Environmental factors and teenagers’ personalities: the role of personal and familial socio-cultural level

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ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect

Behavioural

Brain

Research

j o ur na l h o me p a g e :w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / b b r

Research

report

Environmental

factors

and

teenagers’

personalities:

The

role

of

personal

and

familial

Socio-Cultural

Level

Elisa

Menardo

a

_,

_Giulia

_Balboni

b,∗

_,

_Roberto

_Cubelli

c

a_University_of_Verona,_Lungadige_Porta_Vittoria,_17,_37129,_Verona,_Italy

b_University_of_Perugia,_Piazza_G._Ermini,_1,_06123,_Perugia,_Italy

c_University_of_Trento,_Corso_Bettini,_31,_38068,_Rovereto,_Italy

h

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•Socio-Cultural Level indicators are

associatedwithdifferentpersonality

proﬁles.

•RelationshipbetweenSocio-Cultural

Levelandteenpersonalityissex spe-ciﬁc.

•Personal more than familial

Socio-CulturalLevelisassociatedwithteen personality.

•Parents’Socio-Cultural Levelscould

inﬂuence children’s personalities

indirectly.

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Articlehistory:

Received2August2016

Receivedinrevisedform20February2017

Accepted22February2017

Availableonline24February2017

Keywords: BigFive Socio-CulturalLevel CulturalCapital SocialCapital SocioeconomicStatus Environment

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Environmental(e.g.,socio-culturalcontext),individual(e.g.,geneticmakeup),andinterpersonal(e.g.,

caregiver–childrenrelationships)factorscanplayacrucialroleinshapingthedevelopmentof the

teenagers’personality.Inthisstudy,wefocusedontheSocio-CulturalLevelthatdesignatesthesetof

preferences,knowledge,andbehaviorsthatcharacterizeanindividual’swayoflifeanddependonhisor

hercultural,social,andeconomicresources.WestudiedtherelationshipbetweenSocio-CulturalLevel

(personal,maternal,andpaternal)andBigFivepersonalitytraitsof191teenagerslivinginthesame geo-graphicalarea.ResultsshowedthatSocioeconomicStatus(i.e.,parentaleducationlevelandoccupational

prestige),whichistheonlydimensiongenerallymeasuredininvestigationsonSocio-CulturalLevel,was

notrelatedwithpersonality.Incontrast,CulturalCapitalandSocialCapitalwereassociatedwith

dif-ferentpersonalitytraits.PersonalCulturalCapitalwasrelatedtoOpennesstoexperienceofboysand

girlsandtoExtraversionofgirls;personalSocialCapitalwasrelatedtoExtraversionofgirls,Emotional stabilityofboys,andAgreeablenessofbothboysandgirls;maternalCulturalCapitalwasassociatedwith

Opennesstoexperienceofdaughters.Overall,thepersonalityofteenagerswasmorerelatedtotheirown

∗ Correspondingauthorat:DepartmentofPhilosophy,SocialandHumanSciencesandEducation,UniversityofPerugia,PiazzaG.Ermini,1,06123,Perugia,Italy.

E-mailaddresses:elisa.menardo@univr.it(E.Menardo),giulia.balboni@unipg.it(G.Balboni),roberto.cubelli@unitn.it(R.Cubelli).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.038

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CulturalandSocialCapitalthantotheCulturalandSocialCapitaloftheirparents.Moreover,the

rela-tionshipbetweenCulturalCapitalandSocialCapitalofboys/girlsandoffathers/motherswasmoderate

instrength.Itseemsthatparentsinﬂuencethedevelopmentofpersonalityoftheirteenagersindirectly,

theirSocio-CulturalLevelshapingtheSocio-CulturalLeveloftheirsonsanddaughters.

1. Introduction

Personalityreferstotheindividualdifferencesinwaysof

think-ing, behaving and interacting; it reﬂects stable and consistent

qualitiesandtraitsresultingfromearlyinteractionswithparents

andcaregivers. Oneof themostwidespread andwell-validated

modelsofpersonalityistheBigFivemodel[1],whichcomprises

ﬁvedimensions.Extraversionreﬂectsakeeninterestinpeopleand

events,andenergyforexploringtheworld;Agreeablenessdenotes

theabilitytointeractwithothersandtobesympathetic,kind,and

affectionate;Conscientiousnessrefers toresponsibilityand

reli-ability;Emotionalstability(frequently discussed initsreversed

form,Neuroticism)isameasureofemotionalresilience;Openness

toexperienceexpressesindependenceandintellectualcuriosity.

Over theyears, psychologists have identiﬁed severalfactors

affectingthedevelopmentofpersonality:individual(e.g.,biological

and genetic substrates), interpersonal (e.g., mother–child

rela-tionships), and environmental (e.g.,socio-economic conditions)

factors.Oneofthemostinﬂuentialenvironmentalfactorsisthe

Socio-CulturalLevel[2],whichisstrictlyrelatedtotheenduring

reciprocalinteractionsbetweentheindividualandhis/her

immedi-ateenvironment,deﬁnedasproximalprocessesbyBronfenbrenner

[3,4].

