ences. For example, kind and considerate spouses were preferred by
men high in Extraversion and by women high in Neuroticism. Prefer -
ences, in turn, were related to the actual personalities of spouses:
Women who preferred kind husbands tended to marry men who scoredhigh on measures of Agreeableness. It appears that personality is relatedto marital choice, but not in a straightforward fashion.
There is considerably more information on divorce. Not surpris -
ingly , marital dissatisfaction and divorce are chiefly related to Neuroti -
cism, as a number of prospective longitudinal studies have shown.
Between 1935 and 1938 E. Lowell Kelly began a study of 300 engagedcouples. He obtained personality ratings on both partners from five ac -
quaintances; 45 years later he assessed marital status and satisfaction
(Kelly & Conley , 1987). Neuroticism in both husband and wife and lowConscientiousness in the husband predicted divorce. An analysis of thecauses of divorce suggested an explanation:
A wide variety of reasons for divorce were reported, but a number of these
(in particular, emotional instability , arguments, emotional overreactions,and sexual problems) are probable manifestations of Neuroticism, andothers (particularly infidelity , alcohol abuse, and irresponsible socialbehavior) are probable manifestations of low impulse control [or Consci-entiousness]. (p. 32)
Kelly and Conley also considered the case of individuals who remained
unhappily married. These men and women had been rated as beinghigher in Neuroticism, but the men were also seen as introverted anddisagreeable. Perhaps aloof and antagonistic men saw little prospect of abetter second marriage and settled for what they had.
Interestingly , Kelly and Conley had measures of many other vari -
ables thought to be important to marital adjustment: early home envi -
ronment of the partners, including their parents’ marital adjustment; at -
titudes toward marriage during the engagement period; sexual histories;
and stressful life events during the marriage. All these variables were farless important than personality in predicting marital adjustment.
Careers
On the second issue, career choice, the influence of personality is bothbetter understood and more obvious. Given a choice, people tend to -Influences of Personality on the Life Course 225