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 Arseneaul; Avshalom Caspi; Terrie E. Moffitt; Sophie  von Stumm

doi:10.1111/jopy.70005

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 Arseneaul
, Avshalom Caspi
, Terrie E. Moffitt
, Sophie von Stumm^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology & Sociology

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Introduction: Nursery 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.

Methods: Data 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.

Results: Being 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).

Conclusion: We 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”.

Original language	English
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Personality
Early online date	11 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.70005
Publication status	Published - 11 Jul 2025

Bibliographical note

We are grateful to the twins in the E-Risk Study as well as study mothers and fathers, and the twins' teachers for their participation. Our thanks to the E-Risk team for their dedication, hard work, and insights.

The Joint South London and Maudsley and the Institute of Psychiatry Research Ethics Committee approved each phase of the E-Risk study (NRES 1997/122). Parents gave informed consent and twins gave assent before age 18 and consent at age 18.

© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Data Access Statement

The E-Risk Study operate a managed access process to protect the privacy of their participants and the integrity of their study. All primary data and study materials are available upon request to the E-Risk study steering committee (https://eriskstudy.com/data-access/ ). All scripts can be found here: osf.io./qxv4z

Keywords

child development
individual differences
longitudinal research

Access to Document

10.1111/jopy.70005Licence: CC BY

Wood_et_al_2025_Are_Wednesday's_Children_Full_of_Woe_Children's_Differences_in_Personality_Are_Independent_of_Day_of_BirthFinal published version, 1.02 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Are Wednesday's Children Full of Woe? Children's Differences in Personality Are Independent of Day of Birth",

abstract = "Introduction: Nursery 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. Methods: Data 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. Results: Being 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). Conclusion: We 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”.",

keywords = "child development, individual differences, longitudinal research",

author = "Emily Wood and Anna Brown and Kirsty Wilding and Oxley, \{Florence A. R.\} and Fisher, \{Helen L.\} and Louise Arseneaul and Avshalom Caspi and Moffitt, \{Terrie E.\} and \{von Stumm\}, Sophie",

note = "We are grateful to the twins in the E-Risk Study as well as study mothers and fathers, and the twins' teachers for their participation. Our thanks to the E-Risk team for their dedication, hard work, and insights. The Joint South London and Maudsley and the Institute of Psychiatry Research Ethics Committee approved each phase of the E-Risk study (NRES 1997/122). Parents gave informed consent and twins gave assent before age 18 and consent at age 18. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.",

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AU - Wilding, Kirsty

AU - Oxley, Florence A. R.

AU - Fisher, Helen L.

AU - Arseneaul, Louise

AU - Caspi, Avshalom

AU - Moffitt, Terrie E.

AU - von Stumm, Sophie

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PY - 2025/7/11

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N2 - Introduction: Nursery 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. Methods: Data 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. Results: Being 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). Conclusion: We 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”.

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Keywords

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