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

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Volumn 101, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 862-882

  Specht, Jule ^a   Egloff, Boris ^b   Schmukle, Stefan C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MÜNSTER   (Germany)

^b JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

Adulthood; Big Five; Life events; Personality development; Stability

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AFFECT; AGE; AGED; AGING; ARTICLE; CONTROL; EGO DEVELOPMENT; EMOTION; FEMALE; GERMANY; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; LIFE EVENT; LONGITUDINAL STUDY; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PERCEPTION; PERSONALITY; PERSONALITY TEST; PHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; STATISTICS;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AFFECT; AGE FACTORS; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; AGING; EMOTIONS; FEMALE; GERMANY; HUMANS; INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CONTROL; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; LIFE CHANGE EVENTS; LONGITUDINAL STUDIES; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PERSONALITY; PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT; PERSONALITY INVENTORY; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; SOCIAL PERCEPTION; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 80053225023     PISSN: 00223514     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0024950     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Allemand M., Zimprich D., Hertzog C. Cross-sectional age differences and longitudinal age changes of personality in middle adulthood and old age. Journal of Personality 2007, 75:323-358. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00441.x.
2. Ardelt M. Still stable after all these years? Personality stability theory revisited. Social Psychology Quarterly 2000, 63:392-405. 10.2307/2695848.
3. Bentler P.M., Bonett D.G. Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin 1980, 88:588-606. 10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.588.
4. Bleidorn W., Kandler C., Riemann R., Angleitner A., Spinath F.M. Patterns and sources of adult personality development: Growth curve analyses of the NEO PI-R scales in a longitudinal twin study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2009, 97:142-155. 10.1037/a0015434.
5. Bollen K.A. Structural equations with latent variables 1989, Wiley, New York, NY.
6. Bollen K.A., Curran P.J. Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective 2006, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
7. Calasanti T.M. Gender and life satisfaction in retirement: An assessment of the male model. Journals of Gerontology: Series B. Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 1996, 51:S18-S29. 10.1093/geronb/51B.1.S18.
8. Caspi A., Moffitt T.E. When do individual differences matter? A paradoxical theory of personality coherence. Psychological Inquiry 1993, 4:247-271. 10.1207/s15327965pli0404_1.
9. Chapman B.P., Duberstein P.R., Sörensen S., Lyness J.M. Gender differences in five factor model personality traits in an elderly cohort. Personality and Individual Differences 2007, 43:1594-1603. 10.1016/j.paid.2007.04.028.
10. Costa P.T., Herbst J.H., McCrae R.R., Siegler I.C. Personality at midlife: Stability, intrinsic maturation, and response to life events. Assessment 2000, 7:365-378. 10.1177/107319110000700405.
11. Costa P.T., McCrae R.R. Personality in adulthood: A six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1988, 54:853-863. 10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.853.
12. Costa P.T., Terracciano A., McCrae R.R. Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2001, 81:322-331. 10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.322.
13. Donnellan M.B., Lucas R.E. Age differences in the Big Five across the life span: Evidence from two national samples. Psychology and Aging 2008, 23:558-566. 10.1037/a0012897.
14. Duncan T.E., Duncan S.C., Strycker L.A. An introduction to latent variable growth curve modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications 2006, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
15. Field D., Millsap R.E. Personality in advanced old age: Continuity or change?. Journals of Gerontology: Series B. Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 1991, 46:P299-P308.
16. Fraley R.C., Roberts B.W. Patterns of continuity: A dynamic model for conceptualizing the stability of individual differences in psychological constructs across the life course. Psychological Review 2005, 112:60-74.
17. Gerlitz J.-Y., Schupp J. Zur Erhebung der Big-Five-basierten Persönlichkeitsmerkmale im SOEP [The measurement of the Big Five personality traits in the SOEP] 2005, DIW Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
18. Gorchoff S.M., John O.P., Helson R. Contextualizing change in marital satisfaction during middle age: An 18-year longitudinal study. Psychological Science 2008, 19:1194-1200. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02222.x.
