Your Spouse’s Personality Can Help You Get Ahead at Work

Smithsonian Magazine:

Your chance at workplace success certainly depends in part on your personality. Your coworker’s personalities come into play as well—introverts tend to give extroverts poor performance reviews, and supportive supervisors can help women get over gender divides, for example. But apparently, even personalities outside the workplace can affect what goes on inside. A new study shows that spouses’ influence can seep into their partner’s job success.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, looked at 4,544 married, heterosexual couples, reports Cindi May for Scientific American. They asked the couples to fill out tests that assessed their scores on the “Big Five” personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism and agreeableness. Next, the team followed those couple for five years as they reported their job success, satisfaction, wages and promotions. They also gathered information about household chores, lifestyle decisions and marital satisfaction.

Read the whole story: Smithsonian Magazine