Personality Traits and Psychological Wellbeing of Pakistani Adolescents in the Context of Maternal Employment: A Comparative Study

Abstract

In a conservative country like Pakistan, maternal employment is often perceived as neglectful of children's upbringing. This study explores that perception by examining the Big Five personality traits and psychological well-being among adolescents (ages 12–19) of employed and unemployed mothers. A correlational design with purposive sampling was used to collect data from 200 school- and college-going adolescents (M = 12.81, SD = 1.71). The Big Five Personality Inventory (Rammstedt & John, 2007) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1995) were used. Extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness show positive and significant relationships with one another, and negative and significant relationships with neuroticism, except for conscientiousness, which has a negative but non-significant relationship with neuroticism. All five traits have positive but non-significant relationships with psychological well-being, except neuroticism, which has a negative but non-significant relationship among adolescents of employed mothers. Similarly, in adolescents of unemployed mothers, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscience show positive and significant relationships with one another and negative relationships with neuroticism, except for conscience, which is non-significant. Extraversion has a positive but non-significant relationship with psychological well-being, while agreeableness and openness show positive and significant associations. Moreover, conscience and neuroticism have negative but non-significant relationships with psychological well-being. Mean comparisons revealed no significant differences in agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness between groups. However, adolescents of employed mothers scored significantly higher in psychological well-being and openness. The findings suggest maternal employment does not harm adolescents’ personality traits or psychological well-being. Instead, it may enhance certain positive traits. Supporting working mothers and guiding non-working mothers can help promote well-rounded development in children.