Personality Predictors of Flourishing and Learning to Flourish

Given the abundance of research on well-being and flourishing, this study aimed to outline the direct and indirect effects of personality predictors on flourishing. The cross-sectional study included ten scales, measuring personality traits (the extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, consciousness, agreeableness and the meta-traits of plasticity and stability) and personal dispositions (self-esteem, mindfulness, coping and coping potential, learned helplessness, self-handicapping, planning, and rumination) and a convenient sample of 451 respondents. A ten-session training designed to promote flourishing was conducted with 10 participants over a three-month period. Results revealed a stronger direct effect of personal dispositions than personality traits, as well as a moderating effect of personality traits and a mediating effect of dispositions. Flourishing is predicted by high self-esteem, proactive coping, mindfulness, agreeableness, and meaning in life. Problem-oriented coping mediates the relation of agreeableness and flourishing. Conscientiousness and stability moderate the relation of proactive coping and mind-fulness with flourishing, and plasticity moderates the relation of self-esteem and flourishing. This finding is considered to highlight the specific role of plasticity and stability both as traits and dispositions, related to self-regulation. Self-esteem needs to be flexible enough to be revised and validated and is supported by plasticity, while proactive coping and mindfulness, as dispositions related to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects, are supported by stability. Flourishing is predicted to a greater extent by behavioural patterns than by personality traits, and the pathways to flourishing can be learned, which is of particular interest for integration in education as proactive support for individual performance, especially in times of crisis and instability.