The rich personality: a meta-analytic and empirical examination of the relationship between personality and economic status
Li, Lingyue
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130024
Description
Title
The rich personality: a meta-analytic and empirical examination of the relationship between personality and economic status
Author(s)
Li, Lingyue
Issue Date
2025-07-08
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Zhang, Bo
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Drasgow, Fritz
Committee Member(s)
Newman, Daniel A.
Roberts, Brent W.
Briley, D. A.
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Personality
Economic status
Abstract
Personality traits are well-established predictors of major life outcomes, yet their links to economic status, specifically income and wealth, remains incompletely understood. This dissertation provides a comprehensive and nuanced examination of how the Big Five personality traits relate to economic status. Study 1 presents a meta-analysis of 203 samples from 155 studies (N = 1,080,291), providing robust estimates of personality–economic status associations. Neuroticism showed the strongest and most consistent negative association with economic status (r = -0.101), followed by modest positive associations for conscientiousness (r = 0.072), extraversion (r = 0.070), and openness (r = 0.062). Agreeableness was weakly and negatively associated (r = -0.038). Moderator analyses revealed that measurement-related factors, particularly personality and economic status measures, significantly influenced the observed associations. Study 2 partially replicates and extends these findings using a large-scale longitudinal dataset from the Understanding America Study, further examining the moderating effects of occupation while accounting for intelligence, education, and financial literacy. The results reaffirm conscientiousness and neuroticism as consistent predictors of economic status across data waves, whereas the effects of openness and extraversion were more context-dependent, varying with demographic covariates and occupations. Together, these studies offer the most comprehensive assessment to date of the personality–economic status relationship and provide a foundation for future research aimed at mapping the broader nomological network linking personality to economic trajectories.
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