19. Headey B., Muffels R., Wagner G.G. Long-running German panel survey shows that personal and economic choices, not just genes, matter for happiness. PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2010, 107:17922-17926. 10.1073/pnas.1008612107.
20. Headey B., Wearing A. Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1989, 57:731-739. 10.1037/0022-3514.57.4.731.
21. Holmes T.H., Rahe R.H. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 1967, 11:213-218. 10.1016/0022-3999(67)90010-4.
22. Hu L.T., Bentler P.M. Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods 1998, 3:424-453. 10.1037/1082-989X.3.4.424.
23. John O.P., Donahue E.M., Kentle R.L. The Big Five Inventory-Versions 4a and 54 1991, University of California at Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research, Berkeley.
24. John O.P., Naumann L.P., Soto C.J. Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. Handbook of personality: Theory and research 2008, 114-158. Guilford Press, New York, NY. 3rd ed. O.P. John, R.W. Robins, L.A. Pervin (Eds.).
25. Jokela M., Kivimäki M., Elovainio M., Keltikangas-Järvinen L. Personality and having children: A two-way relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2009, 96:218-230. 10.1037/a0014058.
26. Judge T.A., Higgins C.A., Thoresen C.J., Barrick M.R. The Big Five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology 1999, 52:621-652. 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1999.tb00174.x.
27. Kandler, C., Bleidorn, W., Riemann, R., Angleitner, A., & Spinath, F.M. (in press). Life events as environmental states and genetic traits and the role of personality: A longitudinal twin study. Behavior Genetics.
28. Kim J.E., Moen P. Retirement transitions, gender, and psychological well-being: A life-course, ecological model. Journals of Gerontology: Series B. Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 2002, 57:P212-P222. 10.1093/geronb/57.3.P212.
29. Kins E., Beyers W., Soenens B., Vansteenkiste M. Patterns of home leaving and subjective well-being in emerging adulthood: The role of motivational processes and parental autonomy support. Developmental Psychology 2009, 45:1416-1429. 10.1037/a0015580.
30. Klein A., Moosbrugger H. Maximum likelihood estimation of latent interaction effects with the LMS method. Psychometrika 2000, 65:457-474. 10.1007/BF02296338.
31. Klimstra T.A., Hale W.W., Raaijmakers Q.A.W., Branje S.J.T., Meeus W.H.J. Maturation of personality in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2009, 96:898-912. 10.1037/a0014746.
32. Lang F.R. Erfassung des kognitiven Leistungspotenzials und der " Big Five" mit Computer-Assisted-Personal-Interviewing (CAPI): Zur Reliabilität und Validität zweier ultrakurzer Tests und des BFI-S [Measuring the cognitive achievement potential and the Big Five with computer-assisted-personal-interviewing (CAPI): Reliability and validity of two short tests and the BFI-S 2005, DIW Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
33. Lang, F.R., John, D., Lüdtke, O., Schupp, J., & Wagner, G.G. (in press). Short assessment of the Big Five: Robust across survey methods except telephone interviewing. Behavior Research Methods.
34. Lang F.R., Lüdtke O., Asendorpf J.B. Testgüte und psychometrische äquivalenz der deutschen Version des Big Five Inventory (BFI) bei jungen, mittelalten und alten Erwachsenen. [Psychometric properties and equivalence of the German version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI) for young, middle-aged, and old adults]a. Diagnostica 2001, 47:111-121. 10.1026//0012-1924.47.3.111.
35. Larsen R.J. Neuroticism and selective encoding and recall of symptoms: Evidence from a combined concurrent-retrospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1992, 62:480-488. 10.1037/0022-3514.62.3.480.
36. Lehnart J., Neyer F.J. Should I stay or should I go? Attachment and personality in stable and instable romantic relationships. European Journal of Personality 2006, 20:475-495. 10.1002/per.606.
