Child personality characteristics and selection into long-term unemployment in Finnish and Swedish longitudinal samples

Abstract

The main aim of the present study was to test a model of selection into long-term unemployment obtained for a sample of 36-year-old Finns (Kokko, Pulkkinen, & Puustinen, 2000) to see whether it similarly explained long-term unemployment among 26- to 27-year-old Finns and Swedes. The participants were drawn from two ongoing longitudinal studies: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (conducted in Finland) and the Individual Development and Adaptation study (conducted in Sweden). At both ages, that is 36 and 26–27, low education was related to long-term unemployment, and explained by personality characteristics in middle childhood, such as low self-control of emotions or conduct problems, and behavioural inhibition or timidity. However, while low self-control of emotions additionally explained long-term unemployment among the 36-year-olds directly, in both the young samples personality characteristics showed only indirect effects through poor educational attainment. At age 26–27, childhood personality characteristics explained selection onto an educational track rather than selection into long-term unemployment, and length of education explained duration of unemployment.

Personality traits and unemployment: Evidence from longitudinal data

“…) In contrast, Gallo, et al (2003) found that an internal locus of control was associated with a higher probability of reemployment following a job loss. Furthermore, psychological literature provides evidence on the connection between personality characteristics and unemployment (e.g., Caspet al, 1998;Doodley & Prause, 1995Ferguson et al, 1997;Hintsanen et al, 2009;Kokko, Bergman & Pulkkinen, 2003;Kokko & Pulkkinen, 2000;Winefield et al, 1991). Mueller and Plug (2006) distinguished three alternative ways in which personality might matter in the labour market, and their categorisation schema can also be applied to those who are unemployed.…”

The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A socioecological perspective.

“…The person-oriented approach has received widespread and growing attention in psychology over the last 20 years (Reitzle & Vondracek, 2000;von Eye & Bergman, 2003). For example, longitudinal studies have used trait profiles to predict such central life outcomes as career success (Kokko, Bergman & Pulkkinen, 2003), achievement (Hart, Atkins & Fegley, 2003), overall health (Chapman & Goldberg, 2011), and delinquency (Caspi. 2000;Pulkkinen, 2009; for an overview see Pulkkinen & Caspi, 2002).…”

Childhood Disruptive Behaviour and School Performance across Comprehensive School: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…Thus, the GPAs may be seen as an indicator of actual school performance, as they reflect the grades in several school subjects. Poor school performance is an important indicator of educational and social outcomes since it is known to predict low educational level and low work performance (Kuncel, Credé, & Thomas, 2005), unemployment (Kokko, Bergman, & Pulkkinen, 2003), detrimental health behaviour (Lynch, Kaplan, & Salonen, 1997), and health, such as adulthood obesity (Alatupa et al, 2010).…”