Open AccessSocioeconomic status, parenting investments, and negative personality traits over time and across generations.
Author(s) -
Monica J. Martin,
M. Brent Donnellan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.318
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-0599
pISSN - 0012-1649
DOI - 10.1037/dev0000426
Subject(s) - psychology , socioeconomic status , big five personality traits , developmental psychology , personality , psycinfo , alienation , transactional leadership , personality development , feeling , social psychology , demography , population , sociology , medline , political science , law
The current investigation tested predictions from the interactionist model (IM) of socioeconomic influences on the development of negative personality traits with respect to feelings of alienation and low well-being. The model tested proposed that lower family socioeconomic status would lead to fewer parenting and material investments in the next generation adolescent, which in turn would be associated with higher levels of adolescent negative personality traits. The IM also predicted a transactional process in which adolescent negative personality attributes would then deter future socioeconomic success during adulthood which, in turn, would hinder adult development in terms of greater feelings of alienation and diminished well-being. Analyses with a cohort of 347 adolescents followed for over 20 years produced findings consistent with these predictions. Moreover, additional analyses with 282 of the third generation children of these cohort members demonstrated that this same process was being replicated in the third generation. The findings suggest reciprocal or transactional influences that promote the development of negative personality attributes and accumulating personal, economic and social advantages over time and generations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).