37. Liu L.-J., Guo Q. Life satisfaction in a sample of empty-nest elderly: A survey in the rural area of a mountainous county in China. Quality of Life Research 2008, 17:823-830. 10.1007/s11136-008-9370-1.
38. Löckenhoff C.E., Terracciano A., Patriciu N.S., Eaton W.W., Costa P.T. Self-reported extremely adverse life events and longitudinal changes in five-factor model personality traits in an urban sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress 2009, 22:53-59. 10.1002/jts.20385.
39. Lucas R.E. Adaptation and the set-point model of subjective well-being: Does happiness change after major life events?. Current Directions in Psychological Science 2007, 16:75-79. 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00479.x.
40. Lucas R.E., Donnellan M.B. Age differences in personality: Evidence from a nationally representative Australian sample. Developmental Psychology 2009, 45:1353-1363. 10.1037/a0013914.
41. Lüdtke, O., Roberts, B.W., Trautwein, U., & Nagy, G. (in press). A random walk down university avenue: Life paths, life events, and personality trait change at the transition to university life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/a0023743.
42. Magnus K., Diener E., Fujita F., Pavot W. Extraversion and neuroticism as predictors of objective life events: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1993, 65:1046-1053. 10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.1046.
43. Marsh H.W., Hau K.-T. Assessing goodness of fit: Is parsimony always desirable?. Journal of Experimental Education 1996, 64:364-390.
44. Marsh H.W., Hau K.-T., Grayson D. Goodness of fit evaluation in structural equation modeling. Contemporary psychometrics: A Festschrift to Roderick P. McDonald 2005, 275-340. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. A. Maydeu-Olivares, J. McCardle (Eds.).
45. Marsh H.W., Wen Z., Hau K.-T. Structural equation models of latent interactions: Evaluation of alternative estimation strategies and indicator construction. Psychological Methods 2004, 9:275-300. 10.1037/1082-989X.9.3.275.
46. McCrae R.R., Costa P.T. The five-factor theory of personality. Handbook of personality: Theory and research 2008, 159-181. Guilford Press, New York, NY. 3rd ed. O.P. John, R.W. Robins, L.A. Pervin (Eds.).
47. McCrae R.R., Costa P.T., de Lima M.P., Simões A., Ostendorf F., Angleitner A., Piedmont R.L. Age differences in personality across the adult life span: Parallels in five cultures. Developmental Psychology 1999, 35:466-477. 10.1037/0012-1649.35.2.466.
48. McCrae R.R., Costa P.T., Del Pilar G.H., Rolland J.-P., Parker W.D. Cross-cultural assessment of the five-factor model: The revised NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1998, 29:171-188. 10.1177/0022022198291009.
49. McCrae R.R., Costa P.T., Ostendorf F., Angleitner A., Høebíčková M., Avia M.D., Smith P.B. Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and life span development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000, 78:173-186. 10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.173.
50. McCrae R.R., Costa P.T., Terracciano A., Parker W.D., Mills C.J., De Fruyt F., Mervielde I. Personality trait development from age 12 to age 18: Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-cultural analyses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002, 83:1456-1468. 10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1456.
51. Meredith W. Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance. Psychometrika 1993, 58:525-543. 10.1007/BF02294825.
52. Muthén B.O., Satorra A. Complex sample data in structural equation modeling. Sociological Methodology 1995, 25:267-316. 10.2307/271070.
53. Muthén L.K., Muthén B.O. Mplus user's guide 1998-2010, Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles, CA. 6th ed.
54. Neyer F.J., Asendorpf J.B. Personality-relationship transaction in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2001, 81:1190-1204. 10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.1190.
55. Neyer F.J., Lehnart J. Relationships matter in personality development: Evidence from an 8-year longitudinal study across young adulthood. Journal of Personality 2007, 75:535-568. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00448.x.
56. Pinquart M., Schindler I. Changes of life satisfaction in the transition to retirement: A latent-class approach. Psychology and Aging 2007, 22:442-455. 10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.442.
