DOCSLIB.ORG

Developmental Structure of Personality and Interests: a Four-Wave, 8- Year Longitudinal Study

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Developmental Structure of Personality and Interests: a Four-Wave, 8- Year Longitudinal Study Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences © 2019 American Psychological Association 2020, Vol. 118, No. 5, 1044–1064 0022-3514/20/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000228 PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Developmental Structure of Personality and Interests: A Four-Wave, 8- Year Longitudinal Study Kevin A. Hoff Q. Chelsea Song University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Purdue University Sif Einarsdóttir Daniel A. Briley and James Rounds University of Iceland University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Personality traits and vocational interests capture different aspects of human individuality that intersect in certain ways. In this longitudinal study, we examined developmental relations between the Big 5 traits and RIASEC vocational interests over 4 timepoints from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 16–24) in a sample of Icelandic youth (N ϭ 485) well-representative of the total student population. Results showed that interests and personality traits were similarly stable over time, but showed different patterns of mean-level change. There was evidence of personality maturation but a lack of cumulative changes in interest levels. For the most part, gender differences in developmental trends were minimal. In addition, latent growth curve analyses revealed broad and specific correlated changes between personality and interests. Changes in general factors of personality and interests were moderately related (r ϭ .32), but stronger correlated changes were found among specific personality–interest pairs that share situational content. Overall, results reveal how interests and personality are related across different types of continuity and change. While there was little correspondence between group-level changes, substantial correlated change occurred at the individual level. This means that when a person’s personality changes, their interests tend to change in predictable ways (and vice versa). Integrative theories that link different aspects of psychological functioning can benefit by incorporating these findings. Keywords: personality and interest development, continuity and change, correlated change, gender differences, longitudinal Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000228.supp Individuals differ in their personality and interests with substantial Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007; Stoll et al., 2017). Vocational interests refer consequences for major life outcomes (Nye, Su, Rounds, & Drasgow, to enduring preferences for what people like to do, and personality 2012, 2017; Ozer & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, traits refer to how people think, feel, and behave across situations (McCrae & Costa, 2008; Rounds & Su, 2014). Both aspects of psychological functioning have been the focus of considerable devel- opmental research that documents changes in mean-levels and retest This article was published Online First January 7, 2019. Kevin A. Hoff, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana- stability over time (e.g., Hoff, Briley, Wee, & Rounds, 2018; Low, This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its alliedChampaign; publishers. Q. Chelsea Song, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue Yoon, Roberts, & Rounds, 2005; Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000; This article is intended solely for the personal use ofUniversity; the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Sif Einarsdóttir, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). Yet, few longitudinal studies Iceland; Daniel A. Briley, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at have examined interests and personality traits together. Little is Urbana-Champaign; James Rounds, Department of Psychology and Department known about developmental relations between interests and person- of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ality, and how they change together over time. This research uses the Icelandic Interest Inventory (Einarsdóttir & The current study addresses this gap by examining continuity and Rounds, 2007, 2013). Part of the funding from sales of the Icelandic Interest Inventory are used to support continued research on the measure. change in interests and personality from late adolescence to young This research was also supported by funding from RANNÍS, the Icelandic adulthood (age 16–24) in an Icelandic sample. Using four waves of Centre for Research, and University of Iceland. We are especially grateful longitudinal data collected over an 8-year period, we analyze conti- to Arna Pétursdóttir for her ongoing assistance with the data collection and nuity and change in three ways. First, we compare the rank-order dataset preparation for this study. Sif Einarsdóttir is a copyright holder and stability of RIASEC vocational interests (Holland, 1997) to the Big recipient of royalties for the Icelandic Interest Inventory-Bendill. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kevin A. Five personality traits. Next, we compare patterns of mean-level Hoff, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana- change and examine gender differences in developmental trends. Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail: [email protected] Third, we use a series of latent growth curve models to estimate 1044 DEVELOPMENTAL STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 1045 intercorrelations between personality and interests in terms of levels same direction in these two domains, while negative correlated and slopes, that is, correlated change. These models examine the change indicates that changes occur in the opposite direction. The extent to which personality and interest dimensions are related within magnitude and direction of correlated change between different and between individuals over time (Allemand & Martin, 2017). By pairs of interests and personality traits depends on the extent to taking an integrative perspective, our study describes the develop- which they are affected by similar developmental processes (Al- mental structure of two important domains of human individuality lemand & Martin, 2017). (Lubinski, 2000; Sackett, Lievens, Van Iddekinge, & Kuncel, 2017). Wrzus and Roberts’ (2017) theoretical model of developmental processes (TESSERA [Triggering situations, Expectancy, States/ Empirical and Theoretical Relations Between Interests State Expressions, and ReActions]) specifically addresses the issue and Personality of correlated change between personality and motivational vari- ables (including interests). According to the model, triggering Previous studies on the relation between vocational interests and situations are the key link between personality and interest devel- personality have primarily focused on cross-sectional correlations opment. Triggering situations may include daily events, repeated among Holland’s (1997) RIASEC categories and the Big Five experiences in certain contexts, or major life transitions. The traits. Three meta-analyses on this topic led to similar conclusions assumption is that situations that repeatedly trigger changes in (Barrick, Mount, & Gupta, 2003; Larson, Rottinghaus, & Borgen, states lead to long-term changes in traits that share those situations. 2002; Mount, Barrick, Scullen, & Rounds, 2005). In all three For example, if a person recurrently experiences enjoyment from meta-analyses, four of the 30 possible personality–interest pairs engaging in leadership roles, they may gradually become more had robust, positive correlations (with r’s exceeding .25): extraverted over time while also becoming more interested in extraversion-social, extraversion-enterprising, openness-artistic, leadership activities (i.e., enterprising interests). On the other hand, and openness-investigative. Conscientiousness also showed mod- erate, positive correlations with conventional interests (r ϭ .19 in if a person experiences neutral or negative emotion while engaged Barrick et al., 2003 and in Mount et al., 2005; r ϭ .25 in Larson as a leader, their extraversion and enterprising interest levels will et al., 2002). In contrast, agreeableness and emotional stability likely remain unchanged or decrease over time. were generally not strongly correlated with RIASEC interest di- Importantly, triggering situations are only expected to produce mensions. Overall, these findings suggest that three of the Big Five correlated changes in personality and interest dimensions that traits are associated with vocational interests in cross-sectional share common situations or activities. Table 1 provides an over- studies of college students and adults. view of the six RIASEC interest categories and their shared Beyond cross-sectional associations, it is also important to con- situations with Big Five traits. Most interest categories share sider developmental relations between interests and personality. common activities and/or environments with at least one person- Several influential theories have argued that interests and person- ality trait. For example, investigative and artistic interests are ality traits change together over the course of development (e.g., similar to openness in that they involve an appreciation for the arts Ackerman, 1996; Corno et al., 2002; Hogan, 1983; Kandler, Zim- and science. Social and enterprising interests are similar to extra- mermann, & McAdams, 2014; Roberts & Wood, 2006; Schmidt, version in that they capture situations with a high degree of 2014; Snow, Corno, & Jackson, 1996; Wrzus &
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Neuroticism, Depression, and Anxiety Traits Exacerbate the State of Cognitive Impairment and Hippocampal Vulnerability to Alzheimer’S Disease
    Alzheimer’s& Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring 7 (2017) 107-114 Special Section: Neuropsychiatric Contributions to Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroticism, depression, and anxiety traits exacerbate the state of cognitive impairment and hippocampal vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease Valerie Zuffereya,b, Alessia Donatib, Julius Poppb, Reto Meulic,Jerome^ Rossierd, Richard Frackowiaka, Bogdan Draganskia,e, Armin von Guntenb, Ferath Kherifa,* aLaboratoire de Recherche en Neuroimagerie (LREN), Departement des neurosciences cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Universitede Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland bService of Old Age Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Prilly-Lausanne, Switzerland cDepartment of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland dFaculty of Social and Political Sciences, Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland eMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany Abstract Introduction: Certain personality traits are associated with higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, similar to cognitive impairment. The identification of biological markers associated with personality in mild cognitive impairment could advance the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Methods: We used hierarchical multivariate linear models to quantify the interaction between per- sonality traits, state of cognitive impairment, and MRI biomarkers (gray matter brain volume, gray matter mean water diffusion) in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Results: Over and above a main effect of cognitive state, the multivariate linear model showed sig- nificant interaction between cognitive state and personality traits predicting MTL abnormality. The interaction effect was mainly driven by neuroticism and its facets (anxiety, depression, and stress) and was associated with right-left asymmetry and an anterior to posterior gradient in the MTL.
