Marion Spengler

Student characteristics and behaviors at age 12 predict occupational success 40 years later over and above childhood IQ and parental socioeconomic status.

Drawing on a 2-wave longitudinal sample spanning 40 years from childhood (age 12) to middle adulthood (age 52), the present study was designed to examine how student characteristics and behaviors in late childhood (assessed in Wave 1 in 1968) predict career success in adulthood (assessed in Wave 2 in 2008). We examined the influence of parental socioeconomic status (SES), childhood intelligence, and student characteristics and behaviors (inattentiveness, school entitlement, responsible student, sense of inferiority, impatience, pessimism, rule breaking and defiance of parental authority, and teacher-rated studiousness) on 2 important real-life outcomes (i.e., occupational success and income). The longitudinal sample consisted of N = 745 persons who participated in 1968 (M = 11.9 years, SD = 0.6; 49.9% female) and 2008 (M = 51.8 years, SD = 0.6; 53.3% female). Regression analyses and path analyses were conducted to evaluate the direct and indirect effects (via education) of the predictors on career success. The results revealed direct and indirect influences of student characteristics (responsible student, rule breaking and defiance of parental authority, and teacher-rated studiousness) across the life span on career success after adjusting for differences in parental SES and IQ at age 12. rd

Whose Job Will Be Taken Over by a Computer? The Role of Personality in Predicting Job Computerizability over the Lifespan

Economists estimate that 47% of US jobs will be computerized in the future. This paper tests the prospective role of a comprehensive range personality factors on selection into more (or less) computerizable jobs. We used a US representative high school sample (N = 346 660) and a longitudinal design. At baseline, we measured social background, intelligence, personality traits and vocational interests. In two follow–ups (11 and 50 years later), we recorded occupations and coded their probability of being computerized based on the skills required and technological developments. Multiple regressions showed that, regardless of social background, people who were more intelligent, mature, interested in arts, and sciences at baseline, and selected into jobs that had a lower probability of computerization. On average, a one standard deviation increase in each of these traits predicted an average of 4 percentage points drop in the probability of ones job of being computerized. At the US population level, this is equivalent with saving 5.8 million people from losing their future careers to computerization. Most effects replicated across time. Path analyses showed that educational attainment mediated these effects and some direct effects remained. This highlights the importance of personality on occupational selection and in shaping the labour market. Copyright

How you behave in school predicts life success above and beyond family background, broad traits, and cognitive ability.

In this study, we investigated the role of student characteristics and behaviors in a longitudinal study over a 50-year timespan (using a large U.S. representative sample of high school students). We addressed the question of whether behaviors in school have any long-lasting effects for one‘s later life. Specifically, we investigated the role of being a responsible student, interest in school, writing skills, and reading skills in predicting educational attainment, occupational prestige, and income 11 years (N = 81,912) and 50 years (N = 1,952) after high school. We controlled for parental socioeconomic status, IQ, and broad personality traits in all analyses. We found that student characteristics and behaviors in adolescence predicted later educational and occupational success above and beyond parental socioeconomic status, IQ, and broad personality traits. Having higher interest in school was related to higher educational attainment at years 11 and 50, higher occupational prestige at year 11, and higher income at year 50. Higher levels of being a responsible student were related to higher educational attainment and higher occupational prestige at years 11 and 50. This was the first longitudinal study to test the role of student characteristics and behaviors over and above broad personality traits. It highlights the potential importance of what students do in school and how they react to their experiences during that time. It also highlights the possibility that things that happen in specific periods of one’s life may play out in ways far more significant than we expect.

Social Cognitive Constructs Are Just as Stable as the Big Five Between Grades 5 and 8

Personality traits and social cognitive variables are central constructs in psychological research. It is often assumed that personality traits are less changeable than social cognitive variables, and thus interventions usually tend to focus on the latter. However, these assumptions about the mutability of personality and social cognitive variables have never been tested side-by-side in a longitudinal study. Using a large longitudinal study with four time points and N = 3,876 students in 136 classes (99 schools), we compared the mutability of the Big Five personality traits and social cognitive constructs more often described as socioemotional skills or motivational variables (individual interest, self-concept, and academic effort in the school subjects math, English, and German). The results indicated that there are no marked differences between personality traits and social cognitive constructs across multiple indicators of stability or changeability.

The Kind of Student You Were in Elementary School Predicts Mortality

We examined the association of self-reported and teacher-rated student characteristics assessed at the end of primary school with all-cause mortality assessed through age 52. Data stem from a representative sample of students from Luxembourg assessed in 1968 (N = 2,543; M = 11.9 years, SD = 0.6; 49.9% female; N = 166 participants died). Results from logistic regression analyses showed that the self-reported responsible student scale (OR = .81; CI = [.70; .95]) and the teacher rating of studiousness (OR = .80; CI = [.67; .96]) were predictive for all-cause mortality even after controlling for IQ, parental SES, and sex. These findings indicate that both observer-rated and self-reported student behaviors are important life-course predictors for mortality and are perhaps more important than childhood IQ.

