Does Parental Joblessness Matter for Children's Personality Traits?

Abstract

Economic insecurity in childhood may shape not only children's opportunities but also the traits that govern how they think, behave and engage with the world. Using 17 years of longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (n = 3792), this study examines whether sustained exposure to parental joblessness during childhood is linked to poorer personality trait outcomes in later years. We apply multilevel random-effects models to capture cumulative exposure to joblessness prior to personality assessment. The results show that prolonged parental joblessness is associated with lower levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and opennes..