Does personality matter more in difficult circumstances?

•We examine three levels of personality hierarchy in childhood.•Personality–environment interactions are specific for outcome and informant.•Contribution of personality to well-being is larger in difficult circumstances.•This pattern applies mainly to proximal family environment.

The study examined interactions between personality and family environment in the prediction of child well-being in the large and diverse samples of parent reports of 2–18-year-olds (N = 1978) and adolescent self reports (N = 2550). Well-being was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and academic achievement, personality was measured by the Inventory of Child Individual Differences at three levels of the hierarchical structure. The results showed specificity of interactive effects in terms of the outcome, personality trait, environment and informant. The majority of interactions indicated that the link between child personality and well-being was stronger in more difficult circumstances; this pattern applied mainly to proximal environment and family risk.