Good personality and social well-being: The roles of orientation to happiness

INTRODUCTION: Positive personality traits have been associated with personal well-being in previous research. However, the pathways through which positive personality may affect social well-being remain unclear. The present study hypothesized that the cognitive strategies for achieving well-being (i.e., orientation to happiness) mediate the association between good personality and social well-being in the Chinese culture. METHODS: A survey including the Good Personality Questionnaire, Social Well-being Scales, and Orientations to Happiness was administered to 1,503 Chinese secondary school students and adults. RESULTS: The results indicated that orientation to meaning mediated the relation between good personality and social well-being, but not orientation to pleasure. DISCUSSION: This is in line with the normative well-being model and the cognition instrumental model of well-being, which contributes to developing more targeted interventions to promote social well-being in the Chinese cultural.