Predicting adult involvement in crime: Personality measures are significant, socio-economic measures are not

Comprehensive research into criminal careers along with the growing consensus around the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality traits have re-established personality measures as important predictors of criminal activity. A number of studies of specialist groups have concluded that agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion are linked to crime. Data were drawn from the National Child Development Study. Experiencing a criminal justice sanction in mid-adulthood was regressed on FFM traits, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Intellect and Emotional Stability (Neuroticism), as well as socio-economic variables linked by criminologists to crime. Results indicated that significant predictors in this representative sample of 7205 adults, were four of the five personality traits (but not Intellect), gender, experience of school problems, but none of the socio-economic measures. This is consistent with the evidence that social class has only a minor role in predicting criminality, contrary to previous assumptions.