scholarly journals Personality Change Profiles and Changes in Cognition Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 898-898
Author(s):  
Mirjam Stieger ◽  
Yujun Liu ◽  
Eileen Graham ◽  
Jenna DeFrancisco ◽  
Margie Lachman

Abstract Previous research on the relationship between personality traits and cognitive abilities has primarily focused on cross-sectional studies or on specific personality traits in relation to selected cognitive dimensions. The present study extends existing research by exploring associations among 20-year personality change profiles and 10-year cognitive change in middle-aged and older adults. The present study included 2,652 participants of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS) ranging in age between 20 - 74 years (M = 46.61, SD = 11.26) at the first of the three measurement occasions. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to capture profiles of change across the Big Five personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and emotional stability combined. Results of the LPA identified three personality change subgroups: Decreasers, Maintainers, and Increasers. Across the 20 years, the Decreasers showed greater decreases on the Big Five personality traits, the Maintainers remained mostly stable, and the Increasers showed greater personality trait increases. Also, the Maintainers and Decreasers were significantly older than the Increasers. Longitudinal multilevel models were used to examine the relationship between these three personality change profiles and cognitive change. Age, sex, education, physical activity, functional health, and self-rated health were added as covariates. Results show that cognitive decline was greater for the Decreasers and less for the Increasers compared to the other personality change profiles. The results have implications for developing interventions to target personality trait change in middle and later adulthood as a potential means for reducing declines in cognitive functioning.

Author(s):  
Danny Osborne ◽  
Nicole Satherley ◽  
Chris G. Sibley

Research since the 1990s reveals that openness to experience—a personality trait that captures interest in novelty, creativity, unconventionalism, and open-mindedness—correlates negatively with political conservatism. This chapter summarizes this vast literature by meta-analyzing 232 unique samples (N = 575,691) that examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and conservatism. The results reveal that the negative relationship between openness to experience and conservatism (r = −.145) is nearly twice as big as the next strongest correlation between personality and ideology (namely, conscientiousness and conservatism; r = .076). The associations between personality traits and conservatism were, however, substantively larger in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries than in non-WEIRD countries. The chapter concludes by reviewing recent longitudinal work demonstrating that openness to experience and conservatism are non-causally related. Collectively, the chapter shows that openness to experience is by far the strongest (negative) correlate of conservatism but that there is little evidence that this association is causal.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Asfa Ashraf ◽  
Kamran Ishfaq ◽  
Muhammad Umair Ashraf ◽  
Zahid Zulfiqar

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive) and Big-five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness) among the students of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan. For this purpose, a total number of 281 students from different faculties (Natural and social sciences) were selected through systematic sampling technique and the respondents responded to parenting authority questionnaire (PAQ) by Buri (1991) and Big-five inventory (BFI) john and Srivastava (1999). Data were analyzed by using SPSS-21 version, and Pearson correlation (r=0.01) was applied to find out the relationship, direction and consistency between predictor and criterion variable. Results indicated a directly proportional relationship between parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative & permissive) and big five personality traits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S729-S730
Author(s):  
Anna E Kornadt ◽  
Anna E Kornadt

Abstract Despite considerable stability of the Big Five personality traits, there is evidence for personality plasticity and change across the lifespan. In younger years, the investment in social roles, such as entering worklife or starting a family has been shown to drive personality change. With regard to personality in later life, the investigation of social roles has so far been neglected. A questionnaire was developed to assess a large number of social roles that can be assumed in the second half of life. N = 306 participants aged 50 to 86 years reported on their social roles and rated their personality traits. Results show that assuming and investing in certain social roles (e.g. friend, retiree, volunteer) mediated the effects of age on the Big Five, especially for the oldest participants and in the domains openness and extraversion. The findings support the importance of social roles for personality also in later life.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Ceschi ◽  
Arianna Costantini ◽  
Andrea Scalco ◽  
Morteza Charkhabi ◽  
Riccardo Sartori

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