The Link between Cheerfulness and Satisfaction with Life. Investigating Mediating Effects of Self Esteem and Behavioral Activation.

Cheerfulness, as a mood state and personality trait, predicts psychological well-being, positive affect, positive emotional regulation and management, and better physical health (see Ruch & Hofmann, 2012 for a review). Prior research suggests positive emotions and affect have been shown to enhance individuals’ self-view (Smith & Petty, 1995; Wood, Heimpel, & Michela, 2003). Previous literature has shown intense negative affect results from adverse situations, and it would promote lower levels of self-esteem, which predicts negative psychological well-being (Benetti & Kambouropoulos, 2006). Hypothesis: Trait cheerfulness (which by definition buffers negative affect) is positively associated with satisfaction with life and this link is mediated by self-esteem and behavioural activation (i.e., engagement in rewarding activities. These findings in the double mediation model suggest that: 1. Trait cheerfulness predicts greater SWL; part of which is mediated by greater self-esteem and greater behavioural activation independently; 2. As trait cheerfulness is associated with greater self-esteem, self-esteem also enables an individual to engage in rewarding activities, predicting SWL; 3. While cheerfulness also directly predicts behavioural activation, suggesting mediating role of self-esteem that predicts greater behavioural activation leading to SWL plays a larger role. While the mediating effect is partial, complete mediation is expected to be rare in psychology with prevalence of multiple mediators and complete mediation may only be expected when effects are small (Preacher & Kelley, 2011). Future studies could explore how specific cognitive and affective components of cheerfulness could contribute to SWL.