Empirical Study of Personality and Well- Being

Nowadays, in psychological science, health is regarded as a multidimensional construct, which comprises not only the negative aspects of human existence but also the positive mental functioning and well-being of human being. In this context, the article herein aims at exploring the interrelationship of temperament and character with the subjective well-being of Bulgarians. The results obtained in the presented study of 443 persons from Bulgaria (men and women aged 18 to 65 M = 34.35, SD = 5.046) indicated that there was a statistically significant influence of the predictors: Self-Direction, SelfTranscendence, Positive and Negative Affect on Life Satisfaction. A significant influence was found about some predictors as Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Persistence, Self-Directedness and SelfTranscendence on Positive Affect. Finally, a significant influence was found of the predictors: Harm Avoidance, Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence on Negative Affect.

Firstly, positive mental functioning at an early stage of life explains satisfactory old age and life expectancy (Shmotkin, 1991). Secondly, the assessment of one's own well-being preconditions the results which will follow and the development of one's life, regardless of any objective variables, such as income and absence of disease (Shmotkin, 1991).
Well-being is a diverse subject and the focus of study for many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, sociology and theology. The notion of mental well-being originated in the 1950s in response to a demand for indicators to measure the healthy way of life, the need to trace social changes (Löckenhoff et al., 2008).
Тhere are many definitions of subjective well-being. On the one hand, the notions of wellbeing, happiness and satisfaction are partially used as synonyms; on the other, the need for a strict distinction between them is pointed out (Diener & Tov, 2012).
As early as 1967, based on his studies of happiness, Wilson (1967, p. 294) defined the happy person as of younger age, without diseases, educated, married, paid, outgoing, positive, highly intelligent, who does not get upset, self-confident, diligent, medium ambitious, man or woman. Also, in the hedonic approach, high subjective well-being means high life satisfaction, the presence of a Positive Affect and the absence of a Negative Affect (Diener 1984).
The mental well-being of people is still a subject of acute topicality, attracting the attention of psychologists and psychiatrists. This is evoked by the obvious and alarming fact that reaching higher levels of material and social prosperity does not lead uniquely to internal well-being or, in other words, to happiness. A similar tendency indicates that well-being is related not only to external, contextual factors, but also to inner ones, such as temperament and character.

Aims and hypotheses
Aims: to find interrelationship of temperament and character with subjective well-being in Bulgarians; to refine the notion of subjective well-being; Psychological Thought 2020, Vol. 13(1), 127-145 South-West University "Neofit Rilski" 398https://doi.org/10.37708/psyct.v13i1.398 to explore the theoretical and empirical factors for subjective well-being in Bulgarians.
H 1 : It was assumed that significant differences will be found in subjective well-being, depending on the age of the studied persons.
H 2 : It was assumed that temperament and character are related to subjective wellbeing.

Method Participants
The sample comprised of 443 persons from Bulgaria -men and women aged 18 to 65 Women in this study were 68.7% and men were 31.3%. The mean age of the target group

Materials and Procedures Statistical Analyses
For the purposes of the study, the following analyses / methods were applied in SPSS One-factor dispersion analysis ANOVA; Regression analysis.

Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R)
Cross-cultural linguistic variant of TCI-R, validated in Bulgaria and approved by the author, is used in the present study (Tilov et al., 2012). TCI is an instrument, which encompasses seven domains of personality. This instrument has been devised to identify the differences between people -both in normal and abnormal / unnatural patterns of behavior in seven main domains / dimensions of temperament and character. That is, the proposed questionnaire differentiates between the emotional state of the person (i.e. temperament) and their ability to control themselves (i.e. character) (Stoyanova, 2015).

Application of the TCI questionnaire
The TCI questionnaire has been devised as a detailed analysis of personality and therefore it has wide applications. It is maintained that the dimensions of temperament, according to it, correspond to the genetic structure of personality, i. e. the four dimensions of temperament are genetically homogeneous and independent .
The TCI questionnaire assesses all the seven domains of personality, which constitute part of Cloninger's biosocial personality theory. In addition to the four temperament scales measured in TPQ (Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire), TCI measures also the three domains of character (Cloninger & Zohar, 2011). In the course of developing the TCI questionnaire, 9 of the 98 items of temperament dropped out and were replaced by 19 new questions. Because of this change, presently, Novelty Seeking has 40 items, Harm Avoidance -35 items, Reward Dependence -24 items, and Persistence -8 items in the TCI questionnaire. The five facet scales of Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness have 44 and 42 items, respectively, in total. Self-Transcendence consists of three facet scales with a total of 33 items. In addition to these 226 items, version 9 of the TCI questionnaire consisting of 240 items is compatible with the previous TPQ questionnaire; in other words, it covers the 9 items of TPQ, which are absent from the TCI scales, plus five more items that are indicative of the presence of personality disorder (Cloninger & Zohar, 2011).
Unless otherwise stated, the TCI questionnaire proposes the full version of 240 items  seven main personality traits and does not provide highly reliable results for the facet scales of the main traits as it contains only five items from each facet scale . The indicators of validity have been developed only for the full TCI questionnaire .
According to , Cloninger has formulated an abridged version consisting of 140 items, which is considered more suitable for research purposes, and it has been applied for the goals of this research. There is a possibility for answers on a 5-point Likert scale, which is a prerequisite for high information gain, although it presents a certain difficulty in collecting the primary information . Table 1 shows the values of the Cronbach's alpha of the TCI-R scales. Character -TCI-R Self-Directedness (SD) .859 Cooperativeness (C) .807 Self-Transcendence (ST) .813 The analysis of internal consistency conducted in Bulgaria of TCI-R showed that it should not be necessary to exclude from the analysis any scales as long as there were not any unacceptable levels for Cronbach's alpha < .06 see Table 1.
To measure subjective well-being, two scales were used -a scale to assess the Positive Affect and one to assess the Negative Affect (PANAS) (Andrews & Robinson, 1991