Student Characteristics and Behaviours in Childhood Predict Self-reported Health in Middle Adulthood

We examined how self–reported and teacher–rated student characteristics in primary school were associated with adult self–reported health. A representative sample of Luxembourgish students was assessed in 1968 (M age = 11.9, SD = 0.6) and 2008 (N = 745; M age = 51.8, SD = 0.6). Self–reported sense of inferiority and pessimism in childhood were negatively related to subjective health and vitality–related quality of life/health in adulthood (rs = −.08 to −.12); teacher–rated studiousness (age 12 years) was positively related to subjective health, healthcare utilization and vitality–related quality of life/health (age 52 years; rs = .13 to .16). After controlling for childhood IQ, parental socio–economic status, educational attainment and sex in multiple regression analyses, most effects of teacher–rated studiousness showed incremental validity beyond the controls. School entitlement, sense of inferiority, impatience and pessimism were positively related to body mass index (rs = .08 to .13). The responsible student scale and teacher–rated studiousness were negatively related to body mass index (rs = −.09 to −.13). The findings demonstrate that childhood characteristics and behaviours are important life–course predictors of key health dimensions beyond childhood IQ and parental socio–economic status. In addition, this narrower level of assessment adds significantly to the empirical body of knowledge on long–term predictors of health outcomes in adulthood. Copyright

Does the heritability of cognitive abilities vary as a function of parental education? Evidence from a German twin sample

A well-known hypothesis in the behavioral genetic literature predicts that the heritability of cognitive abilities is higher in the presence of higher socioeconomic contexts. However, studies suggest that the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on the heritability of cognitive ability may not be universal, as it has mostly been demonstrated in the United States, but not in other Western nations. In the present study we tested whether the importance of genetic and environmental effects on cognitive abilities varies as a function of parental education in a German twin sample. Cognitive ability scores (general, verbal, and nonverbal) were obtained on 531 German twin pairs (192 monozygotic, 339 dizygotic, ranging from 7 to 14 years of age; Mage = 10.25, SD = 1.83). Data on parental education were available from mothers and fathers. Results for general cognitive ability and nonverbal ability indicated no significant gene x parental education interaction effect. For verbal ability, a significant nonshared environment (E) x parental education interaction was found in the direction of greater nonshared environmental influences on verbal abilities among children raised by more educated parents.

Sixteen going on sixty-six: A longitudinal study of personality stability and change across 50 years.

How much do peoples personalities change or remain stable from high school to retirement? To address these questions, we used a large U.S. sample (N = 1,795) that assessed peoples personality traits in adolescence and 50 years later. We also used 2 independent samples, 1 cross-sectional and 1 short-term longitudinal (N = 3,934 and N = 38, respectively), to validate the personality scales and estimate measurement error. This was the first study to test personality stability/change over a 50-year time span in which the same data source was tapped (i.e., self-report). This allowed us to use 4 different methods (rank-order stability, mean-level change, individual-level change, and profile stability) answering different developmental questions. We also systematically tested gender differences. We found that the average rank-order stability was .31 (corrected for measurement error) and .23 (uncorrected). The average mean-level change was half of a standard deviation across personality traits, and the pattern of change showed maturation. Individual-level change also supported maturation, with 20% to 60% of the people showing reliable change within each trait. We tested 3 aspects of personality profile stability, and found that overall personality profile stability was .37, distinctive profile stability was .17, and profile normativeness was .51 at baseline and .62 at the follow-up. Gender played little role in personality development across the life span. Our findings suggest that personality has a stable component across the life span, both at the trait level and at the profile level, and that personality is also malleable and people mature as they age. (PsycINFO Database Record

The effects of getting a new teacher on the consistency of personality

Abstract Objective In the present research, we examined the effect of getting a new teacher on consistency in students’ personality measures, including trait and social cognitive constructs. Method To test the effect of this kind of situational transition, we analyzed two large longitudinal samples (N = 5,628; N = 2,458) with quasi‐experimental study designs. We used two consistency measures (i.e., rank‐order clations and changes in variance over time) to compare students who got a new teacher with students who kept the same teacher. Results Multiple‐group latent variable analyses showed no differences in the rank‐order correlations for the math‐related social cognitive constructs of interest, effort, self‐concept, self‐regulation, anxiety, and the Big Five personality traits. Significantly lower rank‐order correlations were found for some of the German‐ and English‐related social cognitive constructs (i.e., effort measures) for the group of students who got a new teacher. Regarding the changes in variance (over time), we found no systematic differences between groups in both studies. Conclusions We found partial support for the idea that social cognitive variables are more susceptible to environmental changes (i.e., getting a new teacher) than the Big Five personality traits are.

The Development of Narcissistic Admiration and Machiavellianism in Early Adulthood

We investigated the development of narcissistic admiration (i.e., the assertive or extraverted dimension of narcissism; Back et al., 2013) and Machiavellianism (Mach) in early adulthood. Specifically, we examined (a) mean-level changes in narcissistic admiration and Mach during early adulthood and (b) how studying economics and experiencing any of 30 life events were related to individual differences in changes in narcissistic admiration and Mach. We used longitudinal data from 2 cohorts of young adults in Germany (N1 = 4,962 and N2 = 2,572). The mean levels of narcissistic admiration remained stable over time. Life events analyses indicated that narcissistic admiration increased among people who experienced a positively evaluated change in their eating or sleeping habits, a positively evaluated romantic break-up, or a negatively evaluated failure on an important exam. The mean levels of Mach decreased during early adulthood in both cohorts. Life events analyses showed that Mach decreased for only the 91% of young adults who had started a new job and evaluated it positively, suggesting that mastering occupational roles mitigates Mach in early adulthood. The results will be discussed in the light of previous longitudinal studies on narcissism and the Big Five and cross-sectional studies on how age is related to narcissism and Mach.