Studies have shown that cognitive ability is correlated with parental socioeconomic status (pSES). However, little is known about the correlation between personality and pSES. To better understand this relation, we conducted a meta-analysis of the correlations between pSES and personality traits and temperament dimensions. The correlations were generally very small with the exception of the correlation between pSES and openness to experience. Our results were replicated in a large (N = 2,183,377) data set of self-reported personality scores collected online. Using this data set, we also examined the interaction between pSES and personality on attained education and socioeconomic status. We found evidence for the resource substitution hypothesis, which proposes that personality compensates for background disadvantage.
AleixoP. A.NorrisC. E. (2000). Personality and moral reasoning in young offenders. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 609–623.
2.
AlmlundM.DuckworthA. L.HeckmanJ. J.KautzT. D. (2011). Personality psychology and economics (No. w16822). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
3.
AmatoP. R.ZuoJ. (1992). Rural poverty, urban poverty, and psychological well-being. The Sociological Quarterly, 33, 229–240.
4.
BakerE. H. (2014). Socioeconomic status, definition. In CockerhamW. C.DingwallR.QuahS. R. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of health, illness, behavior, and society (pp. 2210–2214). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
5.
BauldryS.ShanahanM. J.RussoR.RobertsB. W.DamianR. (2016). Attractiveness compensates for low status background in the prediction of educational attainment. PloS one, 11, e0155313.
6.
BaumA.GarofaloJ. P.YaliA. (1999). Socioeconomic status and chronic stress: Does stress account for SES effects on health?Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896, 131–144.
7.
BlandenJ.GreggP.MacmillanL. (2007). Accounting for intergenerational income persistence: Noncognitive skills, ability and education. The Economic Journal, 117, C43–C60.
8.
BloomB. S. (1964). Stability and change in human characteristics (p. 88). New York, NY: Wiley.
9.
BolgerK. E.PattersonC. J.ThompsonW. W.KupersmidtJ. B. (1995). Psychosocial adjustment among children experiencing persistent and intermittent family economic hardship. Child development, 66, 1107–1129.
10.
BouchardT. J.LoehlinJ. C. (2001). Genes, evolution, and personality. Behavior Genetics, 31, 243–273.
11.
BradleyR. H.CorwynR. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371–399.
12.
BradleyR. H.Whiteside-MansellL. (1997). Children in poverty. In AmmermanR. THersenM. (Eds.), Handbook of prevention and treatment with children and adolescents (pp. 13–58). New York. NY: Wiley.
BurkL. R.ArmstrongJ. M.GoldsmithH. H.KleinM. H.StraumanT. J.CostanzoP.EssexM. J. (2011). Sex, temperament, and family context: How the interaction of early factors differentially predict adolescent alcohol use and are mediated by proximal adolescent factors. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25, 1.
15.
CaspiA.HarringtonH.MilneB.AmellJ. W.TheodoreR. F.MoffittT. E. (2003). Children’s behavioral styles at age 3 are linked to their adult personality traits at age 26. Journal of Personality, 71, 495–514.
16.
ChapmanB. P.KhanA.HarperM.StockmanD.FiscellaK.WaltonJ.…MoynihanJ. (2009). Gender, race/ethnicity, personality, and interleukin-6 in urban primary care patients. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 23, 636–642.
17.
ChapmanB. P.van WijngaardenE.SeplakiC. L.TalbotN.DubersteinP.MoynihanJ. (2011). Openness and conscientiousness predict 34-SSweek patterns of Interleukin-6 in older persons. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 25, 667–673.
18.
ChengH.GreenA.WolpertM.DeightonJ.FurnhamA. (2014). Factors influencing adult quality of life: Findings from a nationally representative sample in the UK. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 241–246.
19.
ClarkL. A.WatsonD. (2008). An organizing paradigm for trait psychology. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W.LawrenceA., Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 265–286). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
20.
