The Stability of Big-Five Personality Traits

Deborah Cobb-Clark and Stefanie Schurer

No 5943, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use a large, nationally-representative sample of working-age adults to demonstrate that personality (as measured by the Big Five) is stable over a four-year period. Average personality changes are small and do not vary substantially across age groups. Intra-individual personality change is generally unrelated to experiencing adverse life events and is unlikely to be economically meaningful. Like other non-cognitive traits, personality can be modeled as a stable input into many economic decisions.

Keywords: non-cognitive skills; Big-Five personality traits; stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C18 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

Published - published in: Economics Letters, 2012, 115 (1), 11-15

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Related works:
Journal Article: The stability of big-five personality traits (2012)
Working Paper: The Stability of Big-Five Personality Traits (2011)
Working Paper: The stability of big-five personality traits (2011)
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