The bright and dark sides of openness on quality of life: the role of emotions and self-efficacy beliefs within a GAMs, a network approach and mediation

Although the relationship between personality and quality of life has been extensively studied, openness has received relatively little attention. This is despite its importance in the Big Five model and its ability to change over time. To close this gap, our study explored the link between openness and quality of life. Additionally, we examined whether this relationship is influenced by Dimensions of Openness to Emotion (DOE) and self-efficacy, as research suggests both may play significant roles in the personality–quality of life relationship. A total of 419 participants in a community-based convenience sample of the French-speaking regions of Switzerland and of France aged 20–66 years completed the NEO-FFI-R inventory, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Dimensions of Openness to Emotion scale, and the WHOQOL-12 measuring quality of life. GAMs, Network and Mediation analysis were conducted with R software. Our analysis suggested that the different facets of DOE relate to quality of life in two contrasting ways, with openness influencing it both positively and negatively, depending on the specific facet: the somatic dimensions of DOE had a negative association, while the cognitive dimensions of DOE had a positive one. Openness contributes to quality of life, especially for individuals who are moderately open to their bodily sensations and who use thoughtful and context-adjusted emotion regulation strategies.