A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Associations between family size and offspring education depend on aspects of parental personality




AuthorsJokela M, Alvergne A, Rotkirch A, Rickard IJ, Lummaa V

PublisherPERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Publication year2014

JournalPersonality and Individual Differences

Journal name in sourcePERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Journal acronymPERS INDIV DIFFER

Volume58

First page 95

Last page100

Number of pages6

ISSN0191-8869

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.10.009


Abstract
Personality traits have been associated with fertility rates, but little is known how parental personality is associated with trade-offs between family size and offspring outcomes. Using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (n = 5422 parents with 17,253 adult biological offspring), we examined whether parental personality traits assessed with the Five Factor Model (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) modified associations between family size (measured as offspring number and birth order) and offspring education. Compared to low parental neuroticism, high parental neuroticism was associated with stronger trade-off between number of offspring and offspring educational achievement. High parental openness to experience, in turn, was associated with higher educational achievement of early-born offspring but not of later-born offspring. These personality-dependent differences in trade-offs between family size and offspring outcomes may help to explain why some personality dimensions are associated with low fertility rates. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.



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