UC Berkeley

This dissertation examined links between Big Five personality measures and work lives in two studies of women in the Mills Longitudinal Study who worked substantially during mid-life (N=91). Study 1 investigated effects of personality on work: how did women who as college seniors scored high on Extraversion (E), Openness (O), and Conscientiousness (C) express these traits in their work lives throughout ascending, maintaining, and descending phases of work involvement from young adulthood to age 70? Personality did not predict either work or education variables in the early years after college (the early 1960s) when the culture was traditionally gender-typed and family-oriented. However, as women's roles changed, E, O, and C became generally and substantially related to work variables as expected from personality theory and research. Nonetheless, specific cultural influences (e.g., such as the link between C and the traditional women's role) affected the timing of involvement in work, and some of the women made personality-syntonic choices (e.g., in terms of nature of work and partners) that affected their financial security at age 70.

The second study investigated effects of work on personality: how can early work experiences be conducive to subsequent personality change? This study related work satisfaction and status level of work to decreasing levels of Neuroticism over a period of middle age in which many Mills women were highly engaged in work. Consistent with past research, higher work satisfaction at age 43 predicted decreases in Neuroticism from 43 to 61--that is, the women showed a significant improvement in a broad domain of psychological functioning. As predicted, this positive and lasting effect of work satisfaction was mediated by the positive impact that their work experience had on the women's self-confidence. In contrast, occupational attainment per se was not associated with decrease in Neuroticism.

Together, the two studies illustrate the mutually interactive relation between personality and work: early personality traits can importantly shape subsequent work lives (Study 1) but, in turn,early work experiences can shape subsequent personality development (Study 2).