Brief report: Aspects of preschool personality predict sexual behavior in young adulthood

Little is known about whether early personality is predictive of sexual behaviors later in development. In the present study, ordinal logistic regression models tested the association of observationally coded preschool-age personality traits and types with self-reported frequency of sexual intercourse, masturbation, and pornography viewing in young adulthood ( n = 98), approximately 20 years later. Greater extraversion and openness and lower conscientiousness in the preschool age predicted greater past-year frequency of pornography viewing in young adulthood, while neuroticism and agreeableness at preschool age did not predict any sexual behaviors. Examining personality types, undercontrolled (i.e., given to dysregulation and impulsivity) participants (relative to participants who were overcontrolled and resilient in preschool) engaged in more pornography viewing in young adulthood, while preschool-age overcontrolled participants engaged in less masturbation in young adulthood than undercontrolled participants. Results provide some of the first preliminary evidence that early personality traits may be associated with sexual behaviors up to 20 years later in development.