Development of HEXACO Personality Traits and Their Relations With Socioeconomic Factors Among Chinese Adolescents: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This three-wave longitudinal study investigated the stability and changes in HEXACO personality traits and tested whether socioeconomic factors relate to the initial levels and changes of personality among Chinese adolescents ( N = 1,646, Wave 1 Mage = 15.21 years). The findings revealed high rank-order stability of HEXACO personality traits. Consistent with the disruption hypothesis, latent growth modeling revealed significant decreases in Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness and a significant increase in Emotionality among boys. Findings also provided evidence contradicting the disruption hypothesis as both boys and girls exhibited an increase in Extraversion, indicating the complexity of developmental trends in personality during adolescence. Conditional latent growth modeling demonstrated that higher childhood and current family socioeconomic status were associated with higher initial levels of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience, and a lower initial level of Emotionality. Perceived economic inequality was related to a lower initial level of Honesty-Humility and a higher initial level of Openness to Experience. However, socioeconomic factors were not associated with the slopes of personality change. These findings highlight the need for future research to refine the disruption hypothesis and suggest that socioeconomic factors relate to the levels but not changes in personality traits during middle to late adolescence.