AccordingtoLamontandLareau[5],Socio-CulturalLevel

des-ignates the set of preferences, knowledge, and behaviors that

characterizethewayoflifeanddependonthecultural,social,and

economicresourcesofanindividualoroftheadultsinafamily.

Socio-CulturalLevelisamultidimensionalconstructandincludes

threedifferentcomponents[6,7]:SocioeconomicStatus(SES),

Cul-turalCapital(CC),andSocialCapital(SC).

SESdenotesthepositionofapersonorofafamilywithinasocial

systemwhere values suchas professionalprestige, educational

level,economicresources,power,andaccesstoinformationare

notevenlydistributed[8].Typically,investigationsofSESconsider

income,educationallevel,andprofessionalprestige[9].CC,ﬁrst

deﬁnedbyBourdieuandPasseron[10],referstoknowledgeand

useoftheculturalcodesthatarerelevantinthecommunitywhere

anindividuallives[5].BecauseCCisahighlycontext-dependent

construct,researchersgenerallyuseadhocquestionnairesbased

onthecharacteristicsofthetargetpopulation,investigating

artis-tic,recreationalandassociativeinterests,andactivities.SCrefers

totheresourcesassociatedwithsocialnetworkconnections[11]

linkingpeoplewithingroups(bondingcapital)oracrossgroups

(bridgingcapital). Despite different theoretical views [6,7], the

assessmentofSCtypicallyconsiderstheextenttowhichthe

indi-vidual’sconnectionsappeartobedurable,trustworthy,andableto

offersocioeconomicresources[11,12].

Overthe years,psychological studieshave shown a positive

correlationbetweenSESandtheBigFivetraitsinadults[12–15],

withdifferentindicatorsofSESshowingdifferentresults.Whereas

educationallevel[15]andoccupationalprestige[12]appeartobe

associatedwithallthedimensionsofpersonality,incomeshowed

signiﬁcantassociationswithExtraversion,Conscientiousness,and

Emotionalstability,butnotwithOpennesstoexperienceor

Agree-ableness[15].Althoughrarelyinvestigated,CCandSCalsohave

showna relationshiptopersonalityinadults.Bothhave shown

associationswithExtraversion,Emotionalstability,andOpenness

toexperience;SChasalsobeenassociatedwithConscientiousness

[16].

OnlyPellicci,Menardo,Balboni,andCubelli[17]haveexplored

thethreedimensionsofSocio-CulturalLeveltogethertostudytheir

relationship to personalityin adults. They found different

pat-ternsofrelationshipaccordingtotheparticipant’ssex:women’s

personalitiesappearedtobemorerelatedtoCC,whereasmen’s

personalitiesseemedmorestronglytiedtoeducationlevel.

AstheassociationbetweenSocio-CulturalLeveland

personal-ityhasbeenstudiedonlyinadulthood,thepurposeofthepresent

studywastoexploreitinteenagers.Inparticular,weaimedto

ver-ifywhetherteenagerswithdifferentSocio-CulturalLevelsshow

differentBigFiveproﬁles.Wetookintoaccountallthedimensions

ofSocio-CulturalLevelatbothpersonalandfamilial(maternaland

paternal)levels.Wehypothesizeddifferentproﬁlesofpersonality

inboysandgirlsaccordingtopersonalandfamilialSocio-Cultural

Level.AsregardspersonalSocio-CulturalLevel,basedonprevious

studiesonadulthood[17],wehypothesizedthatgirls’personality

shouldbemoreassociatedtoCC,whereasboys’personalityshould

bemoreassociated totheeducationallevel. Forwhat concerns

familial Socio-Cultural Level, given that paternal and maternal

SESshoweddifferentassociationwithchildren’spersonality[15],

wehypothesizeddifferentassociationswithteenagers’personality

alsoforpaternalandmaternalCCandSC.Moreover,since

pater-naleducationlevelappearstohavemoreinﬂuenceonchildren’s

BigFivetraitsthanmaternaleducationlevel[15],wehypothesized

differentproﬁlesofsons’anddaughters’personalityaccordingto

maternalandpaternalSocio-CulturalLevels.

Finally,previousstudieshavefounda moderateinﬂuenceof

familialSocio-CulturalLevelonpersonalSocio-CulturalLevel[18].

Therefore, it is possible that, at least at some degree, familial

Socio-CulturalLevelcouldhaveanindirectinﬂuenceonteenagers’

personality,byshapingtheirSocio-CulturalLevel.Tothisaim,we

studiedthecorrelationbetweenpersonalCCandSCofboysand

girlsandpersonalCCandSCoftheirmothersandfathers.We

pre-dictedmoderatetohighcorrelationcoefﬁcients.

Thisstudyisparticularlyusefulbecause,toourknowledge,it

is theﬁrst time thatthe inﬂuenceof environmentalfactors on

teenagers’personalityhasbeeninvestigated,takingintoaccount

thedifferentpersonaland familialdimensionsof Socio-Cultural

Levelandconsideringsexofteenagersandparentsasmoderator

variables.Thisstudyaimedtounderstandtheinterplaybetween

anindividualbiologicaldimension(i.e.,sex)andthesocio-cultural

contextinthedevelopmentoftheBigFivetraits.

