (18–93 years old) took part in the study. They filled a set of self-reported questionnaires. Psychological flexibility explained a significant part of the variance in life satisfaction above and beyond temperament traits. People with harmonized temperament structures and higher stimulation processing capabilities (sanguine) exhibited higher psychological flexibility and satisfaction with life. Three temperament structures: phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic in comparison to sanguine were found to be linked to lower satisfaction with life through lower psychological flexibility. The results suggest a meaningful role of stimulation processing capabilities in the development of both psychological flexibility and satisfaction with life.