Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40650398›Full record

ArticleJournal of personality2026

Are Wednesday's Children Full of Woe? Children's Differences in Personality Are Independent of Day of Birth.

Emily Wood, Anna Brown, Kirsty Wilding, Florence A R Oxley, Helen L Fisher, Louise Arseneault, Avshalom Caspi, Terrie E Moffitt, Sophie von Stumm

Abstract readTwin Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of personality, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Emily WoodDepartment of Education, University of York, York, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1610-3587
Anna BrownDepartment of Education, University of York, York, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6119-7925
Kirsty WildingDepartment of Education, University of York, York, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4097-2993
Florence A R OxleyDepartment of Education, University of York, York, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6518-1717
Helen L FisherKing's College London, Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4174-2126
Louise ArseneaultKing's College London, Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2938-2191
Avshalom CaspiKing's College London, Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0082-4600
Terrie E MoffittKing's College London, Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8589-6760
Sophie von StummDepartment of Education, University of York, York, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0447-5471

Funding

Neuropsychological and genomic signatures of violence exposure in childhoodR01HD077482 · NICHD · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI CASPI, AVSHALOM · 2013 to 2018
$2.8M
Economic and Social Research CouncilJacobs FoundationMedical Research CouncilNational Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNICHD NIH HHS R01 HD077482Nuffield Foundation
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionNursery rhymes, which are rich in literary devices, benefit children's language learning. Less is known about the influence that nursery rhymes' messages may have on children's development. We focused on "Monday's Child," a popular nursery rhyme that alleges children's day of the week of birth forecasts their differences in personality and physical traits.

methodsData came from E-Risk, a UK population representative, longitudinal cohort study of 2232 same-sex twin children (with 93% retention). We used linear regression models to test whether the day of the week of birth predicted personality and physical traits at ages 5-18 years.

resultsBeing born on Monday through Saturday did not predict children's personality and physical traits as implied by the "Monday's Child" rhyme. Being born on Sunday was also not associated with children's traits across measures. These results were unchanged after covariate adjustment (i.e., children's sex, birthweight, and socioeconomic status).

conclusionWe showed that children's differences in personality and physical traits are independent of their day of the week of birth. These findings suggest that nursery rhymes' messages are unlikely to influence children's development, at least those conveyed by "Monday's Child".

Indexed as

Child DevelopmentPersonalityAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleUnited Kingdomchild developmentindividual differenceslongitudinal research

Identifiers

PMID40650398
PMCPMC12340769

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.