2. Materialandmethods

2.1. Participants

Onehundredninety-oneteenagers,attendingsixdifferenthigh

schools(threegeneraleducationandthreepre-university

educa-tion)inthemetropolitanareaofLucca(Italy),participatedinthe

study.Ofthe500studentscontacted,223(45%)agreedtotakepart

inthesurvey.Ofthese,32 wereexcluded:30didnotcomplete

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Table1

Characteristicsofteenagers,mothers,andfathers.

Teenager Mother Father

(n=191) (n=150) (n=125) Sex(%) F–M 116(61)-75(39) – – Age M(SD) 16.1(1.6) 46.2(4.7) 48.4(5.1) range 13-20 30-58 35-63 Educationallevel(%) Low 90(47) 60(40) 69(53) High 101(53) 90(60) 61(47) Occupationalprestige(%) Low – 49(33) 46(35) Medium – 48(32) 38(29) High – 53(35) 46(35)

eithertheLieScaleoftheBig-FiveQuestionnaire-2[19]orthesocial

desirabilityscale BalancedInventoryofDesirable Responding-6

ShortForm(BIDR-6ShortForm)[20].

Among the191teenagers, 153alsoreturned questionnaires

fromtheirmothers,whereas 130returned questionnairesfrom

fathers.Threemothersandﬁvefathersweredetectedas

simula-torsandthereforeexcluded.Table1showsthecharacteristicsof

thegroupsofteenagers,mothers,andfathers.Informedconsent

wasobtainedforallparticipants,andnomonetaryincentivewas

given.

2.2. Instruments

2.2.1. Personality

Tomeasurepersonality,weusedtheBig-Five

Questionnaire-2(BFQ-2), containing134items,eachrated ona 5-pointLikert

scale[19].Eachitemaddressesoneofﬁvemaintraits(Extraversion,

Agreeableness,Conscientiousness,Emotionalstability,and

Open-nesstoexperience)ortheLieScale.AllBFQ-2scalesshowedgood

internalconsistency(Cronbach’s␣rangingfrom0.79to0.90).For

eachscale,thestandardscore(M=50;SD=10)wascomputed

fol-lowingtheItalianstandardizationnorms[19].

2.2.2. CulturalCapital

CC wasmeasured by theScale of Cultural Capital [21]. The

scalecomprises20multiple-choiceitems,eachratedona5-point

Likert scale, to estimate cultural interests and activities:

read-ingbooks,usingforeignlanguages,visitingmuseums,attending

culturalevents,orbeingamemberofcultural,social,political,

reli-giousandrecreationalgroups.Cronbach’s␣forthisscalehasbeen

reportedat0.80[21].

2.2.3. SocialCapital

ThePersonalSocialCapitalScalecomprises10compositeitems

withatotalof54sub-items[11].Itallowsmeasurementofbonding

andbridgingcapitals.1 _Chinese_[11]_and_English_[22]_versions_of

thescalehaveshownexcellentinternalconsistencyandfactorial

structure.Cronbach’s␣forthisscalehasbeenreportedat0.87[11].

1_Examples_of_items_assessing_SC₍₁₎_for_bonding_capital_and₍₂₎_for_bridging

cap-ital:.(1)Withhowmanyofpeopleineachofthefollowingcategoriesdoyoukeep

aroutinecontact?(a)Yourfamilymembers.(b)Yourrelatives.(c)Peopleinyour

neighborhood.(d)Yourfriends.(e)Yourco-workers/fellows;and(f)Yourcountry

fellows/oldclassmates.(2)Ineachofthetwotypesofgroups/organizations,how

manywillhelpyouuponyourrequest?(a)Governmental,political,economicand

socialgroups/organizations(politicalparties,women’sgroups,villagecommittees,

tradeunions,cooperateassociations,volunteergroups,etc.).(b)Cultural,

recre-ational,andleisuregroups/organizations(religious,countryfellows,alumni,sport,

music,dances,crafts,games,etc.).

Inthepresentstudy,anItalianadaptationwithexcellentcontent

validitywasused[23].

2.2.4. SocioeconomicSatus

SESwasmeasuredthroughoccupationalprestigeand

educa-tionallevel.OccupationalprestigewasassessedwiththeItalian

OccupationalPrestigeScale,anordinalscalemadeupof110

occu-pationalcategoriesorderedaccordingtotheprestigeassociated

witheach ofthem[24].We developedaquestionnaire(Scaleof

Employment)tocollectalltheinformationrequired(typeofjob,

kindofemploymentcontract,and ﬁeldofwork) toidentifythe

correspondingcategoryontheItalianOccupationalPrestigeScale.

