The Five Factor Model and Accessibility/Remoteness: Novel evidence for person–environment interaction

The Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) is a validated index of the availability of services and opportunities for social interaction afforded by every location in Australia. ARIA therefore measures a feature of the social environment, and provides a unique foundation for investigating the relationship between persons and environments. The present study used ARIA alongside a measure of the Five-Factor Model of personality to test predictions about person–environment interactions deduced from the seminal work of Emmons and colleagues. Survey responses were received from N = 7615 adults residing across a range of non-metropolitan locales ranging from very accessible (ARIA = 0.0) to very remote (ARIA = 11.1). Respondents were categorised into High, Moderate and Low Accessibility based on the ARIA value of their location of residence. Consistent with the choice of situations model, average levels of the traits openness to experience (O) and extraversion (E) tended to be higher amongst respondents living in High Accessibility locations. As predicted under the affect congruence model, analyses of extreme subgroups found that for both O and E, those respondents high on the trait who resided in more accessible locales reported higher Positive Affect than similar respondents who resided in less accessible locales. Avenues for future research are discussed in light of the findings and the present study’s limitations.