An examination of personality expression in everyday life in a Canadian sample of racialized undergraduate students.

Abstract

There is a growing body of research regarding the situations that are linked to personality expression in daily life. We examined racialized young adults' experiences of racial and ethnic cues, and variables from prior personality expression research. We assessed Big Five personality states in racialized undergraduate students (N=180) in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada using experience sampling methodology. Participants (Mage =19.85-years-old; 51% South Asian, 17% East Asian, 11% African, 11% Middle Eastern, 9% Southeast Asian, 8% Black-North American, 5% Caribbean, 3% Afro-Caribbean, 2% Central American, 2% White/European, 1% South American, 1% North African, 1% South and Central American, 1% Afro-European, 3% another) provided five assessments daily over 12 days (Nobservations =6980). We observed within-person associations from past personality expression research (e.g., participants exhibited greater conscientiousness when at school). Racial and ethnic cues from previous studies of racial and ethnic identity, stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice were associated with situational characteristics (e.g., being in a majority White space was associated with being in public), and with Big Five personality states (e.g., racial identity salience was associated with extraversion). Results suggest that assessing sociocultural variables beyond the individual provides an opportunity for better understanding personality expression.