The general factor of personality as a female-typical trait

Abstract

General factor of personality (GFP) is a central concept in personality and individual differences. Various scholars have suggested that GFP is an indicator of social effectiveness, emotional intelligence, or slow life history. Because women have advantage over men in all three, women should have higher levels of GFP than men regardless of its true nature. Analyses of the National Child Development Study in the UK (Study 1; n = 17,419) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health in the US (Study 2; n = 20,745) confirmed the hypothesis. Women had substantially higher levels of GFP than men did in both nations. Study 3 made the first attempt to extract a macrolevel GFP (the Big Big One) from aggregate data (mean Big Five personality factors in US states). The macrolevel GFP was also a female-typical trait, being significantly correlated with the proportion female in the state samples. The results from all three studies show that GFP is a female-typical trait.