CongerR. D.CongerK. J. (2002). Resilience in midwestern families: Selected findings from the first decade of a prospective, longitudinal study. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 361–373.
21.
CongerR. D.DonnellanM. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 175–199.
22.
DamianR. I.RobertsB. W. (2015). The associations of birth order with personality and intelligence in a representative sample of US high school students. Journal of Research in Personality, 58, 96–105.
23.
DamianR. I.SuR.ShanahanM.TrautweinU.RobertsB. W. (2015). Can personality traits and intelligence compensate for background disadvantage? Predicting status attainment in adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 473.
24.
Davis-KeanP. E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child achievement: The indirect role of parental expectations and the home environment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 294.
25.
DeYoungC. G.QuiltyL. C.PetersonJ. B.GrayJ. R. (2014). Openness to experience, intellect, and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 46–52.
26.
DodgeK. A.PettitG. S.BatesJ. E. (1994). Socialization mediators of the relation between socioeconomic status and child conduct problems. Child Development, 65, 649–665.
27.
DuffA.BoyleE.DunleavyK.FergusonJ. (2004). The relationship between personality, approach to learning and academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1907–1920.
28.
DuncanG. J.Brooks-GunnJ.KlebanovP. K. (1994). Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child Development, 65, 296–318.
29.
DuvalS.TweedieR. (2000). Trim and fill: A simple funnel-plot-based method of testing and adjusting for publication bias in meta-analysis. Biometrics, 56, 455–463.
30.
EggerM.SmithG. D.SchneiderM.MinderC. (1997). Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. BMJ, 315, 629–634.
31.
EysenckH. J.CooksonD. (1970). Personality in primary school children: 3—Family background. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 40, 117–131.
32.
FarkasD.C. (1997). Investigating the relationship between intelligence and the personality domain openness to experience (Senior Honors thesis). The University of Western Ontario, London.
33.
Flensborg-MadsenT.MortensenE. L. (2014). Infant SES as a predictor of personality—Is the association mediated by intelligence?PloS One, 9, e103846.
34.
GalobardesB.ShawM.LawlorD. A.LynchJ. W.SmithG. D. (2006a). Indicators of socioeconomic position (part 1). Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 7–12.
35.
GalobardesB.ShawM.LawlorD. A.LynchJ. W.SmithG. D. (2006b). Glossary: Indicators of socioeconomic position (Part 2). Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (1979), 60, 95–101.
36.
GartsteinM. A.BridgettD. J.YoungB. N.PankseppJ.PowerT. (2013). Origins of effortful control: Infant and parent contributions. Infancy, 18, 149–183.
37.
GiancolaP. R. (2000). Temperament and antisocial behavior in preadolescent boys with or without a family history of a substance use disorder. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 14, 56.
38.
GoldbergL. R. (1981). Language and individual differences: The search for universals in personality lexicons. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 2, 141–165.
39.
GoslingS. D.VazireS.SrivastavaS.JohnO. P. (2004). Should we trust web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptions about internet questionnaires. American Psychologist, 59, 93.
40.
GuoG.HarrisK. M. (2000). The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children’s intellectual development. Demography, 37, 431–447.
41.
HampsonS. E.VollrathM. E.JúlíussonP. B. (2015). Personality and overweight in 6–12-year-old children. Pediatric obesity, 10, e5–e7.
42.
HarrisJ. R. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458.
43.
HouseJ. S. (2002). Understanding social factors and inequalities in health: 20th century progress and 21st century prospects. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 125–142.
44.
JohnO. P.CaspiA.RobinsR. W.MoffittT. E.Stouthamer-LoeberM. (1994). The “little five”: Exploring the nomological network of the five-factor model of personality in adolescent boys. Child Development, 65, 160–178.
45.
JohnO. P.DonahueE. M.KentleR. (1991). The Big Five. Inventory—version 4a and, 54. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
46.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999). The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, 2, 102–138.
47.
