Abstract

Over the last decade, the study of personality has begun to be a topic of attention among behavioral ecologists. There is great interest not only to describe different traits that are part of personality, but in raising explanations regarding the proximate and ultimate causes of personality and to understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences. We evaluated the adaptive value of personality, through the analysis of the relationship between personality traits with variability in life history strategy (LHS) and other variables related to biological fitness. 224 Chilean women with a range age 45 to 70 years old participated of this study (mean age 55 y; SD 6,2 y). Personality was assessed with the Big Five Inventory and LHS through the Mini-K scale. Additionally, we used a closed questionnaire in order to obtain information regarding socio-economic background, number of children and history of sexual relationships. We found a significant negative correlation between the neuroticism and K-factor score and a significant positive correlation between personality dimensions and life history strategy. Multiple linear regression model that included each of the personality dimensions as predictor variables and K-factor score as a response variable was statistically significant and extraversion was the only variable included in this model showing significance. With respect to the other life history variables evaluated, we found a significant positive correlation between extraversion and the number of sexual partners and a significant negative correlation between neuroticism and the age of the first sexual intercourse. (CONICYT PIA-CCTE AFB170008-IEB)