Highly neurotic persons have dispositional characteristics that tend to precipitate social anxiety that discourages formal volunteering. With the 50 American states as analytical units, Study 1 found that state resident neuroticism correlated highly ( r = –.55) with state volunteering rates and accounted for another 26.8% of the volunteering rate variance with selected state demographics controlled. Study 2 replicated Study 1 during another period and extended the association to college student, senior, secular, and religious volunteering rates. Study 3 showed state resident percentages engaged in other social behaviors involving more familiarity and fewer demands than formal volunteering related to state volunteering rates but not to neuroticism. In Study 4, state resident neuroticism largely accounted statistically for relations between state volunteering rates and state population density, collectivism, social capital, Republican preference, and well-being. This research is the first to show that state resident neuroticism is a potent predictor of state volunteering rates.

References

Avery, R. E., Smillie, L. D., Fife-Schaw, C. R. ( 2015 ). Employee achievement orientations and personality as predictors of job satisfaction facets . Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 56 - 61 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Barber, N. ( 2015 ). Why is Mississippi more religious than New Hampshire? Maternal security and ethnicity as factors . Cross-Cultural Research: The Journal of Comparative Social Science, 49, 315 - 325 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Bekkers, R. ( 2005 ). Participation in voluntary associations: Relations with resources, personality, and political values . Political Psychology, 26, 439 - 454 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Binder, M., Freytag, A. ( 2013 ). Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy . Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 97 - 119 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Brooks, A. C. ( 2004 ). Faith, secularism, and charity . Faith & Economics, 43, 1 - 8 .

Google Scholar

Brown, E., Ferris, J. M. ( 2007 ). Social capital and philanthropy: An analysis of the impact of social capital on individual giving and volunteering . Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36, 85 - 99 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Bryner, J. ( 2012 a, February 27 ). Happiest states of 2011: The list . Live Science. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/18666-happiest-states-2011-list.html

Google Scholar

Bryner, J. ( 2012 b, February 27 ). The happiest states revealed in new poll . Live Science. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/18670-happiest-states-2011-revealed-poll.html

Google Scholar

Carlo, G., Okun, M. A., Knight, G. P., de Guzman, M. R. T. ( 2005 ). The interplay of traits and motives on volunteering: Agreeableness, extraversion, and prosocial value motivation . Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1293 - 1305 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Carver, C. S., Connor-Smith, J. ( 2010 ). Personality and coping . Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 679 - 704 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Chaudhury, H., Mahmood, A., Michael, Y. L., Campo, M., Hay, K. ( 2012 ). The influence of neighborhood residential density, physical and social environments on older adults’ physical activity: An exploratory study in two metropolitan areas . Journal of Aging Studies, 26, 35 - 43 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Claxton-Oldfield, S., Banzen, Y. ( 2010 ). Personality characteristics of hospice palliative care volunteers: The “Big Five” and empathy . American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, 27, 407 - 412 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Corporation for National & Community Service . ( 2006 ). Volunteering in America: State trends and rankings 2002-2005. Washington, DC : Office of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National & Community Service . Retrieved from www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/VIA_2006/VIA_summaryreport.pdf

Google Scholar

Corporation for National & Community Service . ( 2007 ). Volunteering in America: 2007 city trends and rankings. Washington, DC : Office of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National & Community Service . Retrieved from http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/VIA_CITIES/VIA_cities_fullreport.pdf

Google Scholar

Corporation for National & Community Service . ( 2015 ). Volunteering and civic life in America 2015: National, state, and city information. Washington, DC : Office of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National & Community Service . Available from https://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/

Google Scholar

Corporation for National & Community Service . ( 2017 ). Volunteering and civic life in America National, state, city, and demographic information. Washington, DC : Office of Research and Policy Development, Corporation for National & Community Service. Available from https://www.nationalservice.gov/vcla

Google Scholar

Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R. ( 1995 ). Domains and facets: Hierarchical personality assessment using the revised NEO Personality Inventory . Journal of Personality Assessment, 64, 21 - 50 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Cramm, J. M., Nieboer, A. P. ( 2015 ). Background characteristics, resources, and volunteering among older adults (aged ≥ 70 years) in the community: A longitudinal study . Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 15, 1087 - 1095 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

de Vries, R., Gosling, S., Potter, J. ( 2011 ). Income inequality and personality: Are less equal U.S. States less agreeable? Social Science & Medicine, 72, 1978 - 1985 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Eckstein, S. ( 2001 ). Community as gift-giving: Collectivistic roots of volunteerism . American Sociological Review, 66, 829 - 851 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Elshaug, C., Metzer, J. ( 2001 ). Personality attributes of volunteers and paid workers engaged in similar occupational tasks . Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 752 - 763 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Erikson, R. S., Wright, G. C., McIver, J. P. ( 1993 ). Statehouse democracy: Public opinion and policy in the American states. New York, NY : Cambridge University Press .