JosefssonK.JokelaM.HintsanenM.CloningerC. R.Pulkki-RåbackL.MerjonenP.…Keltikangas-JärvinenL. (2013). Parental care-giving and home environment predicting offspring’s temperament and character traits after 18 years. Psychiatry Research, 209, 643–651.
48.
KavčičT.PodlesekA.ZupančičM. (2012). The role of early childhood personality in the developmental course of social adjustment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 36, 215–225.
49.
KernM. L.HampsonS. E.GoldbergL. R.FriedmanH. S. (2014). Integrating prospective longitudinal data: Modeling personality and health in the Terman life cycle and Hawaii longitudinal studies. Developmental Psychology, 50, 1390.
50.
KimK. (2013). The effect of personality, physical attractiveness, and intelligence on important life-course outcomes (Doctoral dissertation). The University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
51.
KimK. N. (2014). Formation of educational expectations of lower socioeconomic status children. Education and Urban Society, 46, 352–376.
52.
KokkoK.BergmanL. R.PulkkinenL. (2003). Child personality characteristics and selection into long-term unemployment in Finnish and Swedish longitudinal samples. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 134–144.
53.
LeK.DonnellanM. B.CongerR. (2014). Personality development at work: Workplace conditions, personality changes, and the corresponsive principle. Journal of Personality, 82, 44–56.
54.
LenguaL. J. (2006). Growth in temperament and parenting as predictors of adjustment during children’s transition to adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 42, 819.
55.
LiawF. R.Brooks-GunnJ. (1994). Cumulative familial risks and low-birthweight children’s cognitive and behavioral development. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 23, 360–372.
56.
LinverM. R.Brooks-GunnJ.KohenD. E. (2002). Family processes as pathways from income to young children’s development. Developmental Psychology, 38, 719.
57.
McCoyM. G.FrickP. J.LoneyB. R.EllisM. L. (1999). The potential mediating role of parenting practices in the development of conduct problems in a clinic-referred sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8, 477–494.
58.
McEwenB. S.SeemanT. (1999). Protective and damaging effects of mediators of stress: Elaborating and testing the concepts of allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896, 30–47.
59.
McLeodJ. D.ShanahanM. J. (1993). Poverty, parenting, and children’s mental health. American Sociological Review, 58, 351–366.
60.
McLoydV. C. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on Black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61, 311–346.
61.
McLoydV. C. (1997). The impact of poverty and low socioeconomic status on the socioemotional functioning of African-American children and adolescents: Mediating effects. In TaylorR. D.WangM. C. (Eds.), Social and emotional adjustment and family relations in ethnic minority families (pp. 7–34). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
62.
McLoydV. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185.
63.
MercyJ. A.SteelmanL. C. (1982). Familial influence on the intellectual attainment of children. American Sociological Review, 47, 532–542.
64.
MillsR. S.HastingsP. D.HelmJ.SerbinL. A.EtezadiJ.StackD. M.…LiH. H. (2012). Temperamental, parental, and contextual contributors to early-emerging internalizing problems: A new integrative analysis approach. Social Development, 21, 229–253.
65.
MirowskyJ.RossC. E. (2003). Education, social status, and health. New York, NY: Aldine De Gruyt.
66.
MpofuE.van de VijverF. J. (2000). Taxonomic structure in early to middle childhood: A longitudinal study with Zimbabwean schoolchildren. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 204–212.
67.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Program for International Student Assessment PISA. Public dataset. Retrieved fromhttps://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/
68.
National Research Council. (1993). Losing generations. Washington, DC: National Academic Press.
69.
NyhusE. K.PonsE. (2005). The effects of personality on earnings. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26, 363–384.
70.
O’ConnorM.SansonA.HawkinsM. T.LetcherP.ToumbourouJ. W.SmartD.…OlssonC. A. (2011). Predictors of positive development in emerging adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 860–874.
71.
Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development. Unpublished raw data. PitkänenT.KokkoK.LyyraA. L.PulkkinenL. (2008). A developmental approach to alcohol drinking behaviour in adulthood: A follow-up study from age 8 to age 42. Addiction, 103, 48–68.
