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Origins of Adulthood Personality: The Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences

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  • Fletcher Jason M.

    (La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA)

  • Schurer Stefanie

    (School of Economics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

We test whether adverse childhood experiences – exposure to parental maltreatment and its indirect effect on health – are associated with age 30 personality traits. We use rich longitudinal data from a large, representative cohort of young US Americans and exploit the differences across siblings to control for the confounding influences of shared environmental and genetic factors. We find that maltreatment experiences are significantly and robustly associated with neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, but not with agreeableness and extraversion. High levels of neuroticism are linked to sexual abuse and neglect; low levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience are linked to parental neglect. The estimated associations are significantly reduced in magnitude when controlling for physical or mental health, suggesting that adolescent health could be one important pathway via which maltreatment affects adulthood personality. Maltreatment experiences, in combination with their health effects, explain a significant fraction of the relationship between adulthood conscientiousness and earnings or human capital. Our findings provide a possible explanation for why personality traits are important predictors of adulthood labor market outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Fletcher Jason M. & Schurer Stefanie, 2017. "Origins of Adulthood Personality: The Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:17:y:2017:i:2:p:22:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0212
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    Cited by:

    1. James J. Heckman & Tomas Jagelka & Tim Kautz, 2019. "Some Contributions of Economics to the Study of Personality," Working Papers 2019-069, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. Gensowski, Miriam & Gørtz, Mette & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Inequality in personality over the life cycle," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 46-77.
    3. Clark, Andrew E. & Lee, Tom, 2021. "Early-life correlates of later-life well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 360-368.
    4. Kim, Jinho & Song, Kyungeun & Sutin, Angelina R., 2021. "Gender differences in the relationship between perceived discrimination and personality traits in young adulthood: Evidence using sibling fixed effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    5. Elkins, Rosemary & Schurer, Stefanie, 2018. "Exploring the Role of Fathers in Non-Cognitive Skill Development over the Lifecourse," IZA Discussion Papers 11451, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2022. "Lifetime Consequences of Lost Instructional Time in the Classroom: Evidence from Shortened School Years," CESifo Working Paper Series 9892, CESifo.
    7. Schurer, Stefanie & Trajkovski, Kristian & Hariharan, Tara, 2019. "Understanding the mechanisms through which adverse childhood experiences affect lifetime economic outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Atticus Bolyard & Peter Savelyev, 2021. "Understanding the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score and its Interactions with SES in Determining Health in Young Adulthood," Working Papers 2021-026, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    9. Xue, Sen & Kidd, Michael P. & Le, Anh.T. & Kirk, Kathy & Martin, Nicholas G., 2020. "The role of locus of control in adulthood outcomes: Evidence from Australian twins," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 566-588.
    10. Rosemary Elkins & Stefanie Schurer, 2020. "Exploring the role of parental engagement in non-cognitive skill development over the lifecourse," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 957-1004, July.
    11. James J. Heckman & Bridget Galaty & Haihan Tian, 2023. "The Economic Approach to Personality, Character and Virtue," NBER Working Papers 31258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; noncognitive skills; Big Five personality traits; adverse childhood experiences; maltreatment; siblings fixed effects; Add Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General

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