Personality change in women from college to midlife

Personality scores of female college seniors studied in 1958 or 1960, again when they were 27 years old, and again when they were 43 show significant mean changes and high stability coefficients on the California Psychological Inventory, Joffe-Naditch coping scales, Adjective Check List, and other measures. Changes in personality were largely consistent with theories of adult development. In these women, a major factor associated with change appears to be an increase in sex role specialization in their late 20s and a decrease in their later years that is accompanied by increases in confidence, dominance, and coping skills. The normative pattern of change was not confined to women on any one particular life path, but was most pronounced in women who actively engaged in some "social clock project."     

Transition from the Early 40s to the Early 50s in Sell-Directed Women

How does personality type moderate personality change in middle age? Answers to this question were sought with three observer-based measures of self-directedness (autonomy, hypersensitivity, and willfulness) scored from the California Q-set when the participants in the Mills longitudinal study were age 43. From their early 40s to early 50s, high scorers on autonomy (healthy self-directedness) increased on California Psychological Inventory measures of impulse control and agency, and continued their involvement in high-status occupational careers. Despite increases in impulse control, the hypersensitive women had not increased in agency and expressed boredom in major social roles. In their early 50s, high scorers on willfulness increased in agency but not impulse control. In social roles, they perceived themselves as stimulating and creative.     

Middle Aging in Women: Patterns of Personality Change from the 30s to the 50s

This three-sample study focused on changes in four key features of women's personalities (identity, generativity, confident power, and concern about aging) over the course of middle age. Based on women's retrospective and concurrent feelings about their lives in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, scales were developed and validated for the four themes. We found that identity certainty, generativity, confident power, and concern about aging all were experienced as more prominent in middle age (the 40s) than in early adulthood (the 30s). We also found that these elements of personality were rated even higher in the 50s than the 40s. Scores seemed to be a function of age more than historical period or particular experiences in social roles. Scores on identity certainty, generativity, and confident power were positively related to well-being, while concern about aging was negatively related to well-being.     

Personality and relationship quality during the transition from high school to early adulthood

The post-high school transition period is believed to be associated with considerable changes in social networks, yet longitudinal studies documenting these changes are scarce. To address this gap, the current research explored 3 relevant issues. First, changes in participants' relationship characteristics during the transition from high school were examined. Second, the roles of personality traits as antecedents of these changes were studied. Third, the association between change in relationship characteristics and personality during the transition was explored. A sample of over 2,000 German emerging adults, surveyed before leaving school and then 2 years after the transition from high school, was assessed on personality traits and a multidimensional assessment of the quality of their relationships. Findings indicated that participants experienced mostly positive changes in relationship quality during the transition from high school and that antecedent personality at school was an important predictor of the nature of this change. Finally, change in relationship quality was found to be associated with personality change during the post-school transition. Findings indicated that personality traits may influence transition success and that change in relationships during this transition may influence personality development. The implications of the research for post-school transition success are discussed.     

Personality change in adolescence: Results from a Japanese sample

We examined developmental trends in personality traits during adolescence by using data from the secondary school affiliated with the University of Tokyo (N = 3656; range 12–18; 1832 female), collected from 1981 to 2010. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed cumulative mean-level changes in personality averaging approximately 1 SD across adolescence. Scales related to Neuroticism showed linear increases, and those related to Extraversion showed distinct developmental patterns: General Activity and Rhathymia did not change, while Ascendance and Social Extroversion declined. Additionally, we found significant gender and birth cohort effects on personality. Although the intercepts differed according to both factors, the trajectories were different only for the birth cohort. These findings suggest that personality development trajectories differ according to the sociocultural context.     

Personality characteristics of women with alcohol addiction: A Rorschach study of women in an early treatment programme

This study identifies personality characteristics in a group of Swedish women (N=60) attending their first treatment for alcohol problems.The treatment programme specifically addressed women in an early phase of their drinking career, and was called "Early Treatment of Women with Alcohol Addiction" (EWA). Rorschach personality profiles of the 60 women differed significantly in almost all investigated aspects in a psychopathological direction from norms reported by Exner for a reference group of female non-patients. The findings are consistent with the assumption that, although the EWA women were socially well-functioning and fairly early in their drinking career, they nevertheless reveal serious underlying psychopathology. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

This I Have Learned from Over 40 Years of Personality Research

ABSTRACT During the over 40 years in which I have conducted personality research, I have had a number of insights about the research process that I thought would be worth sharing: an awareness of the human side of science; lessons from the person-situation debate; lessons from comparing research on highly ego-involving natural events, such as sport parachuting, with laboratory analogues; the realization of what is wrong with the concept of the Freudian unconscious and what should be done to replace it; and awareness of pervasive biases in the journal-reviewing process. Perhaps the one most general lesson I have learned is that the advancement of psychology as a cumulative, integrative science is hampered not so much by its conceptual complexity as by the difficulty of humankind to view itself objectively, with honesty, courage, and a willingness to surrender illusions.     

Personality change over 40 years of adulthood: hierarchical linear modeling analyses of two longitudinal samples

Normative personality change over 40 years was shown in 2 longitudinal cohorts with hierarchical linear modeling of California Psychological Inventory data obtained at multiple times between ages 21-75. Although themes of change and the paucity of differences attributable to gender and cohort largely supported findings of multiethnic cross-sectional samples, the authors also found much quadratic change and much individual variability. The form of quadratic change supported predictions about the influence of period of life and social climate as factors in change over the adult years: Scores on Dominance and Independence peaked in the middle age of both cohorts, and scores on Responsibility were lowest during peak years of the culture of individualism. The idea that personality change is most pronounced before age 30 and then reaches a plateau received no support.     

