Disposition and demographic variables

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship of the Five Factor Model of personality and general mental ability with an array of demographic variables that included age, socio-economic origin, educational attainment and marital status. Questionnaire data from 342 white-collar workers were analysed. Openness and mental ability were related to educational attainment, while mental ability was the only dispositional trait that was associated with socio-economic origin. Married individuals scored lower on openness than their non-married counterparts, and scores on extraversion were associated with length of marriage. The findings suggested that the profile of the white-collar worker in the public sector is that of an emotionally stable, introverted, agreeable and conscientious individual. It is suggested that additional research is needed, including studies to investigate the consistency of the identified relationship patterns across genders, and studies to map the processes that are involved in the association between dispositional traits and demographic group membership.