    [Show full text]
  • Individuals Struggle to Change Their Perceived Personality in a First Impression
    Self-Gravity: Individuals Struggle to Change Their Perceived Personality in a First Impression by Ravin Alaei A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology University of Toronto © Copyright by Ravin Alaei 2019 Self-Gravity: Individuals Struggle to Change their Perceived Personality in a First Impression Ravin Alaei Doctor of Philosophy Psychology University of Toronto 2019 Abstract People are motivated to change aspects of their personality traits and psychological research seems to document its regular occurrence. Nevertheless, most research has focused on whether people self-report that their personality traits have changed. Personality change is more than self- determined, however: People hope that changes to their personality are visible to others as well. Across seven studies, I therefore investigated whether people’s attempts to change their Big Five personality in a first impression are successful, focusing especially on extraversion. My work demonstrates that (i) individuals’ personality traits remain robustly visible in a first impression regardless of attempts to change, (ii) acting experience does not improve this ability, (iii) individuals’ traits can affect their evaluations more strongly than their attempts to change, and (iv) people attempting to change their personality in a first impression are largely unaware of how others truly judge them. This work therefore suggests that people struggle to control how their traits are perceived by others in a first impression. ii Acknowledgments Thank you to my supervisor, Nick Rule, for making me a better scientist and person. I am lucky to have received your mentorship and will carry your guidance with me.
    [Show full text]
  • Soeppapers 377: Stability and Change of Personality
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Specht, Jule; Egloff, Boris; Schmukle, Stefan C. Working Paper Stability and Change of Personality across the Life Course: The Impact of Age and Major Life Events on Mean-Level and Rank- Order Stability of the Big Five SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, No. 377 Provided in Cooperation with: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) Suggested Citation: Specht, Jule; Egloff, Boris; Schmukle, Stefan C. (2011) : Stability and Change of Personality across the Life Course: The Impact of Age and Major Life Events on Mean-Level and Rank-Order Stability of the Big Five, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, No. 377, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/150922 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.
    [Show full text]
  • Differences Between Introverts and Extraverts with Bipolar Disorder Ray E
    Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses Dissertations & Theses 2018 Differences Between Introverts and Extraverts with Bipolar Disorder Ray E. McHale Antioch University, New England Follow this and additional works at: https://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation McHale, Ray E., "Differences Between Introverts and Extraverts with Bipolar Disorder" (2018). Dissertations & Theses. 448. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/448 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses at AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses by an authorized administrator of AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Running head: INTROVERTS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER 1 Differences Between Introverts and Extraverts with Bipolar Disorder by Ray McHale B.A., Hartwick College, 2013 M.S., Antioch University New England, 2016 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Psychology in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England, 2018 Keene, New Hampshire INTROVERTS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER ii Department of Clinical Psychology DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PAGE The undersigned have examined the dissertation entitled: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INTROVERTS AND EXTRAVERTS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER presented on August 23, 2018 by Ray McHale Candidate for the degree of Doctor of Psychology and hereby certify that it is accepted*. Dissertation Committee Chairperson: Martha B. Straus, PhD Dissertation Committee members: Vince Pignatiello, PsyD Christine Chamberlin, PhD Accepted by the Department of Clinical Psychology Chairperson George Tremblay, PhD on 8/23/18 * Signatures are on file with the Registrar’s Office at Antioch University New England.
    [Show full text]
  • PERSONALITY and LIFE GOALS 1 Stability and Change In
    PERSONALITY AND LIFE GOALS 1 Stability and Change in Personality Traits and Major Life Goals from College to Midlife Olivia E. Atherton1, Emily Grijalva2, Brent W. Roberts3, & Richard W. Robins1 1University of California, Davis 2University of Buffalo 3University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Cite: Atherton, O.E., Grijalva, E., Roberts, B.W., & Robins, R.W. (in press). Stability and change in personality traits and major life goals from college to midlife. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Corresponding author: Olivia E. Atherton Department of Psychology University of California, Davis One Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616 Email: [email protected] Word count (including the abstract, text, references, and notes): 10,933 Acknowledgements OEA and RWR were supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (DA017902). PERSONALITY AND LIFE GOALS 2 Abstract The association between personality traits and motivational units, such as life goals, has been a longstanding interest of personality scientists. However, little research has investigated the longitudinal associations between traits and life goals beyond young adulthood. In the present study (N=251) we examined the rank-order stability of, and mean-level changes in, the Big Five and major life goals (Aesthetic, Economic, Family/Relationship, Hedonistic, Political, Religious, Social) from college (age 18) to midlife (age 40), as well as their co-development. Findings showed that personality traits and major life goals were both moderately-to-highly stable over 20 years. On average, there were mean-level increases in the Big Five and mean-level decreases in life goals over time.