Google Scholar

Finkelstein, M. A. ( 2011 ). Correlates of individualism and collectivism: Predicting volunteer activity . Social Behavior and Personality, 39, 597 - 606 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Frank, R. ( 2012 , October 6 ). Top 10 states for charitable giving . Available online at http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/06/top-10-states-for-charitable-giving-.html

Google Scholar

Freeman, R. ( 1997 ). Working for nothing: The supply of volunteer labor . Journal of Labor Economics, 15, 140 - 166 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Goldberg, L. R. ( 1990 ). An alternative “description of personality”: The Big-Five factor structure . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216 - 1229 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Handy, F., Cnaan, R. A. ( 2007 ). The role of social anxiety in volunteering . Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 18, 41 - 58 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hox, J. J., Roberts, J. K. (Eds.). ( 2010 ). Handbook of advanced multilevel analysis. New York, NY : Routledge .

Google Scholar

Hua-Chin, H. ( 2015 ). Elderly volunteering and psychological well-being . International Social Work, 60, 1028 - 1038 . Available from sagepub.com

Google Scholar

Hudson, S., Inkson, K. ( 2007 ). Overseas development workers: “Big Five” personality scores . Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 1, 5 - 9 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Hustinx, L., Cnaan, R., Handy, F. ( 2010 ). Navigating theories of volunteering: A hybrid map for a complex phenomenon . Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 40, 410 - 434 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Ireland, M. E., Hepler, J., Li, H., Albarracin, D. ( 2015 ). Neuroticism and attitudes toward action in 19 countries . Journal of Personality, 83, 243 - 250 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

John, O. P., Srivastava, S. ( 1999 ). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives . In Pervin, L. A., John, O. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research ( 2nd ed. , pp. 102 - 139 ). New York, NY : Guilford press .

Google Scholar

Judge, T. A., Heller, D., Klinger, R. ( 2008 ). The dispositional sources of job satisfaction: A comparative test . Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57, 361 - 372 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Judge, T. A., Heller, D., Mount, M. K. ( 2002 ). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis . Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 530 - 541 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Kemmelmeier, M., Jambor, E. E., Letner, J. ( 2006 ). Individualism and good works: Cultural variations in giving and volunteering across the United States . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 327 - 344 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

King, H. R., Jackson, J. J., Morrow-Howell, N., Oltmanns, T. F. ( 2015 ). Personality accounts for the connection between volunteering and health . Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 70, 691 - 697 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Leip, D. ( 2015 ). Dave Leip’s atlas of U.S. presidential elections. Available from uselectionatlas.org

Google Scholar

Lodi-Smith, J., Roberts, B. W. ( 2007 ). Social investment and personality: A meta-analysis of the relationship of personality traits to investment in work, family, religion, and volunteerism . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 1 - 19 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2008 ). Societal threat, authoritarianism, conservatism, and U.S. state death penalty sentencing (1977-2004) . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 913 - 923 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2010 a). Subjective well-being, personality, demographic variables, and American state differences in smoking prevalence . Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 12, 895 - 904 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2010 b). Suicide, Big Five personality factors, and depression at the American state level . Archives of Suicide Research, 14, 368 - 374 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2011 ). Personality and American state differences in obesity prevalence . Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 145, 419 - 433 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2014 a). Big Five personality differences and political, social, and economic conservatism: An American state-level analysis . In Rentfrow, P. J. (Ed.), Geographical psychology: Exploring the interaction of environment and behavior (pp. 139 - 160 ). Washington, DC : American Psychological Association .

Google Scholar Crossref

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2014 b). Neuroticism and state differences in partisanship in the USA: Emotional stability, ideological orientation, and republican preference . Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2, 242 - 267 .

Google Scholar Crossref

McCann, S. J. H. ( 2015 ). Big Five personality and residential mobility: A state-level analysis of the USA . Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 274 - 291 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

McCann, S. J. H. (in press). USA state resident Big Five personality and work satisfaction: The importance of neuroticism . Cross-Cultural Research.

Google Scholar

Mooradian, T. A., Davis, M., Matzler, K. ( 2011 ). Dispositional empathy and the hierarchical structure of personality . American Journal of Psychology, 124, 99 - 109 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Musik, M. A., Wilson, J., Bynum, W. B. ( 2000 ). Race and formal volunteering: The differential effects of class and religion . Social Forces, 78, 1539 - 1571 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Newby, J., Pitura, V. A., Penney, A. M., Klein, R. G., Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L. ( 2017 ). Neuroticism and perfectionism as predictors of social anxiety . Personality and Individual Differences, 106, 263 - 267 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Obschonka, M., Schmitt-Rodermund, E., Silbereisen, R. K., Gosling, S. D., Potter, J. ( 2013 ). The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: An ecological perspective . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 104 - 122 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Okun, M. A., Pugliese, J., Rook, K. S. ( 2007 ). Unpacking the relation between extraversion and volunteering in later life: The role of social capital . Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1467 - 1477 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Otto, K., Dalbert, C. ( 2012 ). Individual differences in job-related relocation readiness: The impact of personality dispositions and social orientations . Career Development International, 17, 168 - 186 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Paik, A., Navarre-Jackson, L. ( 2011 ). Social networks, recruitment, and volunteering: Are social capital effects conditional on recruitment? Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 476 - 496 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Parboteeah, K. P., Cullen, J. B., Kim, L. ( 2004 ). Formal volunteering: A cross-national test . Journal of World Business, 39, 431 - 441 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Pesta, B. J., McDaniel, M. A. ( 2014 ). State IQ well-being and racial composition as predictors of U.S. Presidential election outcomes . Intelligence, 42, 107 - 114 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Pettigrew, T. F. ( 1997 ). Personality and social structure: Social psychological contributions . In Hogan, R., Johnson, J. A., Briggs, S. R. (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 417 - 438 ). San Diego, CA : Academic Press .

