Personality determinants of political participation: The contribution of traits and self-efficacy beliefs

Self- and other-ratings on the Big Five were used to predict political efficacy beliefs and political participation in two studies, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Hierarchical regressions showed that personality traits contribute to political efficacy and participation, beyond the predictive value of socio-demographic variables. Structural equation modeling corroborated a mediational model in which Openness and Energy/Extraversion accounted for significant variance in political self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn accounted for political participation. Whereas both traits have concurrent validity, only Energy/Extraversion remained a significant distal predictor of adult political participation. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.