PANAS Scale
The PANAS -Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Scale can be used to study the structure of Affect, by highlighting two dominant and relatively independent factors -the Positive and the Negative Affect. This instrument targets a wide range of emotional states (Watson, et al., 1988).
The abridged version of the questionnaire (used in this paper), containing 20 items was used and the studied persons assessed how they felt.
The Positive Affect is an indicator of satisfied engagement, high vigor, and full concentration as opposed to indolence and despondency -when the value is low (Watson et al., 1988).
The increased level of Negative Affect is viewed as a state of subjectively experienced suffering, unsatisfied engagement (different in terms of content -it may be anger, disgust, contempt, guilt, fear, irritability) as opposed to calmness and carelessness. The measured levels of Positive and Negative Affect reflect emotional states but relate to personality traits corresponding to stable individual differences in the tendency to emotional responses of one type or another (Watson et al., 1988).
An analysis of internal consistency conducted in Bulgaria on PANAS (Table 2). Table 2 Internal consistency of PANAS The analysis of internal consistency of the scales of PANAS ( Table 2) has shown that it is not necessary to exclude from the analysis any scales as long as there were not any unacceptable levels for Cronbach's alpha < .06.

Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)
This instrument (Diener et al., 1985) contains 5 items. It measures satisfaction with life -the cognitive aspect of welfare. The reliability of the empirical SWLS is sufficiently highα = .78 (Garvanova, 2015).

Descriptive statistics
Тhe descriptive statistics of the results TCI-R, PANAS and SWLS are shown in Table 3. In this table are presented the arithmetic means and standard deviations on the scales of TCI-R, PANAS and SWLS for 443 studied persons.   Table 4 presents the standard indicators (25th and 75th percentile) for the whole representative sample of studied Bulgarians (raw score on the scales of TCI-R, PANAS and SWLS).

Correlation analysis
The conducted analysis indicates that there were some statistically significant correlations between the phenomena studied (Table 5).
Pearson's correlation analysis indicates that there was a statistically significant weak negative correlation between LS and HA r(441) = -.29, p < .001.
There was a moderate positive correlation between LS and P r(441) =.307, p < .001 and SD  Pearson's correlation analysis indicated, as shown in Table 6, that there was a statistically significant moderate positive correlation between LS and PA r(441) =.410, p < .001. LS also showed a weak negative correlation with NA r(441) = -.296, p < .001.

Differences, according to age
The conducted one-factor dispersion analysis ANOVA revealed certain significant differences in the arithmetic average values on some scales of TCI-R, PANAS and SWLS depending on the age (Table 7).
With regard to Persistence F(2, 424)  The result means that the persons aged 18 to 22 years were more persistent and diligent than those aged 40 to 65 years, but both arithmetic mean values were within the norm (see

Standard indicators of raw score of the studied persons according to TCI-R, PANAS and SWLS).
With regard to Positive Affect certain statistically significant differences F(2, 424) = 6.081, p <

Regression analysis
The results of multiple linear regression analysis are shown in Table 8 (method: enter). The results from the analysis indicated there is a statistically significant influence of the predictors SD, ST and P on LS R 2 = .19, F(4, 438) = 36.401, p < .001. These results also show that 20% of the dispersion in the dependent variable (the raw score of the persons studied for LS) could be forecast from the independent variables (ST, SD and P). SD β = .346; p < .001 was the strongest predictor; then came ST β = .157; p < .05 and P β = .117; p < .05. In addition, the size of the effect was "medium" R = .446 with reference to Cohen (Cohen, 1988, p. 413). The results obtained from the regression analysis (Table 9) indicated that there was a significant influence of the predictors NS, HA, P, SD, ST on the PA R 2 = .388, F(5, 437) = 57.061, p < .001. These results also show that 39% of the dispersion in the PA could be forecast from the independent variables. P β = .404, p < .001 was the strongest predictor; then came SD β = .172, p < .01, ST β = .165, p < .001 HA β = -.121; p < .05, and NS β= .093, p < .05. Also, the size of the effect is "large" R = .63 with reference to Cohen (Cohen, 1988, p. 414 Table 9 Influence of Temperament and Character on PA and NA The results obtained from the regression analysis indicate that there was a significant influence of the predictors HA, SD and ST on the Negative Affect R 2 = .26, F(3, 439) = 52.661, p < .001. These results also show that 26% of the dispersion in the NA could be forecast from the independent variables. SD β = -.332, p < .001 was the strongest predictor; then came HA β = .247, p < .001 and ST ce β = .082, p < .05. In addition, the size of the effect is "large" R = .514 with reference to Cohen (Cohen, 1988, p.414).