2.2.5. SocialDesiderability

Todetectattemptsatsimulation,weusedtheLieScaleofthe

BFQ-2 and theBIDR-6 Short Form. The Lie Scale of theBFQ-2

comprises 14 items rated ona 5-pointLikert scale. Individuals

were considered simulators when the obtained standard score

wasequaltoorabove66(i.e.,1.5standarddeviationsabovethe

mean)[19].The16-itemBIDR-6ShortFormusesa6-pointLikert

scaletoevaluatetheunconscioustendencytoprovidehonestbut

positively-biasedresponses,aswellasthehabitualandconscious

presentationofafavorablepublicimage[20].Individualswere

con-sideredsimulatorswhentheirtotalscoreexceededthe95thcentile

[20].ThisscalehasshownadequateCronbach’s␣[20]andgood

factorialstructure.

2.3. Procedure

Teenagersreceivedthreebookletsthatcontainedallrelevant

questionnaires:onebooklettobecompletedbythemselvesand

twotobecompletedbytheirmothersandfathersseparately.Each

bookletcomprisedtheBFQ-2,theScaleofCulturalCapital,the

Per-sonalSocialCapitalScale,andtheBIDR-6ShortForm.Parentsalso

receivedtheScaleofEmployment.Toavoidanyeffectofthe

instru-ments’orderofpresentation,bookletswerepreparedaccordingto

4balancedordersfortheteenagers,12balancedordersfor

moth-ersand12balancedordersforfathers.Thesingleexceptiontothe

balancingwasthattheBIDR-6ShortFormwasalwaysgivenatthe

end.

The teenagers were classiﬁed according to each indicator

of Socio-Cultural Level to enable investigation of their

differ-entproﬁles.Scoresfor personal,maternal,and paternalCCand

SC, and maternal and paternal occupational prestige were

cat-egorized into three sub-groups(low, medium,and high) based

on the 33rd and 66th centile of the distribution on the

cor-responding scales. For personal education level (see Table 1),

teenagerswerecoded aseitherlow (ﬁrstorsecondhighschool

grade) or high(third, fourth, or ﬁfth high school grade)based

on theItalian high school curriculum. The low group included

46 teenagers in the ﬁrst grade (M age=14.3years [SD=0.67],

range=13–17) and 44 in the second grade (M age=15.4years

[SD=0.54],range=15–17).Thehighcomprised28teenagersinthe

third grade (Mage=16.3years [SD=0.44], range=16–17), 46 in

thefourthgrade(Mage=17.2years[SD=0.72],range=15–19),and

27intheﬁfthgrade(Mage=18.7years[SD=0.71],range=17–20).

Maternalandpaternaleducationallevelswerealsoclassiﬁedinto

twosubgroups:low(vocationalcertiﬁcateorlower)andhigh(high

schoolorhigher).Thesubgroupsofteenagersobtainedforeach

Socio-CulturalLevelindicatordidnotdifferonageorsex.

2.4. Dataanalysis

Asapreliminaryanalysis,wecheckedfornormaldistribution

andforthepresenceofunivariateoutliersaccordingtoTabachnick

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Table2

Means(SD)ofBFQ-2scalestandardscoreforwhichANOVArevealedstatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferencesbetweenboyswithdifferentSocio-CulturalLevels.

Socio-CulturalLevel ANOVA

Low Medium High

M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) F(␻2₎ _Post-_hoc_(d)

PersonalCulturalCapitala

n=27 n=28 n=20

Opennesstoexperience 39.52 46.39 46.60 5.59** _L_<_M*_(0.93)

(6.45) (8.49) (9.41) (0.05) L<H*_(0.92)

PersonalSocialCapitala

n=24 n=25 n=26

Agreeableness 44.54 46.88 53.62 5.22** _L_<_H**_(0.88)

(11.13) (7.68) (10.06) (0.04)

Emotionalstability 41.83 48.00 48.96 4.27* _L_<_H*_(0.81)

(7.72) (9.07) (9.70) (0.03)

PaternalCulturalCapitalb

n=13 n=18 n=15

Conscientiousness 51.08 43.11 50.27 6.3** _n.s.

(6.49) (6.77) (11.13) (0.07)

Note.a_df₌_2,_182.b_df₌_2,_117._*p_<_0.05._**p_<_0.01._***p_<_0.001.

Table3

Means(SD)ofBFQ-2scalestandardscoreforwhichANOVArevealedstatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferencesbetweengirlswithdifferentSocio-CulturalLevels.

Socio-CulturalLevel ANOVA

Low Medium High

M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) F(␻2₎ _Post-_hoc_(d)

PersonalCulturalCapitala

n=29 n=39 n=45

Extraversion 43.65 48.66 50.22 3.92* _L_<_H*_(0.68)

(9.07) (11.47) (10.00) (0.03)

Opennesstoexperience 40.86 44.03 50.20 11.35*** _L_<_H***_(1.14)

(8.34) (10.30) (8.17) (0.10) M<H**_(0.68)

PersonalSocialCapitala

n=33 n=39 n=41

Extraversion 45.55 46.67 51.29 3.62* _L_<_H*_(0.56)

(9.57) (10.09) (11.15) (.03)

Agreeableness 44.85 50.85 49.10 3.11* _L_<_M*_(0.57)

(10.78) (10.69) (10.86) (.02)

MaternalCulturalCapitalb

n=30 n=28 n=34

Opennesstoexperience 41.80 44.43 49.88 6.3** _L_<_H**_(0.87)

(9.58) (9.43) (9.33) (0.07)

Note.a_df₌_2,_182.b_df₌_2,_141._*p_<_0.05._**p_<_0.01._***p_<_0.001.

than3.29standarddeviationsoverorunderthecorresponding sub-groupmeaninatleastoneBFQ-2scalewereexcludedfromthe correspondingcomparison.Wealsoinvestigatedthepresenceof multivariateoutliers.

