Career-Parent Identity Integration in College Women and Mothers: The Effects of The Big 5 Traits and SES

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between the Big 5 personality traits, career-parent identities, work-family conflict, well-being, and socioeconomic status in college women and current mothers. Through the use of an identity developmental and narrative approach, we examined how these variables were correlated with each other and how they varied according to SES. As hypothesized, we found correlations between identity exploration and commitment with the personality traits of neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness; these associations were more often found and stronger for adult mothers than college students. The negative relationships that were predicted among neuroticism, work-family conflict and well-being were generally supported. Little evidence was found for the effect of socioeconomic status on these variables; for college-aged women, high SES only affected the reported levels of work-parent ruminative exploration, and in the adult mothers sample, contradictory findings for SES were found. However, we did find evidence of greater difficulties among lower SES mothers, as the correlations of identity conflict with life satisfaction and neuroticism were stronger for this group of women. The results also suggested that work-parent identity development is not as relevant in association with the Big 5 for college-aged women, perhaps because it requires the imagination of future scenarios. In contrast, the associations that were observed in the current mothers sample were consistent with previous literature. Nevertheless, more research needs to be conducted with bigger samples in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of SES. Additional limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.