My name is Rebecca Montague, I am a soon to be graduate of BSc (Hons) in Applied Psychology in IADT, specialising in the practice path. Throughout my years at IADT, I have found my main interests are Educational/Developmental Psychology and Forensic psychology. My studies have allowed me to volunteer with organisations such as Foróige and Barretstown. My next goal is to increase my volunteer experience further before I make a final decision on a postgraduate degree.
Previous research has suggested there is a relationship between extraversion, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. My Major Research Project aimed to investigate whether there was a relationship between extraversion, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in undergraduate students. Previous studies have suggested that extraverts appear to be happier and have higher levels of well-being due to higher social skills and the likeliness to experience more positive emotions. Other studies also suggest that self-esteem conceptually overlaps with extraversion. The present study was achieved by researching previous findings on the topic and conducting an online survey using three scales. The data was collected and statistically analysed; the findings were then discussed with references to previous research. Any implications of the study was further discussed along with suggestions for future research.
The present study is titled “The relationship between self-esteem, extraversion, and life satisfaction in undergraduate students”. The study aimed to add to the previous literature on the topic of extraversion, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Previous research has suggested there is a relationship between extraversion, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. The concepts of extraversion and subjective well-being (SWB) are often reported as strongly correlated in previous research. There were 92 (77%) females, 25 (21%) males, two (1%) non-binary individuals, and one (1%) individual who reported prefer not to say, within the age range of 18-44 years (N=120). Thirty-seven participants were excluded due to various reasons such as failure to complete, wrong age, and not being an undergraduate student. The study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional, and correlational design, which was administered using an online survey. The target variable of the study was life satisfaction, the two factor variables were extraversion and self-esteem. Reliable scales such as Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) and the Big Five Inventory Extraversion subscale (John & Srivastava, 1999) were used in the present study.
A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between the factor variables, i.e. extraversion, self-esteem and the predictor target variable, which was life satisfaction. The results suggest that there is a significant relationship between self-esteem, extraversion, and life satisfaction, however, extraversion does not seem to significantly predict greater life satisfaction. Overall, self-esteem seemed to be more closely linked to life satisfaction than extraversion. While self-esteem could be described as a predictor of life satisfaction, causation is not implied, only correlation. Bivariate Pearson Correlations were conducted between all variables and discovered there was a weak positive linear correlation between extraversion and self-esteem. There was a weak positive linear correlation between extraversion and life satisfaction. There was also a strong positive linear correlation between self-esteem and life satisfaction.
A key strength of the present study was the exploration of a new sample in the literature. Previous research has mostly been conducted on this topic in the US, Asia, and Germany. The present study adds an Irish undergraduate student sample to the existing literature. This research contributes to the theoretical knowledge of self-esteem, personality traits and SWB, additionally, it incorporates an Irish sample which has not been conducted before. Life satisfaction and extraversion are rarely investigated together, the present study adds to the limited research on this topic. This also adds to the theoretical knowledge of internet mediated research, research in previous years have been conducted in person