As many of you know I have done plenty of work into personality and so found this study interesting.
Dusanee Kesavayuth of Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand analysed data from 2,000 adults aged between 50 and 75 in the British Household Panel Survey and found some interesting correlations between personality and satisfaction after stopping work (for different reasons).
For example, in people who retired as part of mandatory retirement they found that those who scored higher on conscientiousness had higher levels of satisfaction. This may be surprising as conscientious is related to often to structure and getting stuff done and being effective in the workplace. But it seems to act as psychological buffer probably because conscientious people may be more proactive in finding new fulfilling life patterns. Also interesting is that those high on extraversion had lower satisfaction suggesting they miss the social aspects of work.
I found this research particularly interesting and also points to being more proactive and using personality to prepare people for retirement and making sure they get the most out of this.
Reference:
Dusanee Kesavayuth, Robert E. Rosenman, Vasileios Zikos.
Leaving the labor market: Exit routes, personality traits and well-being.
PLOS ONE, 2022; 17 (3): e0263670
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263670
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