Is risk propensity unique from the big five factors of personality? A meta-analytic investigation

Abstract

Meta-analysis of 6,644 correlations from 133 independent samples (N = 69,125) was conducted to examine whether risk propensity is subsumed by or independent of the traits comprising the five-factor model (FFM) of personality, and whether risk propensity has predictive utility above and beyond the FFM. Analyses revealed weak to modest relations between risk propensity and the FFM traits. The strongest observed relation was found for openness to experience (ρ = .30), and the combined FFM traits accounted for 22% of the variance in risk propensity. Together with the earlier investigations of risk propensity and the FFM, the evidence strongly suggests that risk propensity is largely independent of the FFM, and predicts risky outcomes (especially adaptive ones) over and above the FFM.