We conducted a series of two-way between-subjects mul-tivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs): three for personal Socio-Cultural Level and four for each of maternal and pater-nalSocio-CulturalLevel.Sex wastheﬁrstindependentvariable andeachoftheSocio-CulturalLevelindicators(educationallevel, CC,CS,oroccupationalprestigeformaternalandpaternal Socio-Cultural Level only) was added one at a time as the second independentvariable. The standard scoreson theBFQ-2 scales wereenteredasdependentvariables.Tolocatethesourcesofthe globaldifferencesreﬂected bytheMANOVAs,weevaluatedthe effectsofeachindependentvariableoneachBFQ-2scalewitha seriesofANOVAsfollowedbyBonferroni’sposthoccomparisons.

Incasesofstatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferences,wecomputed par-tial␩2 ₍_␩2

p)formultivariateanalysis,␻2forunivariateanalysis,

and Cohen’sdfor post-hoc analysis[25,26]. In agreementwith

Cohen’scriteria[26],effectsizeswereevaluatedasnegligible(␩2

p, ␻2_<_0.01; _d_<_0.20),_small _(0.01_≤_␩2 p, ␻2<0.06; 0.20≤d<0.50), medium(0.06≤␩2 p,␻2<0.14,0.50≤d<0.80),orlarge(␩2p,␻2≥ 0.14,d≥0.80). 3. Results

3.1. BigFivepersonalityproﬁleofboysandgirlsassociatedwith

personal,maternalandpaternalSocio-CulturalLevel

MANOVArevealedthatpersonalCChad amultivariateeffect

(Wilk’s ␭=0.827, F(10,356)=3.56, p<0.001, ␩2

p=0.09) and a

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Table4

PearsoncorrelationcoefﬁcentsbetweenpersonalCulturalCapitalandSocialCapital

ofboysandgirlsandthoseoftheirmotherandfather.

Teenagers’PersonalSocio-CulturalLevel CulturalCapital SocialCapital Boys Maternal(n=55) CulturalCapital 0.298 – SocialCapital – 0.322 Paternal(n=46) CulturalCapital 0.304 – SocialCapital – 0.332 Girls Maternal(n=95) CulturalCapital 0.484 – SocialCapital – 0.405 Paternal(n=79) CulturalCapital 0.364 – SocialCapital – 0.422

Note.Forallthecoefﬁcients,p<0.05.

p<0.001,␻2₌_0.11). _Also, _personal _SC _had _a _multivariate_effect

(Wilks’ ␭=0.838,F(10,356)=3.28, p<0.001,␩2

p=0.08) and

uni-variateeffects(p<0.01)onExtraversion(F(2,182)=5.48,␻2₌_0.05),

Agreeableness (F(2,182)=6.19, ␻2₌_0.05), _and _Emotional

stabil-ity(F(2,182)=6.20,␻2₌_0.05)._As_for_familial_{Socio-Cultural}_Level,

MANOVArevealedonlyaunivariateeffectofpaternaloccupational prestigeonExtraversion(F(2,117)=3.74,p<0.05,␻2₌_0.04).

MANOVArevealedassigniﬁcantonlytheinteractionofSexX paternalCConConscientiousness,buttheeffectsizewassmall (F(2,117)=3.52,p<0.05,␻2_<_0.04)._In_contrast,_personal_CC_and_SC

showeddifferentmultivariateeffects(p<0.05)forboysandgirls. CCwaslinkedtodifferentpatternsofpersonalitytraits onlyin girls(Wilk’s␭=0.825,F(10,356)=3.59,␩2

p=0.09),whereasSChad

effectsforbothgirls(Wilk’s␭=0.902,F(10,356)=1.88,␩2 p=0.05)

andboys(Wilk’s␭=0.888,F(10,356)=2.18,␩2

p=0.06).

SubsequentANOVAs revealed the dimensions of personality involved. As illustrated in Tables 2 and 3, teenagers exhibited

differentpersonalityproﬁles dependingonSocio-Cultural Level

dimensionsofpersonal,maternalandpaternalCC,andpersonalSC.

PersonalCCwasrelatedtodifferentscoresonOpennessto

experi-enceinboysandgirlsandonExtraversioningirlsonly.Maternal

CCwasrelatedtodifferentscoresonOpennesstoexperiencein

girlsonly.PaternalCCshowedamaineffectonConscientiousness

inboysonly,butpost-hoccomparisonsfoundnostatistically

signif-icantdifferences.PersonalSCwasrelatedtoAgreeablenessscores

inboysandgirls,toExtraversioningirls,andtoEmotionalstability

inboys.Forallthesecomparisons,teenagerswithhigher

Socio-CulturalLevelshadhigherscoresonBFQ-2scales.Effectsizeswere

alwaysatleast moderate.No differencesin personalityproﬁles

wererelatedtopersonal,maternalorpaternaleducationlevels,or

tomaternalorpaternaloccupationalprestige,orSC.

