Stability and Change in Personality Traits and Major Life Goals From College to Midlife

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722094936
Author(s):  
Olivia E. Atherton ◽  
Emily Grijalva ◽  
Brent W. Roberts ◽  
Richard W. Robins
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Developmental Regulation ◽  
Family Relationship ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Major Life ◽  
College Age ◽  
Investment Theory ◽  
Time Patterns

The association between personality traits and motivational units, such as life goals, has been a long-standing 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. Patterns of co-development suggest people formulate goals consistent with their personality traits, and conversely, investing in goal-relevant contexts is associated with trait change. We discuss the results in light of Social Investment Theory and the developmental regulation literature.

Stability and Change in Personality Traits and Major Life Goals from College to Midlife

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia E. Atherton ◽  
Emily Grijalva ◽  
Brent Roberts ◽  
Richard Robins
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Developmental Regulation ◽  
Family Relationship ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Major Life ◽  
College Age ◽  
Investment Theory ◽  
Time Patterns

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. Patterns of co-development suggest people formulate goals consistent with their personality traits, and conversely, investing in goal-relevant contexts is associated with trait change. We discuss the results in light of Social Investment Theory and the developmental regulation literature.

scholarly journals THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHICS AS PREDICTORS OF MAJOR LIFE GOALS

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Biljana Otašević ◽  
Jasmina Kodžopeljić
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Big Five Personality Traits ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Small Contribution ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Life Goal

The aim of this research was to investigate relations between major life goals and the Big Five personality traits. A total of 599 participants in the 16-72 age range completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and the Life Goal Questionnaire, which was designed for the purposes of this research. The principal component analysis showed the following seven life goal dimensions: Well-Being, Family Relations, Autonomy, Career, Relationships, Friendship, and Education. Psychometric and descriptive characteristics of each component were examined. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated a statistically significant, yet relatively small contribution of personality traits to prediction of major life goals, above and beyond the variance explained by the demographic predictor variables. The results were interpreted in terms of the findings of previous research, as well as considering the role of major life goals as characteristic adaptations within the Big Five model.

scholarly journals Big Five Personality Stability, Change, and Codevelopment across Adolescence and Early Adulthood

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Borghuis ◽  
Jaap J. A. Denissen ◽  
Daniel Leonard Oberski ◽  
Klaas Sijtsma ◽  
Wim H. J. Meeus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Emotional Stability ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Stability Change ◽  
Time Lagged

Using data from two large and overlapping cohorts of Dutch adolescents, containing up to seven waves of longitudinal data each (N = 2,230), the present study examined Big Five personality trait stability, change, and codevelopment in friendship and sibling dyads from age 12 to 22. Four findings stand out. First, the one-year rank-order stability of personality traits was already substantial at age 12, increased strongly from early through middle adolescence, and remained rather stable during late adolescence and early adulthood. Second, we found linear mean-level increases in girls’ conscientiousness, in both genders’ agreeableness, and in boys’ openness. We also found temporal dips (i.e., U-shaped mean-level change) in boys’ conscientiousness and in girls’ emotional stability and extraversion. We did not find a mean-level change in boys’ emotional stability and extraversion, and we found an increase followed by a decrease in girls’ openness. Third, adolescents showed substantial individual differences in the degree and direction of personality trait changes, especially with respect to conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability. Fourth, we found no evidence for personality trait convergence, for correlated change, or for time-lagged partner effects in dyadic friendship and sibling relationships. This lack of evidence for dyadic codevelopment suggests that adolescent friends and siblings tend to change independently from each other and that their shared experiences do not have uniform influences on their personality traits.

Nature and nurture of the interplay between the Big Five and major life goals

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Bleidorn ◽  
Christian Kandler ◽  
Rainer Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Nature And Nurture

scholarly journals Longitudinal Associations between Delinquent Behaviour of Friends and Delinquent Behaviour of Adolescents: Moderation by Adolescent Personality Traits

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Slagt ◽  
Judith Semon Dubas ◽  
Maja Deković ◽  
Gerbert J. T. Haselager ◽  
Marcel A. G. van Aken
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Adolescent Delinquency ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Delinquent Behaviour ◽  
Best Friends ◽  
Longitudinal Associations

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether personality traits (parent–rated Big Five personality traits) render some adolescents more susceptible than others to delinquent behaviour of friends, predicting rank–order changes in adolescents‘ self–reported delinquent behaviour. We examine susceptibility to both perceived (reported by adolescents) and self–reported (reported by friends) delinquent behaviour of friends. Participants in this two–wave study were 285 Dutch adolescents and their best friends. The adolescents (50% girls) were 15.5 years old on average (SD = 0.8 years), and their best friends (N = 176; 58% girls) were 15.1 years old (SD = 1.5 years). Perceived (but not self–reported) delinquency of friends predicted a stronger increase in adolescent delinquency 1 year later, especially among adolescents low or average on conscientiousness. Emotional stability, agreeableness, extraversion and openness did not moderate associations between delinquency of friends and delinquency of adolescents. Our findings show that low conscientiousness serves as a risk factor, increasing vulnerability to perceived delinquent behaviour of friends, while high conscientiousness serves as a protective factor, increasing resilience to perceived delinquent behaviour of friends. Our findings also show that adolescents are susceptible to, and differ in susceptibility to, friends‘ delinquent behaviour as they perceive it—not to delinquent behaviour as reported by friends themselves. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

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