The Life Space is divided into four domains that surround personality, which broadly encompass a person's biological foundations, owned possessions, interactions and daily activities, and group memberships. In Study 1, a revised measure of the Life Space (the College Student Life Space Scale) was developed. Factor analysis of the items within each domain resulted in 96 meaningful and reliable factor-based scales that provided a rich description of college students' personal surroundings and everyday behavior. A second-order (hierarchical) factor analysis of the first-order scales resulted in seven global Life Space dimensions. In Study 2, the first- and second-order Life Space scales were used as criterion measures to test the construct validity of Openness to Experience (Openness). Also in Study 2, cross-validated criterion-keyed Life Space scales were developed to compare individual Life Space items for high and low scoring individuals on Openness. The results of Study 1 replicated and expanded upon previous research on the structure of the Life Space. The results of Study 2 supported the construct validity or social significance of Openness. The value of a more detailed and comprehensive approach to studying personality within the context of the external systems that surround the person is discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>The Life Space is divided into four domains that surround personality, which broadly encompass a person's biological foundations, owned possessions, interactions and daily activities, and group memberships. In Study 1, a revised measure of the Life Space (the College Student Life Space Scale) was developed. Factor analysis of the items within each domain resulted in 96 meaningful and reliable factor-based scales that provided a rich description of college students' personal surroundings and everyday behavior. A second-order (hierarchical) factor analysis of the first-order scales resulted in seven global Life Space dimensions. In Study 2, the first- and second-order Life Space scales were used as criterion measures to test the construct validity of Openness to Experience (Openness). Also in Study 2, cross-validated criterion-keyed Life Space scales were developed to compare individual Life Space items for high and low scoring individuals on Openness. The results of Study 1 replicated and expanded upon previous research on the structure of the Life Space. The results of Study 2 supported the construct validity or social significance of Openness. The value of a more detailed and comprehensive approach to studying personality within the context of the external systems that surround the person is discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Brackett, Marc A"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["John D Mayer"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2003,"date_issued":"2003-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2003-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:22:01Z","subjects":["Psychology","Personality"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/176","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["John D Mayer"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Brackett, Marc A"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Psychology","Personality"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/176"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The Life Space is divided into four domains that surround personality, which broadly encompass a person's biological foundations, owned possessions, interactions and daily activities, and group memberships. In Study 1, a revised measure of the Life Space (the College Student Life Space Scale) was developed. Factor analysis of the items within each domain resulted in 96 meaningful and reliable factor-based scales that provided a rich description of college students' personal surroundings and everyday behavior. A second-order (hierarchical) factor analysis of the first-order scales resulted in seven global Life Space dimensions. In Study 2, the first- and second-order Life Space scales were used as criterion measures to test the construct validity of Openness to Experience (Openness). Also in Study 2, cross-validated criterion-keyed Life Space scales were developed to compare individual Life Space items for high and low scoring individuals on Openness. The results of Study 1 replicated and expanded upon previous research on the structure of the Life Space. The results of Study 2 supported the construct validity or social significance of Openness. The value of a more detailed and comprehensive approach to studying personality within the context of the external systems that surround the person is discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Conceptualizing and measuring the life space and its relation to openness to experience"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["John D Mayer"],"dc:creator":["Brackett, Marc A"],"dc:description.abstract":["The Life Space is divided into four domains that surround personality, which broadly encompass a person's biological foundations, owned possessions, interactions and daily activities, and group memberships. In Study 1, a revised measure of the Life Space (the College Student Life Space Scale) was developed. Factor analysis of the items within each domain resulted in 96 meaningful and reliable factor-based scales that provided a rich description of college students' personal surroundings and everyday behavior. A second-order (hierarchical) factor analysis of the first-order scales resulted in seven global Life Space dimensions. In Study 2, the first- and second-order Life Space scales were used as criterion measures to test the construct validity of Openness to Experience (Openness). Also in Study 2, cross-validated criterion-keyed Life Space scales were developed to compare individual Life Space items for high and low scoring individuals on Openness. The results of Study 1 replicated and expanded upon previous research on the structure of the Life Space. The results of Study 2 supported the construct validity or social significance of Openness. The value of a more detailed and comprehensive approach to studying personality within the context of the external systems that surround the person is discussed.
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