Perceiver Effects and Socioeconomic Background: Contrasting Parent-Reports against Teacher-Reports of Elementary School Students’ Personality

Abstract

Familial socioeconomic background can impact not only academic success, but also the personality of offspring. Yet, there is little evidence on whether it might influence how parents describe their children’s personality. To fill this gap, we used latent multitrait-multimethod (CTCM-1) models to examine familial socioeconomic background as possible predictor of parental perceiver effects regarding their offspring’s personality by contrasting parental assessments against teacher-reports. Study 1 (N = 5,798) investigated reports on elementary school students’ Big Five and Study 2 (N = 3,771) focused on school-related personality facets. Socioeconomic status predicted the parental report in both studies. Participation in high-culture arts incrementally predicted parental report over and above socioeconomic status. Specifically, parents with higher participation in high-culture arts rated their children in a more positive light than class teachers. These background specific perceiver effects might reflect both varying personality judgments or actual differences in behavior.