    [Show full text]
  • Personality Changes Associated with Increasing Environmental Concerns
    Personality changes associated with increasing environmental concerns Christopher J. Hopwood, Ted Schwaba, Wiebke Bleidorn University of California, Davis Contact: [email protected] Acknowledgements The authors thank the German Institute for Economic Research for making the data available for this project. We have no funding sources or conflicts of interest to report. 2 Personality Change Environmental Concern Abstract Personal concerns about climate change and the environment are a powerful motivator of sustainable behavior. People’s level of concern varies as a function of a variety of social and individual factors. Using data from 58,748 participants from a nationally representative German sample, we tested preregistered hypotheses about factors that impact concerns about the environment over time. We found that environmental concerns increased modestly from 2009-2017 in the German population. However, individuals in middle adulthood tended to be more concerned and showed more consistent increases in concern over time than younger or older people. Consistent with previous research, Big Five personality traits were correlated with environmental concerns. We present novel evidence that increases in concern were related to increases in the personality traits neuroticism and openness to experience. Indeed, changes in openness explained roughly 50% of the variance in changes in environmental concerns. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the individual level factors associated with changes in environmental concerns over time, towards the promotion of more sustainable behavior at the individual level. Keywords Sustainability, Environment, Climate Change, Personality Traits, Personality Development 3 Personality Change Environmental Concern Climate change poses an existential threat to humankind. Sustainable behavior at the individual level is a primary tool for promoting environmental health (Chuang et al., 2020; Osbaldiston & Schott, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Running Head: PERSONALITY CHANGE in EMERGING and YOUNG ADULTHOOD
    Running Head: PERSONALITY CHANGE IN EMERGING AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD Personality Development in Emerging and Young Adulthood: A Study of Age Differences Sebastian Pusch Marcus Mund Birk Hagemeyer Christine Finn Friedrich Schiller University Jena Article accepted for publication in European Journal of Personality This manuscript might not exactly replicate the final version published in the journal. It is not the copy of record. Please cite as: • Pusch, S., Mund, M., Hagemeyer, B., & Finn, C. (in press). Personality development in emerging and young adulthood: A study of age differences. European Journal of Personality. doi: 10.1002/per.2181 Author Note Sebastian Pusch, Marcus Mund, Birk Hagemeyer, and Christine Finn, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. For this research, we used data from the German Family Panel, pairfam, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation). Principle investigators of pairfam are Josef Brüderl, Karsten Hank, Johannes Huinink, Bernhard Nauck, Franz J. Neyer, and Sapine Walper. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sebastian Pusch, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Germany. Email: [email protected]. PERSONALITY CHANGE IN EMERGING AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD 2 Abstract Early adulthood is a time of substantial personality change characterized by large inter- individual diversity. To investigate the role of age in this diversity, the present study examined whether emerging adults differ from an older group of young adults in their Big Five personality development. By means of multi-group latent change modelling, two groups of 16- to 19-year-olds (n = 3,555) and 26- to 29-year-olds (n = 2,621) were tracked over the course of four years and compared regarding four aspects of personality change: Mean-level change, rank-order change, inter-individual differences in change, and profile change.
    [Show full text]
  • Trait Psychology Comes of Age
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology Psychology, Department of 1991 Trait Psychology Comes of Age Paul T. Costa Jr. National Institute on Aging, Baltimore Robert McCrae National Institute on Aging, Baltimore Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub Part of the Psychiatry and Psychology Commons Costa, Paul T. Jr. and McCrae, Robert, "Trait Psychology Comes of Age" (1991). Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology. 363. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/363 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in PSYCHOLOGY AND AGING: NEBRASKA SYMPOSIUM ON MOTIVATION 1991, ed. John J. Berman and Theo B. Sonderegger. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. Pages 169-204. Copyright © 1992 University of Nebraska Press. Used by permission. Trait Psychology Comes of Age Paul T. Costa, Jr., and Robert R. McCrae National Institute on Aging, Baltimore It is sometimes thought that the relation between research on aging and the basic sciences is one-sided: gerontologists take the methods and theories of their specialty and apply them to aging populations, but they rarely initiate theories or report findings that could reshape the basic disciplines themselves. Whatever the truth of this percep­ tion in general, it is completely false with regard to the psychology of personality. When Eichorn, Clausen, Haan, Honzik, and Mussen (1981) published their summary of the Berkeley longitudinal studies, Sears and Sears (1982) heralded it as "probably the most important unified research contribution to adult social and personality psy­ chology of the last three decades" (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Soeppapers 455: Examining Mechanisms of Personality Maturation
    455 2012 SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research SOEP — The German Socio-Economic Panel Study at DIW Berlin 455-2012 Examining Mechanisms of Personality Maturation: The Impact of Life Satisfaction on the Development of the Big Five Personality Traits Jule Specht, Boris Egloff, Stefan C. Schmukle SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW Berlin This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German Socio- Economic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science. The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly. Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin. Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions.
