Reproductive Behavior and Personality Traits of the Five Factor Model

Markus Jokela*, Alexandra Alvergne, Thomas V. Pollet, Virpi Lummaa

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

    93 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We examined associations between Five Factor Model personality traits and various outcomes of reproductive behavior in a sample of 15 729 women and men from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) and Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) survey. Personality and reproductive history was self-reported in adulthood (mean age: 53 years). High extraversion, high openness to experience, and low neuroticism were associated with larger number of children in both sexes, while high agreeableness and low conscientiousness correlated with larger offspring number in women only. These associations were independent of marital status. There were also more specific associations between personality and timing of childbearing. The findings demonstrate that personality traits of the Five Factor Model are systematically associated with multiple reproductive outcomes. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)487-500
    Number of pages14
    JournalEuropean Journal of Personality
    Volume25
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • Evolutionary psychology
    • Social and personal relationships
    • Family and marriage
    • LIFE-HISTORY STRATEGY
    • INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES
    • UNITED-STATES
    • CAREER SUCCESS
    • K-FACTOR
    • CHILDBEARING MOTIVATION
    • DEMOGRAPHIC-TRANSITION
    • EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT
    • EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
    • MARITAL SATISFACTION

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