Attachment change processes in the early years of marriage.

The authors examined 4 models of attachment change: a contextual model, a social-cognitive model, an individual-difference model, and a diathesis-stress model. Models were examined in a sample of newlyweds over the first 2 years of marriage, using growth curve analyses. Reciprocal processes, whereby attachment representations and interpersonal life circumstances affect one another over time, also were studied. On average, newlyweds became more secure over time. However, there was significant within-subject variability on attachment change that was predicted by intra- and interpersonal factors. Attachment representations changed in response to contextual, social-cognitive, and individual-difference factors. Reciprocal processes between attachment representations and marital variables emerged, suggesting that these factors influence one another in an ongoing way.     

Personality change influences mortality in older men

Previous studies have indicated that high neuroticism is associated with early mortality. However, recent work suggests that people's level of neuroticism changes over long periods of time. We hypothesized that such changes in trait neuroticism affect mortality risk. Growth-curve parameters (levels and slopes) that quantified the trajectories of neuroticism change over 12 years were used to predict 18-year risk of mortality among 1,663 aging men. Proportional hazards models were used to estimate mortality risk from level and slope parameters, controlling for objective and subjective health, depression, and age. Although a parallel analysis of extraversion showed no significant effects, level and slope of neuroticism interacted in their effect on mortality. Men who had both a high average level of neuroticism and an increasing level of neuroticism over time had much lower survival than men without that combination. These findings suggest that it is not just the level of personality traits, but their direction of change, that is related to mortality.     

Still cautious: Personality characteristics of extremely low birth weight adults in their early 30s

Extremely low birth weight survivors (ELBW; <1000 g) display a personality style characterized by cautiousness, shyness, and risk aversion in their 20s. We examined whether non-impaired ELBW survivors were still more cautious than their normal birth weight (NBW) peers at ages 30–35 and assessed the stability of this personality characteristic across approximately a decade in the oldest known cohort of ELBW survivors. Of the 154 participants tested at ages 22–26, 111 (i.e., 72%) of them returned approximately 10 years later [i.e., 69% (49/71) ELBW and 75% (62/83) NBW], and once again they completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R). We created the same theoretically and empirically derived composite measure of cautiousness at each visit by summing the EPQ-R psychoticism scale (reverse scored) and the EPQ-R lie scale. We found that ELBW adults reported higher cautiousness than their NBW counterparts at ages 30–35. We also found that levels of cautiousness remained stable over approximately 10 years in both groups. Our findings suggest that individuals born at ELBW were more cautious than NBW peers and that this personality characteristic remained stable into their early 30s. The present study appears to be the first empirical demonstration of personality stability among adult ELBW survivors.     

Personality features and cognitive level in patients at an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease

In this cross-sectional study, we explored the relationship between premorbid personality and its changes over 5 years, and cognitive deterioration in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The cognitive level of 54 patients was compared with that of 64 control subjects using the Mini Mental State (MMSE). Family members completed the NEO-PI-R (form R) twice, once to evaluate the participants’ current personality and again to assess personality traits as they were remembered to be 5 years earlier. Furthermore, the family filled in the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline (IQCODE), the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales to assess their proxies’ cognitive level and daily living functioning. Regarding the relationship between personality characteristics and cognitive status, we observed trends for premorbid personality and significant links for personality changes in the clinical group. Thus, changes in neuroticism and conscientiousness were associated with cognitive deterioration, whereas decreased openness to experience and conscientiousness over time predicted loss of independence in daily functioning in the clinical group. Our study suggests that premorbid features can be considered as latent traits linked to the neuropathology underlying the disease process, while personality changes are probably the consequences of the pathological process.     

Personality from a realist’s perspective: Personality traits, criminal behaviors, and the externalizing spectrum

Reviews ways in which the author’s program of research has been influenced by Tellegen’s (1991) conceptualization of personality traits as both real and biologically based entities. Analyses of longitudinal-epidemiological data on personality and criminal behavior indicate that personality measures and measures of criminal behavior can be conceived of as indicators of a latent, stable propensity to act in an unconstrained manner. In addition, an unconstrained personality style, substance dependence, and antisocial behavior can be modeled as indicators of a highly heritable propensity towards “externalizing” or acting-out behaviors, with environmental factors playing a key role in determining the specific way in which this general, heritable externalizing propensity is expressed. Such research outlines the value of concepts from personality psychology in understanding consequential behaviors in the population at large.     

Personality traits in women with Turner syndrome

Turner syndrome is caused by the total or partial absence of, or structural abnormalities in, one sex chromosome. A personality style characterized by traits related to low neuroticism and high extroversion has been reported for females with Turner syndrome, indicating possible genetic factors related to personality development. This study examines personality traits in 37 Swedish women with Turner syndrome using the Karolinska Scales of Personality Inventory. Compared to reference data, the subjects rated themselves as more sensation seeking, less detached, less verbally aggressive and less irritated. These results partially support previous findings. The subjects were divided into three karyotype groups: 45,X (n = 13), 45,X/46,XX or 45,X/45,XY (n = 13), and structural abnormalities (n = 11). Contrary to some previous findings, no differences in personality were found between the karyotype groups.     

Personality correlates of hopelessness in depressed inpatients 50 years of age and older.

In this study we examined the relationship between scores on the Beck Hopelessness Scale and the personality traits that constitute the Five-Factor Model in a sample of 77 depressed inpatients, 50 years of age and older. Multiple regression analyses showed that Hopelessness is related to low Extraversion domain scores, and to specific facets of both Extraversion (low positive emotions) and Neuroticism (low self-consciousness, high impulsiveness). Efforts to tie Hopelessness with the motivational, affective, and interpersonal constructs subsumed under Extraversion are warranted.