57. Roberts B.W., Caspi A., Moffitt T.E. Work experiences and personality development in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003, 84:582-593. 10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.582.
58. Roberts B.W., DelVecchio W.F. The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin 2000, 126:3-25. 10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.3.
59. Roberts B.W., Helson R., Klohnen E.C. Personality development and growth in women across 30 years: Three perspectives. Journal of Personality 2002, 70:79-102. 10.1111/1467-6494.00179.
60. Roberts B.W., Mroczek D. Personality trait change in adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science 2008, 17:31-35. 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x.
61. Roberts B.W., Walton K.E., Viechtbauer W. Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin 2006, 132:1-25. 10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1.
62. Roberts B.W., Wood D., Caspi A. The development of personality traits in adulthood. Handbook of personality: Theory and research 2008, 375-398. Guilford Press, New York, NY. 3rd ed. O.P. John, R.W. Robins, L.A. Pervin (Eds.).
63. Roberts B.W., Wood D., Smith J.L. Evaluating five factor theory and social investment perspectives on personality trait development. Journal of Research in Personality 2005, 39:166-184. 10.1016/j.jrp.2004.08.002.
64. Robins R.W., Fraley R.C., Roberts B.W., Trzesniewski K.H. A longitudinal study of personality change in young adulthood. Journal of Personality 2001, 69:617-640. 10.1111/1467-6494.694157.
65. Sarason I.G., Johnson J.H., Siegel J.M. Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1978, 46:932-946. 10.1037/0022-006X.46.5.932.
66. Schmitt D.P., Realo A., Voracek M., Allik J. Why can't a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality traits across 55 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2008, 94:168-182. 10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.168.
67. Scollon C.N., Diener E. Love, work, and changes in extraversion and neuroticism over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2006, 91:1152-1165. 10.1037/0022-3514.91.6.1152.
68. Soto C.J., John O.P., Gosling S.D., Potter J. Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2011, 100:330-348. 10.1037/a0021717.
69. Specht J., Egloff B., Schmukle S.C. The benefits of believing in chance or fate: External locus of control as a protective factor for coping with the death of a spouse. Social Psychological and Personality Science 2011, 2:132-137. 10.1177/1948550610384635.
70. Srivastava S., John O.P., Gosling S.D., Potter J. Development of personality in early and middle adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent change?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003, 84:1041-1053. 10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.1041.
71. Sutin A.R., Costa P.T. Reciprocal influences of personality and job characteristics across middle adulthood. Journal of Personality 2010, 78:257-288. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00615.x.
72. Sutin A.R., Costa P.T., Wethington E., Eaton W. Turning points and lessons learned: Stressful life events and personality trait development across middle adulthood. Psychology and Aging 2010, 25:524-533. 10.1037/a0018751.
73. Tellegen A. The analysis of consistency in personality assessment. Journal of Personality 1988, 56:621-663. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1988.tb00905.x.
74. Terracciano A., Costa P.T., McCrae R.R. Personality plasticity after age 30. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2006, 32:999-1009. 10.1177/0146167206288599.
75. Terracciano A., McCrae R.R., Brant L.J., Costa P.T. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses of the NEO-PI-R scales in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Psychology and Aging 2005, 20:493-506. 10.1037/0882-7974.20.3.493.
76. Vaidya J.G., Gray E.K., Haig J.R., Mroczek D.K., Watson D. Differential stability and individual growth trajectories of Big Five and affective traits during young adulthood. Journal of Personality 2008, 76:267-304. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00486.x.
77. Vaidya J.G., Gray E.K., Haig J., Watson D. On the temporal stability of personality: Evidence for differential stability and the role of life experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002, 83:1469-1484. 10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1469.
78. Wagner G.G., Frick J.R., Schupp J. The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP): Scope, evolution and enhancements. Journal of Applied Social Science Studies 2007, 127:139-169.