Person-Environment Value Congruence and Satisfaction with Life
Anna-Lena Musiol, Klaus Boehnke

Abstract
The present study analyzes the relationship of person-environment value congruence and individual satisfaction with life among German adolescents (N=1229). A positive relationship between person-environment value congruence and individual life satisfaction was hypothesized based on person-environment fit theory (e.g., Fulmer, et al., 2010). It was further hypothesized that—living in an individualist culture like Germany— individuals, who favor an interdependent self-construal (as introduced by Markus, & Kitayama, 1991) should be less satisfied with their lives than individuals with an independent self-construal, thereby testing the personenvironment fit hypothesis on a higher, more abstract level. The hypothesis of a positive relationship between person-environment value congruence and individual satisfaction with life was confirmed. An unexpected finding was that individuals with an interdependent self-construal were more satisfied with their lives than those with an independent self-construal, in spite of the fact that they lived in an individualistic culture.

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