News Finding: Some of these personality traits were matched with particular urban characteristics: high openness to experience was found in neighborhoods with low income and employment rates, while neighborhoods with high income also had higher life satisfaction.
Paper Finding: Openness to experience was associated with lower neighborhood income and employment rate, lower voting activity, higher crime rates, and higher proportion of people receiving income and disability support, whereas the reverse correlations with these neighborhood characteristics were observed for life satisfaction.
News Context: Central London was characterized by high openness to experience but low conscientiousness, while high levels of extraversion and emotional stability were associated with the southwest boroughs. Some of these personality traits were matched with particular urban characteristics: high openness to experience was found in neighborhoods with low income and employment rates, while neighborhoods with high income also had higher life satisfaction. Emotional stability and extraversion have previously been linked to life satisfaction, and the authors found this held true regardless of what kind of neighborhood one was in.
Paper Context: Emotional stability (r=0.30) and agreeableness (r=0.32) had slightly higher spatial autocorrelations than conscientiousness. Openness to experience was associated with lower neighborhood income and employment rate, lower voting activity, higher crime rates, and higher proportion of people receiving income and disability support, whereas the reverse correlations with these neighborhood characteristics were observed for life satisfaction. Higher levels of agreeableness were observed in neighborhoods with lower population density and lower housing prices, greater proportion of older people and families with children, and more land area used for domestic gardens and green spaces.