The Stability of Big-Five Personality Traits

Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.; Schurer, Stefanie

The Stability of Big-Five Personality Traits

IZA Discussion Paper No. 5943

13 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2011

See all articles by Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

School of Economics, University of Sydney; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Stefanie Schurer

Victoria University of Wellington - School of Economics and Finance

There are 2 versions of this paper

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

JEL Classification: J24, C18

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. and Schurer, Stefanie, The Stability of Big-Five Personality Traits. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5943. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1922015