3.2. RelationshipbetweenCulturalCapitalandSocialCapitalof

boysandgirlsandthoseoftheirmothersandfathers

WealsocomputedPearson’scorrelationcoefﬁcientsbetween

CCand SCof boys/girlsand those oftheirfathers/mothers. We

subsequentlycompared,forbothboysandgirls,themagnitudeof

thecorrelationcoefﬁcientsobtained(a)betweenpersonalCCand

maternal(orpaternal)CCwiththoseobtainedbetweenpersonalSC

andmaternal(orpaternal)SC;(b)betweenpersonalCC(orCS)and

maternalCC(orCS)withthoseobtainedbetweenpersonalCC(or

CS)andpaternalCC(orCS).Forthisaim,weusedthecorrelation

comparisonstrategiesfordependent,non-overlappingcorrelations

andforindependentsamples,respectively[27,28].Finally,we

com-paredthecorrelationcoefﬁcientsobtainedfortheboyswiththe

correspondingcoefﬁcientsobtainedforthegirls.Tothisend,we

usedthecorrelationcomparisonstrategyforindependentsamples

[27].

As can be seen in Table 4, the coefﬁcients were moderate.

Nostatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferencesemergedinthecorrelation

comparisons.2

4. Discussion

Thisstudyaimedtoascertainwhetherpersonal,maternal,and

paternaldimensionsofSocio-CulturalLevelarerelatedtothe

per-sonalityproﬁlesofboysandgirls.Wefoundevidenceofdifferent

relationships, thus highlighting the multidimensional natureof

Socio-CulturalLevel.

Ourresultsappeartobeatvariancewiththoseonadulthood

reportedintheliterature[15–17].Firstofall,whereasthepersonal

educationlevelinadulthoodseemstoberelatedtoallpersonality

traits[15],inteenagersitappearstobeassociatedwithnotraits.

Thisdifferencecouldbeduetothesmallnumberofhighschool

grades,whichcouldﬂattenthevariability.Alternatively,itcouldbe

duetothefactthatteenagershavenotyetcompletedtheirformal

education.

Second,personalCChasdifferentrelationshipswiththe

per-sonality proﬁlesofadultsand teenagers.In adults,CChasbeen

foundtoberelatedtoExtraversion,Emotionalstability,Openness

toexperience[16],andConscientiousness[17];ourstudyshowed

thatinteenagers,CCisrelatedtoOpennesstoexperienceand,in

girlsonly,toExtraversion.Allstudiesconvergeinshowinga

rela-tionshipbetweenCCandOpennesstoexperience.Wehypothesize

that,independentlyofageandsex,CCcanpromoteapositive

atti-tudetonoveltyandothercultures andcanstimulatecreativity,

desireforvarietyandinterestinnewknowledge.However,this

studyinvolvedasingletimepoint,andthereisnowaytoknowthe

directionofeffects.Therefore,itisequallyplausiblethatteenagers

withopenpersonalitiesseekmoreoutculturalactivitiesand

par-ticipation,andteenagerswithmoreextravertedpersonalitiesmay

accumulatemoreSC.Longitudinalstudiesarenecessarytoexplore

deeplythedirectionoftheeffectinthisrelationship.

Finally,whereasinadultspersonalSCisrelatedtoalmostall

per-sonalitytraits[16,17],inteenagerswefoundarelationshipwith

Agreeablenessinbothboysandgirls,withEmotionalstabilityin

boysonly,andwithExtraversioningirlsonly.Itispossiblethatthe

reciprocalinteractionsbetweenSC–andwithSocio-CulturalLevel

ingeneral–andpersonalityoccurcontinuouslyacrossthe

lifes-panandthereforearemoreclearlynoticeableonlyinadulthood.

By deﬁnition, teenagers’personalitiesand Socio-Cultural Levels

arechangingandunstable;consequently,therelationshipbetween

Socio-CulturalLevelandpersonalitycouldbelessconspicuous.

2_As_suggested_by_two_reviewers,_we_also_used_regression_analysis_to_investigate

whetherpersonal,maternal,andpaternalSocio-CulturalLevelindicatorspredict

teenagers’BigFivetraits.Werunstandardmultipleregressionanalysesforboysand

forgirlsseparately.PredictorswereCCandCSofpersonal,maternal,andpaternal

Socio-CulturalLevelinadditionwithoccupationalprestigeofmaternaland

pater-nalSocio-CulturalLevel.ObservedvariableswereeachoftheBigFivetraitsoneat

atime.WefoundthatpersonalCCpredictedOpennesstoexperienceofbothboys

andgirls;personalCSpredictedEmotionalstabilityofbothboysandgirlsand

Agree-ablenessofboysonly.MaternalCCpredictedOpennesstoexperienceofdaughters.

