The mediating role of psychological basic needs in the relationship between personality traits and students’ happiness

Happiness is one of the main components of quality of life in all age groups, especially students Studies have shown that happiness is significantly correlated with the big five personality traits, especially neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. In addition, satisfying basic psychological needs is one of the primary conditions for achieving happiness and life satisfaction. However, the role of these components in the student population has not been studied.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mediating role of satisfying basic psychological needs in the relationship between personality traits and students' happiness.

For this purpose, a sample of 356 male and female students was selected from among the students of universities of Golestan province using stepwise cluster sampling. Selected individuals completed the NEO Personality Traits Questionnaire (NEO-PI) (1992), the Gugnea Psychological Basic Needs Scale (PBNS-G) (2003), and the Oxford Happiness Index (OHI) (2002). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and LISREL software version 8.81.

The results showed that in all the fit indices, the structural model for Happiness has a suitable and acceptable fit. According to the research results, neuroticism was negatively correlated to happiness (-0.29), extroversion (0.31), and psychological basic needs satisfaction (0.50) positively significantly correlated with happiness (P< 0.05).in total 36% of the variance of the happiness is predicted and explained by these variables.

It seems that students who experience lower neuroticism and higher extraversion experience more happiness. In addition, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs was associated with increased happiness of students.