Egan, Mark, Daly, Michael, Delaney, Liam, Boyce, Christopher J. and Wood, Alexander Mathew 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8010-1455
(2017)
Adolescent conscientiousness predicts lower lifetime unemployment.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 102 (4).
700 - 709.
ISSN 0021-9010
Abstract
Existing research on Big Five personality and unemployment has relied on personality measures elicited after the respondents had already spent years in the labor market, an experience that could change personality. We clarify the direction of influence by using the British Cohort Study (N = 4,206) to examine whether conscientiousness and other Big Five personality traits at age 16-17 predict unemployment over age 16-42. Our hypothesis that higher conscientiousness in adolescence would predict lower unemployment was supported. In analyses controlling for intelligence, gender, and parental socioeconomic status, the less conscientious (-1 SD) had a predicted probability of unemployment twice as high (3.4% vs. 1.7%) as the highly conscientious (+1 SD), an effect size comparable to intelligence. Mediation analysis revealed that academic motivation and educational attainment explained only 8.9% of this association. Fostering conscientiousness in early life may be an effective way to reduce unemployment throughout adulthood.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/apl/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2016 American Psychological Association |
| Divisions: | Psychological and Behavioural Science |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Sep 2019 10:27 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2024 17:03 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/101499 |
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