Finally,paternalCC,CS,andoccupationalprestigepredictedAgreeablenessofsons

(seeanalysesintheSupplementarymaterial).Overall,theseresultsarein

agree-mentwithwhatfoundusingMANOVA.OnlyforpaternalSocio-CulturalLevelof

boys,regressionfoundassociationsbetweenallSocio-CulturalLevelindicatorsand

AgreeablenesswhichwerenotfoundwithMANOVA.However,thenumberofboys

withavailablepaternalSocio-CulturalLevelwasverysmall,thuslimitingthepower

(6)

AsregardsfamilialSocio-CulturalLevel,wefoundthattheonly

relevantrelationshipwasthatofmaternalCCwiththeir

daugh-ters’Opennesstoexperience.Sincegirlsandboyswhogrowupin

familieswithahighCCtendtoreproducetheculturalactivitiesof

theirparents[18],itispossiblethatgirls,morethanboys,share

activitiesandexperienceswiththeirmothers.However,as

mater-nalCChasthesamestrengthofrelationshipwithCCofdaughters

andofsons,thelinkbetweenmaternalCCandOpennessto

expe-rienceindaughtersonlycannotbeduetoastrongerrelationship

betweenmaternalCCanddaughters’CC.Onthecontrary,maternal

CCseemstopromotedirectlyintellectualcuriosity,creativityanda

preferencefornoveltyandvarietymoreindaughtersthaninsons.

IninvestigatingtherelationshipbetweenCCandSCofboys/girls

andoffathers/mothers, wefoundmoderatePearsoncorrelation

coefﬁcients.Therefore,itispossiblethatbecauseparents’

Socio-CulturalLevelsshapetheSocio-CulturalLevelsoftheirteenagers,

thisindirectlyinﬂuences,atleasttosomedegree,thedevelopment

oftheteenagers’personalities.Correlationcomparisonsrevealed

thatthematernalandpaternalCCandSCequallycorrelatewith

thoseofboysandgirls,suggestingasimilarintergenerational

trans-missionatthesocialandculturallevels.

Thisstudyhasinevitablelimitations. Wecategorized CC,SC,

and occupational prestige measures into three categories to

enable use of MANOVAs. In this way, we were able to

inves-tigate the differences in personality proﬁles according toeach

dimensionofpersonalandfamilialSocio-CulturalLevel.However,

thesample-dependentcut-pointsmakefordifﬁcultcomparisons

acrossstudies.Otherstatisticaltechniques,likeregression

anal-ysis,would haveallowedusingcontinuousvariables but would

haveproducedashiftintheresearchaims,leadingtostudyhow

mucheach Socio-CulturalLeveldimensionpredictstheBigFive

traits.Inthepresentstudy,weaimedtoinvestigatewhichBigFive

personalityproﬁlesareassociatedwitheachSocio-CulturalLevel

dimension.

Ourﬁndingsshowedthatsexofteenagersandparents

moder-atestherelationshipbetweenteenagers’personalityandpersonal,

maternal,andpaternalSocio-CulturalLevel.Theseresultsarein

agreementwiththebioecologicalmodelproposedby

Bronfenbren-ner[4,29].Accordingtothismodel,thedevelopmentofpersonality

resultsfromthereciprocalinteractionbetween theindividual’s

own biology and the ecological system,which is composed of

nestedsociallyorganizedsubsystems.TheMicrosystemrefersto

thesettingsinwhichanindividualhasdirectsocial interactions

(e.g.,family,school,groupsofpeers,workplace,andneighborhood).

TheconnectionsbetweentwoormoreMicrosystemsgiverisetothe

Mesosystem(e.g.,therelationshipsbetweenparentsandteachers)

ortotheExosystemwhichincludesatleastoneMicrosystem

hav-inganindirectlyinﬂuenceontheindividual(e.g.,theconnection

betweenhomeand parents’workplace). TheMacrosystem

des-ignatestheactualcultureoftheindividualandcomprisesbelief

systems,bodiesofknowledge,socioeconomicstatus,lifestyle,and

opportunitystructures.WithintheBronfenbrenner’s model,the

Socio-CulturalLevelcouldbeassumedasa measureofboththe

Macro-andMicro-systemofanindividual.

WealsofoundSES(parentaleducationallevelandoccupational

prestige),whichisusuallytheonlymeasureusedininvestigations

onSocio-CulturalLevel,isnotrelatedwithpersonality.Itseems

that,atleastinteenagers,SESisnotanappropriateindicatorto

studyhowindividualandhis/herenvironmentinteractin

deter-miningthedevelopmentofpersonality.

Finally,wefoundthatteenagers’personalitiesaremorerelated

topersonalthantopaternalormaternalSocio-CulturalLevels.Itis

plausiblethatpersonalSocio-CulturalLevelplaysadecisiverolein

astageoflifeduringwhichyoungstersfeeltheneedto

differenti-atetheirownidentityandtodistinguishthemselvesfromparents.

