Which would you go for?
Would you rather your child be quiet or chatty? Well-behaved or a joker? Adventurous or shy?
We all want certain things for our kids but a new survey has revealed the most-desired trait among mums for their little ones is extroversion.
A survey of mums with babies under the age of one by researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London found that this trait won out over others including intellect and agreeableness.
The survey was based on the idea of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits – extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness to experience.
Each of these personality traits can be broken down further into six ‘facets’.
- Extroversion – friendliness, cheerfulness, assertiveness, gregariousness, activity, excitement seeking.
- Conscientiousness – achievement-striving, self-efficacy, self-discipline, dutifulness, orderliness, cautiousness.
- Neuroticism – self-consciousness, vulnerability, immoderation, anger, depression, anxiety.
- Agreeableness – morality, trust, sympathy, altruism, cooperation, modesty.
- Openness to experience – imagination, intellect, emotionality, adventurousness, artistic interests, liberalism.
The 142 mums who took part were asked to choose one facet from each personality trait and put them in order of preference.
Over half of the mums chose a facet of extroversion as the number one trait they’d like their child to have.
One in five mums chose one from agreeableness as their most-desired trait and ten per cent said a facet of openness to experience was the most important.
“Given that higher levels of intelligence and conscientiousness are both linked to positive life outcomes such as success at school, at work, and in relationships, it’s surprising that only one in 10 mothers valued them as the most important characteristics for their child,” study author Sophie Von Stumm told Metro.
