Running Head: PERSONALITY, JOB, MARITAL AND LIFE SATISFACTION The Role of Person vs. Situation in Life Satisfaction: A Critical Examination

Two main theoretical approaches have been put forward to explain individual differences in life satisfaction: top-down (i.e., personological) and bottom-up (i.e., situational). We examine the relative merit of these two approaches, and the psychological processes underlying top-down models. Consistent with a top-down approach, meta-analytic findings indicate that neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness are related to both various domain satisfactions and life satisfaction; however, consistent with a bottom-up approach, domain satisfactions are strongly linked to life satisfaction, but only weakly linked to each other. Path analyses based on meta-analytic estimates did not support a simplistic direct-effects top-down model, but supported both (a) a temperament-based top-down model and (b) an integrative model that incorporates the direct influence of domain satisfactions on life satisfaction