The Relationship Between Intelligence and Personality Traits Differentiated by Gender in Spanish Adolescents

Intelligence and personality are the most researched constructs in the scientific literature in the field of psychology. Also, the relationship between them has been studied, with controversial results. The present study examines the relationship between intelligence and personality, considering, on the one hand, the influence of gender and, on the other, the predictive capacity of intelligence for personality traits.

The sample consisted of 1166 participants between 11 and 16 years old from the Canary Islands. The Big Five Personality Questionnaire for Children, Adolescents and Adults (MASK-5) and the Adaptive Test of General Intelligence (Matrices-TAI) were used. For the analysis, a quantitative approach with an ex post facto, cross-sectional design was used. The analysis was carried out with SPSS v.26 and Jamovi v.2.3.21.

The findings revealed non-significant gender differences in intelligence and personality. The regression model between the two constructs was only significant for the dimension consciousness (F(1,1164) = 3.906, p = 0.048; ɳ_p² = 0.003) and its facet perseverance (F(1,1164) = 5.953, p = 0.015; ɳ_p² = 0.005), but the effect size was small in both cases. When considering girls and boys separately, the model was not significant for boys, whereas for girls, the dimension consciousness (F(1,595) = 6.148, p = 0.013; ɳ_p² = 0.010) and its facet achievement (F(1,595) = 8.227, p = 0.004; ɳ_p² = 0.014), as well as the facet humility (agreeableness) (F(1,595) = 6.472, p = 0.011; ɳ_p² = 0.011), were significant, but again, with small effect sizes. Nevertheless, low observed power results for the whole sample and the boys sample suggest the need to increase the sample size.

These findings are discussed, and future lines of research in this field of study are proposed.