72.
PoropatA. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 322.
73.
PulkkinenL.OhranenM.TolvanenA. (1999). Personality antecedents of career orientation and stability among women compared to men. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 37–58.
74.
RossC. E.MirowskyJ. (1999). Refining the association between education and health: The effects of quantity, credential, and selectivity. Demography, 36, 445–460.
75.
RothbartM. K.AhadiS. A.EvansD. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122.
76.
RothbartM. K.DerryberryD. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In LambM. E.BrownA. L. (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol. 1., pp. 37–66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
77.
RussellE. M. (n.d.). Unpublished raw data.
78.
SalamiS. O. (2008). Roles of personality, vocational interests, academic achievement and socio-cultural factors in educational aspirations of secondary school adolescents in southwestern Nigeria. Career Development International, 13, 630–647.
79.
SentseM.VeenstraR.LindenbergS.VerhulstF. C.OrmelJ. (2009). Buffers and risks in temperament and family for early adolescent psychopathology: Generic, conditional, or domain-specific effects? The trails study. Developmental Psychology, 45, 419.
80.
ShanahanM. J.BauldryS.RobertsB. W.MacmillanR.RussoR. (2014). Personality and the reproduction of social class. Social Forces, 93, 209–240.
81.
SlobodskayaH. R.AkhmetovaO. A. (2010). Personality development and problem behavior in Russian children and adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34, 441–451.
82.
SlobodskayaH. R.AkhmetovaO. A.RippinenT. O. (2014). Does personality matter more in difficult circumstances?Journal of Research in Personality, 48, 33–44.
83.
SpenglerM.BrunnerM.DamianR. I.LüdtkeO.MartinR.RobertsB. W. (2015). Student characteristics and behaviors at age 12 predict occupational success 40 years later over and above childhood IQ and parental socioeconomic status. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1329.
84.
TakahashiY.EdmondsG. W.JacksonJ. J.RobertsB. W. (2013). Longitudinal correlated changes in conscientiousness, preventative health-related behaviors, and self-perceived physical healthJournal of Personality, 81, 417–427.
85.
TurianoN. A.PitzerL.ArmourC.KarlamanglaA.RyffC. D.MroczekD. K. (2011). Personality trait level and change as predictors of health outcomes: Findings from national study of Americans (MIDUS). The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67, 4–12.
86.
VeenstraR.LindenbergS.OldehinkelA. J.De WinterA. F.OrmelJ. (2006). Temperament, environment, and antisocial behavior in a population sample of preadolescent boys and girls. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30, 422–432.
87.
VenturaJ. N.StevensonM. B. (1986). Relations of mothers’ and fathers’ reports of infant temperament, parents’ psychological functioning, and family characteristics. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 32, 275–289.
88.
VigilJ. M.GearyD. C.Byrd-CravenJ. (2006). Trade-offs in low-income women’s mate preferences. Human Nature, 17, 319–336.
89.
WillsT. A.McNamaraG.VaccaroD. (1995). Parental education related to adolescent stress-coping and substance use: development of a mediational model. Health Psychology, 14, 464.
90.
YagmurluB.AltanO. (2010). Maternal socialization and child temperament as predictors of emotion regulation in Turkish preschoolers. Infant and Child Development, 19, 275–296.
91.
YangJ.LiuH.WeiD.LiuW.MengJ.WangK.…QiuJ. (2016). Regional gray matter volume mediates the relationship between family socioeconomic status and depression-related trait in a young healthy sample. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, 51–62.
92.
YeungW. J.LinverM. R.Brooks–GunnJ. (2002). How money matters for young children’s development: Parental investment and family processes. Child Development, 73, 1861–1879.
93.
ZhangH.LiD.LiX. (2015). Temperament and problematic Internet use in adolescents: A moderated mediation model of maladaptive cognition and parenting styles. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 1886–1897.