Google Scholar Crossref

Pho, Y. ( 2008 ). The value of volunteer labor and the factors influencing participation: Evidence for the United States from 2002 through 2005 . Review of Income and Wealth, 54, 220 - 236 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Putnam, R. D. ( 2000 ). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster .

Google Scholar Crossref

Reed, P. B., Selbee, L. K. ( 2000 ). Formal and informal volunteering and giving: Regional and community patterns in Canada. Retrieved from www3.carleton.ca/casr/Formal.pdf

Google Scholar

Rentfrow, P. J. ( 2010 ). Statewide differences in personality: Toward a psychological geography of the United States . American Psychologist, 65, 548 - 558 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Rentfrow, P. J. (Ed.). ( 2014 ). Geographical psychology: Exploring the interaction of environment and behavior. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association .

Google Scholar Crossref

Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., Potter, J. ( 2008 ). A theory of the emergence, persistence, and expression of geographic variation in psychological characteristics . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 339 - 386 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Rentfrow, P. J., Markus, J. ( 2016 ). Geographical psychology: The spatial organization of psychological phenomena . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25, 393 - 398 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Rentfrow, P. J., Mellander, C., Florida, R. ( 2009 ). Happy states of America: A state-level analysis of psychological, economic, and social well-being . Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 1073 - 1082 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Robinson, W. S. ( 1950 ). Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals . American Sociological Review, 15, 351 - 357 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Rogers, K. H., Wood, D. ( 2010 ). Accuracy of United States regional personality stereotypes . Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 704 - 713 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Rotolo, T., Wilson, J. ( 2012 ). State-level differences in volunteerism in the United States: Research based on demographic, institutional, and cultural macrolevel theories . Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41, 452 - 473 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Simonton, D. K. ( 2006 ). Presidential IQ: Presidential IQ, openness, intellectual brilliance, and leadership: Estimates and correlations for 42 U.S. chief executives . Political Psychology, 27, 511 - 526 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Social Capital Project . ( 2017 ). Social capital project. Retrieved from https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/socialcapitalproject?ID=1F27B7E7-6538-4A2D-8A77-538A47558C87

Google Scholar

Son, J., Wilson, J. ( 2012 ). Volunteer work and hedonic, eudemonic, and social well-being . Sociological Forum, 27, 658 - 681 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Soto, C. ( 2015 ). Is happiness good for your personality? Concurrent and prospective relations of the Big Five with subjective well-being . Journal of Personality, 83, 45 - 55 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Thoits, P. A., Hewitt, L. N. ( 2001 ). Volunteer work and well-being . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 115 - 131 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Turcotte, M. ( 2005 ). Social engagement and civic participation: Are rural and small town populations really at an advantage? Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin, 6(4). Retrieved from www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/21-006-x/21-006-x2005004-eng.pdf

Google Scholar

U.S. Census Bureau . ( 2002 ). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC : U.S. Government Printing Office .

Google Scholar

U.S. Census Bureau . ( 2007 ). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC : U.S. Government Printing Office .

Google Scholar

U.S. Census Bureau . ( 2008 ). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC : U.S. Government Printing Office .

Google Scholar

U.S. Census Bureau . ( 2010 ). Urban and rural population by state, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/2010urbanruralclass.html

Google Scholar

U.S. Census Bureau . ( 2012 ). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC : U.S. Government Printing Office .

Google Scholar

Uslaner, E. ( 2002 ). Religion and civic engagement in Canada and the United States . Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 239 - 524 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Vandello, J. A., Cohen, D. ( 1999 ). Patterns of individualism and collectivism across the United States . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 279 - 292 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Warburton, J., Le Brocque, R., Rosenman, L. ( 1998 ). Older people—The reserve army of volunteers? An analysis of volunteerism among older Australians . International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 46, 229 - 245 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Whitehead, I. I. I. ( 2014 ). Correlates of volunteerism and charitable giving in the 50 United States . North American Journal of Psychology, 16, 531 - 536 .

Google Scholar

Wilson, J. ( 2000 ). Volunteering . Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 215 - 240 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Yamawaki, N. ( 2012 ). Within-culture variations of collectivism in Japan . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 1191 - 1204 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI