More skill than trait, or more trait than skill? Relations of (mis)matches between personality traits and social, emotional, and behavioral skills with adolescent outcomes

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Personality traits and social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills are closely related but incrementally predict life outcomes. This implies that although tightly connected, what a person tends to do (personality traits) and what they are capable of doing (skills) are not always perfectly aligned. In this study, we investigated whether matches and mismatches between traits and skills predict important life outcomes. We studied a diverse sample of high school students ( N = 840) who self-reported their Big Five personality traits, five SEB skill domains, and an array of academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Using response surface analysis, we found that matching trait/skill levels did not confer a unique benefit for adolescents over the additive effects of traits and skills. In contrast, we found that trait/skill mismatches predicted outcomes, and in some cases, adolescents with mismatching trait/skills had the best and worst outcomes. Specifically, youth with higher skill levels relative to their traits reported better outcomes, and those with lower skills relative to their traits reported worse outcomes. Our findings provide insights into functioning that are missed by solely focusing on direct effects and show that SEB skills can enhance youth’s personality strengths and buffer against shortcomings.