How Are Common Major Live Events Perceived? Exploring Differences Between and Variability of Different Typical Event Profiles and Raters

Research on major life events and personality change often focuses on the occurrence of specific life events such as childbirth, unemployment, or divorce. However, this typical approach has three important limitations: (1) Life events are typically measured categorically, (2) it is often assumed that people experience and change from the same event in the same way, and (3) external ratings of life events have unknown levels of validity. To address these limitations, we examined how common life events are typically perceived, how much perceptions of life events vary within events, and how well external ratings of events correspond to subjective ratings from people who experienced the events. We analyzed ratings of nine psychologically relevant characteristics of 10 common major life events from three different types of raters (N = 2,210). Each life event had a distinct subjectively rated profile that corresponded well to external ratings. Collectively, this study demonstrates that life events can be meaningfully described and differentiated with event characteristics. However, people’s individual perceptions of life events varied considerably even within events. Therefore, research on major life events and their associations with personality change should incorporate individual perceptions of the events to advance the understanding of these associations.

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The Social Origins of Depression and the Role of Meaning

Understanding Social Change ◽

10.5871/bacad/9780197263143.003.0010 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

George W. Brown

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Life Events ◽

Depressive Disorders ◽

Major Life Events ◽

Major Life ◽

Life Event ◽

The Social ◽

Role Based

This chapter discusses the role of social factors in ill health, with a particular focus on depression. Major life events increase the risk of most depressive disorders. In a longitudinal study carried out in the early 1980s of 400 mothers in Islington, 1 in 10 developed a depressive disorder within a year, and most of those had a severely threatening life event not long before. This chapter also summarises the three forms of meaning relevant for the aetiology of depression. First, the role-based meanings of severe events relate to traditional anthropological and sociological concerns. Second, the evolutionary-derived meanings show that the experience of humiliation following a severe event is critical in the development of depression. Finally, the memory-linked emotional schemas influence a person's vulnerability to events.

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Stability and Change of Perceived Characteristics of Major Life Events

10.31234/osf.io/2yzcs ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Haehner ◽

Sarah Kritzler ◽

Ina Fassbender ◽

Maike Luhmann

Keyword(s):

Life Events ◽

Big Five ◽

Continuous Time ◽

Rank Order ◽

Well Being ◽

Major Life Events ◽

Major Life ◽

Life Event ◽

Stability And Change ◽

The Stability

The occurrence of major life events is associated with changes in mental health, well-being, and personality. To better understand these effects, it is important to consider how individuals perceive major life events. Although theories such as Appraisal Theory and Affective Adaptation Theory suggest that event perceptions change over time and that these changes are relevant for personality and well-being, stability and change of the perceptions of major life events have not been systematically examined. The present paper aims to fill this gap using data from a longitudinal study (N = 619 at T1). In this study, participants rated nine characteristics of the same major life event up to five times within one year with the Event Characteristics Questionnaire. We estimated rank-order and mean-level stabilities as well as intraclass correlations of the nine life event characteristics with continuous time models. Furthermore, we computed continuous time models for the stability of affective well-being and the Big Five personality traits to generate benchmarks for the interpretation of the stability coefficients. Rank-order stabilities of the life event characteristics were lower than for the Big Five, but higher than for affective well-being. Furthermore, we found significant mean-level changes for the life event characteristics extraordinariness, change in world views and external control. Most of the variance in life event characteristics was explained by between-person differences. Future research should examine whether these changes in perceived event characteristics are associated with changes in other constructs and which factors contribute to the stability and change of perceived event characteristics.

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Personality Traits and Perceptions of Major Life Events

European Journal of Personality ◽

10.1177/08902070211045825 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 089020702110458

Author(s):

Andrew Rakhshani ◽

Richard E. Lucas ◽

M. Brent Donnellan ◽

Ina Fassbender ◽

Maike Luhmann

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Life Events ◽

Big Five ◽

Personality Change ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Major Life Events ◽

Major Life ◽

Student Sample ◽

Representative Samples ◽

Related Personality

Research examining the associations between major life events and personality trait development is mixed. Work that evaluates perceptions of life events and how those perceptions are themselves associated with personality traits may help clarify the existing literature. We used a large student sample ( N = 1,509) and a demographically diverse sample from a Qualtrics panel ( N = 552) to conduct exploratory analyses examining the associations between the big five personality traits and perceptions of life events. Results suggested that (a) associations between personality and beliefs about event-related personality change differ between students and more representative samples, (b) associations between personality and event perceptions are often nuanced, and (c) event perceptions are not merely proxies for personality traits. These studies highlight the importance of subjective event perceptions in the study of major life events and personality.

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Personality and perceptions of major life events: Implications for personality development

10.31234/osf.io/426g5 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Rakhshani ◽

Richard E. Lucas ◽

Brent Donnellan ◽

Ina Fassbender ◽

Maike Luhmann

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Life Events ◽

Big Five ◽

Personality Development ◽

Personality Change ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Major Life Events ◽

Major Life ◽

Student Sample ◽

Related Personality

Research about the associations between major life events and personality trait development is mixed. Work that evaluates perceptions of life events and how those perceptions are themselves associated with personality traits may help clarify the existing literature. We used a large student sample (N = 1509) to conduct exploratory analyses examining the associations among big five personality traits, different types of life events, a dimensional taxonomy of event characteristics, and beliefs about event-related personality change. Results suggested that (1) associations between personality and event perceptions are often nuanced; and (2) event perceptions were more predictive of beliefs about event-related personality change than were the big five. These findings indicate that event perceptions are not merely proxies for personality traits. This study highlights the importance of subjective event perceptions in the study of major life events and personality development.

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