Teenagersaresearching forautonomy; theirpersonalinterests,

knowledgeandrelationships,whichareoftenindependentofthose

oftheirparents,couldinﬂuencetheirpersonalitiesmorethandoes

parentalbonding.Incontrast,inanearlierstageofdevelopment,

theinterestsandexperiencesofchildrenevolvewithinthoseofthe

family.Weinferthatinchildren,therelationshipbetween

famil-ialSocio-CulturalLeveland personalityshouldbemoreevident

thaninteenagers.Furtherstudiesshouldinvestigatethis

relation-shipinchildrentodeterminewhetheradifferentpatternofresults

emerges.

Overtheyears,psychologicalstudieshaveshownevidenceof

SESasoneofthefactorsinﬂuencingadults’personality[12–15];

incontrast,CCandSChavebeenmeasuredandinvestigatedonly

rarely. Therefore, our results are particularly useful given that

we have investigatedboth personal and familial dimensions of

Socio-CulturalLevelwithbothsexesofteenagersandparentsas

moderatorvariables.

Ourresultshaveimplicationsalsoforthestudyofadults’

attach-ment.Personalityandattachmentarestronglyrelated.According

toBowlby[30,31],AttachmentTheorycanbeseenasatheoryof

thedevelopmentof thepersonalityover alifetime. Interactions

betweenchildandcaregiver,fromtheearlymonthsandyearsof

life,determinethe maturationofa particular attachmentstyle.

Differentbehaviorstowardshimself/herselfandtheothersreveal

differentstylesbasedondifferentmentalstructuresand

represen-tations.Thecapacitytoconceptualizethementalstatesofoneself

andothershasbeentheorizedasthecorefeatureofinterpersonal

functioningandpersonalitydevelopment[32].

IthasbeenfoundthatEmotionalstabilityis stronglyrelated

tomaritalsatisfaction[33],whereasExtraversionand

Agreeable-nessarepositivelyrelatedtoattachmentsecurityandnegatively

relatedtoattachmentavoidance[e.g.,34,35].Basedonourresults,

Emotionalstability,Extraversion,andAgreeablenessareallrelated

topersonalSCoftheteenager.Therefore,wecansurmisethat,at

leasttosomedegree,personalSCisrelatedtoattachmentstyle.It

isplausiblethatteenagerswithalargesocialnetworkandstrong

socialsupportsdevelopamoresecureattachmentstylethando

thosewithlimitedSC.Inturn,teenagerswithasecureattachment

stylemaybemoreablethanthosewithanxiousoravoidantstyles

totakeadvantageofsocialrelationships.

According toBronfenbrenner [3], the effect of mother-child

interactionsonpersonalitydevelopmentismore powerfulthan

thatofenvironmentalcontext.Investigatingtheinﬂuenceof

per-sonal and familial Socio-Cultural Level can provide important

informationtoourunderstandingofpersonalitydevelopmentand

theinterplaybetweeninterpersonalandsocio-environmental

fac-tors.

Neuroscientiﬁcresearchonpersonalitysupportsa

biologically-based explanatory model of the Big Five. Studies have shown

associationsbetweenBigFivetraits–inparticular,Extraversion,

Agreeableness,Emotionalstability, andConscientiousness–and

differentbrainregions[36].Interestingly,thereisnoevidenceofan

associationbetweenthevolumeofdeﬁnedbrainareasand

Open-nesstoexperience,whichisthetraitwiththestrongestrelationship

toSocio-CulturalLevel.

We are aware of theinteraction betweengeneticand

envi-ronmental factors in determining attachment and personality

[e.g.,37,38]. The environmental factors may have a unilateral

impactontheindividual’sdevelopmentormaybeincidentaland

negligibleaccidentalandpassivelyperceived.However,asrecently

suggestedbyKikusuiandHiroi[39],environmentalfactorscanalso

beself-generatedandactivelysought.Consequently,theamount

andquality ofsocial interactions andopportunitiesmaybethe

effectofgeneticfactorsandindividualpredispositions.The

mea-surementofSocio-CulturalLevelandthestudyofthedirectand

(7)

provideuseful information for investigatingthese twotypes of

environmentalfactors.

4.1. Conclusions

Themainnovelcontributionofthisstudyistheinvestigation

oftherelationshipbetweenteenagers’personalitiesandall

dimen-sionsofpersonalandfamilialSocio-CulturalLevel,takingsexof

teenagersandparentsasmoderatorvariables.Futurelongitudinal

studies,usingbothattachmentandpersonalitymeasures,willshed

morelightonthecomplexprocesseslinkingattachment,

person-ality,andpersonalandfamilialSocio-CulturalLevelwithqualityof

relationshipsinadulthood.

Founding

Thisresearchdidnotreceiveanyspeciﬁcgrantfromfunding

agenciesinthepublic,commercial,ornot-for-proﬁtsectors.

Ethicalstandards

Thisstudywasperformedinaccordancewiththeethical

stan-dardslaiddowninthe2013versionoftheDeclarationofHelsinki.

Informedconsentwasobtainedfromparentsorothercaregivers,

asappropriate.

Conﬂictofinterest

Theauthorsdeclarethattheyhavenoconﬂictofinterest.

AppendixA. Supplementarydata

Supplementarydataassociatedwiththisarticlecanbefound,in

theonlineversion,athttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.038.

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