Personality Traits Increasingly Important for Male Fertility: Evidence from Norway

Abstract

We study the relationship between personality traits and fertility using a survey of Norwegian men and women born from 1927 to 1968 (N = 7017 individuals). We found that personality relates to men's and women's fertility differently; conscientiousness decreases female fertility, openness decreases male fertility and extraversion raises the fertility of both sexes. Neuroticism depresses fertility for men, but only for those born after 1956. The lower male fertility in younger cohorts high in neuroticism cannot be explained by partnership status, income or education. The proportion of childless men (at age 40 years) has increased rapidly for Norwegian male cohorts from 1940 to 1970 (from about 15 to 25 per cent). For women, it has only increased marginally (from 10 to 13 per cent). Our findings suggest that this could be partly explained by the increasing importance of personality characteristics for men's probability of becoming fathers. Men that have certain personality traits may increasingly be avoiding the long‐term commitment of having children, or their female partners are shunning entering this type of commitment with them. Childbearing in contemporary richer countries may be less likely to be influenced by economic necessities and more by individual partner characteristics, such as personality. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology

Personality and voluntary childlessness

“…Silka and Kiesler (1977) observed that couples who were intending childlessness or were unsure, expressed greater preference for being alone, were less interested in interaction with people and tended to have more solitary occupations. Extraversion has been positively associated with greater probability of parenthood, earlier parenthood, greater likelihood of non-planned pregnancy, and higher number of children overall (Berg et al 2013;Jokela et al 2011;Tavares 2008;Skirbekk and Blekesaune 2013). The related trait of Sociability (Buss and Plomin 1984) has also been positively associated with the probability of having children (Jokela et al 2009).…”

“…Conscientiousness appears relevant only for women, in whom it is associated with fewer children and lower likelihood of unplanned pregnancy (Berg et al 2013;Jokela et al 2011;Skirbekk and Blekesaune 2013). It is also predictive of later childbirth, although Tavares (2008) noted this was not significant after controlling for education.…”

“…The relationship of Neuroticism with fertility appears mixed. Overall, higher Neuroticism has been associated with lower numbers of children for both men and women, but although Jokela et al (2011) and Jokela (2012) found no age cohort effects, Skirbekk and Blekesaune (2013) reported that in men there was only an effect for those born after 1957. However, higher Neuroticism is also positively related to earlier childbirth and to the chance of unplanned pregnancy, and after controlling for social class it is positively related to the chance of planned pregnancies (Berg et al 2013;Tavares 2008).…”

The evolved psychological mechanisms of fertility motivation: hunting for causation in a sea of correlation

“…Extraversion (typified by activity, sociability and dominance) positively predicts fertility [92], lifetime number of sexual partners and propensity for leaving a relationship [93] and, in Senegalese males, it also predicted polygyny [86]. Conscientiousness seems to decrease fertility, for example, in Norwegian women across 40 years of data [92] and in British panel data [94] conscientious women postponed childbearing.…”

“…Conscientiousness seems to decrease fertility, for example, in Norwegian women across 40 years of data [92] and in British panel data [94] conscientious women postponed childbearing. In Finnish data, the association increased in later cohorts and in both sexes [95].…”