    [Show full text]
  • Allostatic Load and Personality: a 4-Year Longitudinal Study
    HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author Psychosom Manuscript Author Med. Author Manuscript Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 June 23. Published in final edited form as: Psychosom Med. 2016 April ; 78(3): 302–310. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000281. Allostatic Load and Personality: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study Yannick Stephan, PhD1,*, Angelina R. Sutin, PhD2, Martina Luchetti, PhD2, and Antonio Terracciano, PhD3 1UFRSTAPS, University of Montpellier, FRANCE 2Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, Florida State University, USA 3Department of Geriatrics, College of Medicine, Florida State University, USA Abstract Objective—Dysregulation across multiple physiological systems, referred to as allostatic load, has pervasive consequences for an individual’s health. The present study examined whether allostatic load is associated with personality and personality changes during a 4-year follow-up. Method—A total of 5200 participants aged from 50 to 99 years old (59.5% women, mean age= 66.91 years, SD= 8.88) from the Health and Retirement Study provided data on cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune markers at baseline and personality both at baseline and four years later. Results—Higher allostatic load was related to higher neuroticism (β = .03, p =.042), lower extraversion (β = −.06, p < .001) and lower conscientiousness (β = −.06, p < .001) at baseline, and to declines in extraversion (β = −.03, p = .007), conscientiousness (β = −.04, p < .001), and agreeableness (β = −.02, p = .020) over the 4-year period, controlling for demographic covariates. A significant quadratic relation between allostatic load and changes in openness (β = −.03, p =. 002) suggested that openness declines when individuals exceed a high level of cumulative physiological dysregulation.
    [Show full text]
  • Maturation of Personality in Adolescence
    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2009 American Psychological Association 2009, Vol. 96, No. 4, 898–912 0022-3514/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0014746 Maturation of Personality in Adolescence Theo A. Klimstra, William W. Hale III, Quinten A. W. Raaijmakers, Susan J. T. Branje, and Wim H. J. Meeus Utrecht University The present research assesses adolescent personality maturation by examining 3 measures of change and stability (i.e., mean-level change, rank-order stability, and profile similarity) of Big Five personality traits, employing data from a 5-annual-wave study with overlapping early to middle (n ϭ 923) and middle to late (n ϭ 390) adolescent cohorts. Results indicated that mean levels of Agreeableness and Emotional Stability increased during adolescence. There was mixed evidence for increases in Extraver- sion and Openness. Additionally, rank-order stability and profile similarity of adolescent personality traits clearly increased from early to late adolescence. For all change facets, the authors found evidence for gender differences in the timing of adolescent personality maturation, as girls were found to mature earlier than boys. Keywords: personality, adolescence, longitudinal, maturation, five-factor model Adolescence is generally regarded as being the formative period ity maturation across adolescence on an annual basis in large in a person’s life. In this period, an individual physically trans- population samples are still lacking. Therefore, the current study forms from a child into an adult (Petersen, Crockett, Richards, & sets out to assess various facets of change and stability in person- Boxer, 1988). These physical changes are paralleled by psychosocial ality maturation across the entire period of adolescence (i.e., ages changes: A transition takes place from being a child who relies 12 to 20), using five-annual-wave data on overlapping early to strongly on his or her parents’ teachings to becoming an adult who middle adolescent and middle to late adolescent cohorts.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Change Bad? Personality Change Is Associated with Poorer
    Journal of Personality 81:3, June 2013 © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Is Change Bad? Personality Change Is DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12002 Associated with Poorer Psychological Health and Greater Metabolic Syndrome in Midlife Lauren J. Human,1 Jeremy C. Biesanz,1 Gregory E. Miller,2 Edith Chen,2 Margie E. Lachman,3 and Teresa E. Seeman4 1University of British Columbia 2Northwestern University 3Brandeis University 4University of California, Los Angeles Abstract Personality change is emerging as an important predictor of health and well-being. Extending previous research, we examined whether two types of personality change, directional and absolute, are associated with both subjective and objective indicators of health.Utilizing the longitudinal Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS) data,we examined whether both types of change over 10 years were associated with psychological well-being,self-reported global health,and the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and diagnosis.Socially undesirable personality change (e.g.,becoming less conscientious and more neurotic) and absolute personality change were independently associated with worse perceived health and well-being at Time 2. Notably, absolute personality change, regardless of the direction, was also associated with having a greater number of MetS components and a greater probability of diagnosis at Time 2. In sum, too much personality change may be bad for one’s health: Socially undesirable and absolute personality change were both associated with worse psychological health and worse metabolic profiles over 10 years.These findings suggest that personality change may contribute to psychological and physical health, and provide initial insight into potential intermediate links between personality change and distal outcomes such as mortality.
    [Show full text]