Personality Predictors of Health, Well-Being, Relationships, and Employment in Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Personality traits have been found to be robust predictors of important life outcomes. However, evidence on longitudinal personality-outcome associations stems almost exclusively from Western countries. It is not yet known if, how, and to what extent personality traits are linked to life outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Using data from the Africa Long Life Study, which sampled young adults from Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa ( N = 2,770), we examined the Big Two personality traits, agency and communion, as predictors of seven life outcomes (self-reported health, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, employment status, relationship status, financial situation) 2 to 3 years later. Furthermore, we used specification curve analysis to examine the robustness of personality-outcome associations. Higher levels of agency and communion robustly predicted higher levels of self-rated health and lower levels of anxiety and depression over 2 to 3 years. Furthermore, higher levels of communion predicted being employed 2 to 3 years later. However, personality-outcome associations were smaller than previously observed in Western countries (.02 ≤ | r | ≤ .11) and depended on analytic decisions such as country and the time lag between assessments. Our findings provide novel insights into the cross-cultural replicability of personality-outcome associations.