Personality Traits, Socioeconomic Inequality and Subjective Well-Being in Urban China

This paper brings together two literatures: a large literature of health inequality that has long documented the robust health benefits of socioeconomic status (SES) and a new human capital theory that emphasizes the health benefits of certain personality traits. We examine the potential dynamics between psychological functioning (personality traits and competitive pressure) and socioeconomic inequality in the context of subjective well-being (SWB). Specifically, (1) does adolescent conscientiousness (one of the “Big Five” personality traits) affect socioeconomic status (measured by education and income) in the transitional economy of urban China? (2) Does adolescent conscientiousness also modify (interact with) the SWB effect of SES? (3) Are the SWB effects of conscientiousness and SES contingent on the degree socioeconomic competition of an urban area?

Drawing on the urban sample of the 2011 Chinese General Social Survey, a nationally representative social survey, we measure SWB with multiple indicators of positive and negative affect and conscientiousness with consistency, dependability, and deferral of gratification in performing the student role. We obtain three main findings: (1) Adolescent conscientiousness enhances education and income. (2) There is no interaction between adolescent conscientiousness and SES in predicting SWB. Each has independent effect on SWB. (3) However, psychological functioning and structural inequality interplay in a more complex way. We use level of economic development as an indicator of the degree of socioeconomic competition. While the SWB benefit of conscientiousness on SWB is robust across urban areas of high and low economic development, the SWB effects of education and income are highly contingent on the level of development. The evidence suggests that there is a penalty on SWB for high achievers of education and income in the most developed urban areas. Thus psychological functioning does not only affect socioeconomic achievement, it also critically determines the SWB benefits of socioeconomic achievement.