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Low Life Course Socioeconomic Status (SES) is Associated with Negative NEO PI-R Personality Patterns

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A Correction to this article was published on 31 July 2020

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with poor health. One potential pathway accounting for this relationship may be an association between low SES and personality characteristics that affect health.

Methods

Associations among parent's education, current SES (education and income), and personality were examined among 233 African Americans and Caucasian, male and female community volunteers.

Results

Using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to model neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness simultaneously, participant's education, household income, and father's and mother's education each had significant main effects on personality. When examining the life course—the combination of both current and childhood SES—distinctive patterns emerged for each domain, depending upon whether mother's or father's education was used to index childhood SES. When using mother's education as a childhood SES index, a high life course SES (high participant's SES/high mother's education) was associated with high extraversion and openness. Using father's education as a childhood SES index, a low life course SES (low participant's SES/low father's education) was associated with disproportionately high neuroticism and low conscientiousness. These effects did not differ by race or sex.

Conclusion

The implications of these findings for the role of personality in the SES–health relationship are discussed.

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Change history

  • 31 July 2020

    After the publication of the original article, the Editor was notified by Duke University that they have determined the authorship to be incomplete. Consequently, Dr Edward Suarez has been added as a co-author to represent his contribution to the conception and design of the work and acquisition of the data.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant P01HL36587, National Institute of Mental Health grant K05MH79482, Clinical Research Unit grant M01RR30, and the Duke University Behavioral Medicine Research Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Charles R. Jonassaint, Ilene C. Siegler & Redford B. Williams

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Ilene C. Siegler, John C. Barefoot, Christopher L. Edwards & Redford B. Williams

  3. Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Christopher L. Edwards & Redford B. Williams

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Duke University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2969, Durham, NC, USA

    Redford B. Williams

Authors
  1. Charles R. Jonassaint
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  2. Ilene C. Siegler
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  3. John C. Barefoot
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  4. Christopher L. Edwards
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  5. Redford B. Williams
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Correspondence to Redford B. Williams.

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Jonassaint, C.R., Siegler, I.C., Barefoot, J.C. et al. Low Life Course Socioeconomic Status (SES) is Associated with Negative NEO PI-R Personality Patterns. Int.J. Behav. Med. 18, 13–21 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-009-9069-x

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