Researchers at University of California, Davis set out to answer an age-old question:  what makes an emotionally healthy person? They looked at what’s called the “big five” personality traits to see where healthy people landed.  Those traits are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.  They also identified facets of these traits, which added specificity.

The experts and laypeople agreed that a healthy personality is one that is open to feelings of warmth and positive emotions, and is straightforward, yet agreeable. 

Among the scores of the 3,000 study participants, they found that people with healthy personalities described themselves as able to resist impulses, regulate their behavior and focus their attention.  Would you describe yourself that way?  If not, according to the researchers, you can develop or strengthen emotionally healthy personality traits.