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Wild spirits: Elevated hypomanic tendencies are associated with entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success

Pushkarskaya, H.; Pittenger, C.; Kleine, M.; Perlson, G.; Just, D.

2020-05-26 psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2020.05.17.20104836 medRxiv
Show abstract

Entrepreneurs take extreme risks and make rash decisions but are responsible for innovation, technological change, and economic growth. Attempts to characterize the entrepreneurial personality have had limited success. We hypothesized that elevated hypomanic tendencies (HPM), which have been linked to increased risk for psychopathology, are also associated with entrepreneurship. We tested the association of HPM with entrepreneurial activities cross-sectionally in three different populations (total N = 2,200, including 899 entrepreneurs), using three different measures of hypomanic tendencies. We report a robust positive association of HPM with several measures of entrepreneurial intent, behavior, and success. This may reflect a particular ecological fit between individual characteristics associated with HPM and unique demands of entrepreneurial lifestyle, but highlights the psychological vulnerability of entrepreneurs, especially under conditions of stress. One Sentence SummaryA positive relationship between hypomanic tendencies and entrepreneurship is revealed in three large independent datasets.

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