Discussion
The conducted study was aimed at examining the relationship of temperament and character with personal well-being. The analysis made revealed significant results related to the set aim, giving a reason to confirm the assumption in the second hypothesis, namely that significant differences in subjective well-being would be found depending on the age of the studied persons. According to Zankova (2015), gender, age, and socioeconomic status influence the subjective well-being of the studied persons, the highest influence being the Psychological Thought 2020, Vol. 13 (1) The result obtained can be explained by the fact that Negative Affect correlates with the experience of stress, with the frequency of the unpleasant events in life (Watson et al., 1988), which unpleasant occasions (for example: the loss of beloved people, the deterioration of health) happen more frequently to the older people. In this context, previous studies showed that as people grew older, they felt happier in life (Diener et al., 1999): positive emotions in some people increased, while in others they decreased, whereas negative emotions remained stable or deceased, as opposed to the results obtained in the present study. Getting on in years did not necessarily mean a decrease in the level of mental well-being, as the majority of us expected (Pavot & Diener, 1993). Most people adapted to the process of aging by keeping the levels of experienced happiness and life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1999). They accepted the challenges that advanced age offered (Watson et al., 1988).
The first hypothesis, which supposed, that temperament and character should be related to subjective well-being, was confirmed. There was a significant negative correlation found between Life Satisfaction and Harm Avoidance and a positive correlation found between Life Satisfaction and: Reward Dependence, Cooperativeness, Self-Transcendence, Persistence and Self-Directedness. Negative Affect showed a positive correlation with Harm Avoidance and a negative correlation with Persistence, Cooperativeness and Self-Directedness.
Positive Affect showed a negative correlation with Harm Avoidance and a positive correlation with Reward Dependence, Cooperativeness, Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence.
There was also a significant positive correlation of Positive Affect and Persistence.
In this context, some authors believe that Positive and Negative Affects are related to the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism (Watson et al., 1988). According to studies conducted by Bashkatov (2013, p. 5), "the traits of temperament correlated with all aspects of positive thinking". For example, Positive Affect correlated with low neuroticism, extraversion, collaboration, openness to experience, wisdom and conscientiousness. Bashkatov also wrote that subjective well-being was associated not only with positive thinking, according to Seligman (2002), but also with peculiarities of temperament and with some basic personality traits. The scientist (Bashkatov, 2013) believed, the findings of his research indicated that the power of the processes of arousal, extraversion and conscientiousness influenced positively the components of positive thinking (wisdom, courage, spirituality), and together with thatsubjective well-being. Neuroticism influenced negatively subjective well-being (Bashkatov, 2013).
The results obtained indicated that there was a statistically significant influence of the predictors Self-Directedness, Self-Transcendence and Persistence on Life Satisfaction.
These results also showed that 20% of the dispersion in Life Satisfaction could be forecast from Self-Transcendence, Self-Directedness and Persistence. The result meant that the more responsible, persistent, creative and committed the studied persons, the higher their subjective mental well-being as a over-all valuation of life.
The results obtained indicated that there was a statistically significant influence of the predictors Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Persistence, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence on Positive Affect. These results also showed that 39% of the dispersion in the Positive Affect could be forecast from Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Persistence, Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence. The result meant that the more inquisitive, calm, self-confident, persistent, responsible, purposeful and creative the studied persons, the higher their vigor, concentration and satisfied commitment. The results obtained from the regression analysis indicated that there was a statistically significant influence of the predictors Harm Avoidance, Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence on Negative Affect. These results also showed that 26% of the dispersion in the Negative Affect could be forecast from Harm Avoidance, Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence. The size of the effect was stronger or stronger than the typical one. The result meant that the more anxious, pessimistic, hesitant, ineffective, indecisive, putting the blame on the others and imaginative the studied persons, the higher their subjective experience of suffering and unsatisfied commitment.
The results obtained confirm previous studies, which also found that personality traits had an influence on both physical health, personal welfare and mental assessments (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998;Diener et al., 1985;Land, 1975;McCrae & Costa, 1991;Okun, 1995).

Conclusion
The theoretical analysis of the relationship of temperament and character with subjective well-being shows that the issue has not been sufficiently examined. In this context, the study is an attempt to fill in some knowledge gaps in the specific field and despite its limitations: time constraint -the study covers a relatively short period of time and the sample volume is limited, too -the study cannot cover all target groups).
It also offers results from a study conducted with Bulgarian citizens and provides valuable data about the presence of a relationship of temperament and character with subjective wellbeing in these people. In general, the following conclusions can be drawn: Temperament and character are related to the cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being.
There are significant differences in subjective well-being depending on the age of the studied Bulgarians; There is a statistically significant effect of Self-Transcendence, Self-Directedness,

Funding/Financial Support
The author has no funding to report.

Other Support/Acknowledgement
The author thanks the participants in the research for their cooperation.