Personality continuity and change over the lifespan is a topic that has been well researched, examined, and continues to emit new discoveries and topics of discussion. To determine changes in personality versus what maintains it includes factors like longitudinal studies and the examination of the BIG 5 personality traits. The increase, decrease, and consistency of these traits among the lifetime is explored throughout this paper. Many studies and experiments focus on the correlation of major life events and the experience’s one has throughout a lifetime to link causation to whether or not personality is continuous or is staggered and changes as one enters different periods of life. Research also offers insight about the role of environment and one’s genotype expression on the development of personality. Collectively, the research and advanced studies done on the topic of personality development and continuity offers a comprehensive assessment and multiple different aspects that are explored throughout the body of this paper.
Major results from multiple studies focus on the effect of life events on personality traits and development. A study done by a university in the Netherlands looks specifically at the “transaction between life events and personality traits across the adult lifespan” (Denissen, Luhmann, Chung, Bleidorn 2018). The study refers to life events as “status changes in important demographic variables, such as employment or marital status” (Denissen, Luhmann, Chung, Bleidorn, 2018). Furthermore, the study defines personality as “relatively stable individual differences in affect, behavior, and/or cognition” (Johnson, 1997). This study aims to bridge the gap between studies that focus on personality throughout different age groups and the impact and association of life events on “lasting personality traits” (Denissen, Luhmann, Chung, Bleidorn, 2018). While the study had major strengths that set it apart from other studies such as its large longitudinal design and detailed resolution to measure change, it is still lacking. The study did find some correlations between life events and personality change, such as the stabilizing of emotions leading up to childbirth. However, one of the major struggles when trying to pinpoint the correlation between life events and personality is the multiple variances. Understanding how life events and personality are linked and mediated involves “biological, psychological and social processes” (Denissen, Luhmann, Chung, Bleidorn, 2018).
Exploring the personality of adolescent and young adults, a university in the Netherlands conducted a study that examines the stability and changes across college in both the Big Five personality traits and possible underlying mental health issues such as anxiety, and depression. The study looks at personality development and the adjustment in college. More specifically, the study examines “correlated changes in personality effects on later changes in adjustment and adjustment effects on later changes in personality” (Klimstra, Noftle, Luyckx, Goossens, Robins (2018). The overall findings suggested that individuals who were in college had decreased levels of neuroticism including underlying facets such as “self- reproach” while other domains of the Big Five personality traits either stabilized or increased. The study explained that their findings suggest that personality develops and changes simultaneously with the adjustment of starting college and being in college. This study overall contributes to the idea that personality is not continuous and changes frequently throughout the lifespan as a result of major life events similar to the results of Schwaba and Bleidorn’s study of individual’s before and after retirement.
In an additional study, changes in personality traits across the adult life span of 19 through 74 years old were investigated. Similar to the study done by Kandler, Kornadt, Hagemeyer, Neyer, this study also examined changes in “extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience” along with “honesty-humility using data from the first 6 annual waves of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 10,416; 61.1% female, average age = 49.46)” (Milojev & Sibley). Their cohort/sequential growth model assessed patterns of change due to the effects of aging and cohorts. The study concluded that while extraversion and agreeableness decreased with age and then remained constant, conscientiousness increased in young adulthood and leveled off during the rest of the life span. Unlike the studies that focused solely on the older aged population, the study showed that when looking at neuroticism and openness, both decrease as people aged. The study suggests that these findings are contributed to the effects of cohort differences. An analysis of the data showed that personality develops in patterns consistently through adulthood with an emphasis on the importance of young adulthood (up to the age of 30) in the development of personality trait development (Milojev, P., & Sibley, C. G. (2017).
When personality continuity and sources of personality were investigated there were several trends found in particular with the population of people 64-84. A study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology investigated “mean-level trends as well as the genetic and environmental sources of continuity and change in several personality traits such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, perceived control, and affect intensity and well-being” (Kandler, Kornadt, Hagemeyer, Neyer, F. J. (2015). This study analyzed the relationship between the perceived control of older aged adults along with the change in personality traits and their reported well-being. On average, these older age adults experienced neuroticism increases while extraversion, conscientiousness, and perceived control decreased over time. They reported a change in perceived control that is associated with the change in neuroticism and conscientiousness. Overall these changes were found to be a product of the adaptations and changes that happen with old age. This study shows that personality traits in older aged adults are not as continuous as one may think, and the older population does go through personality changes despite their perceived period of stagnation in comparison to other age populations.
Furthermore, in another study, the Big Five personality development traits (OCEAN) in the 5 years of an individual’s life before and after retirement were examined. A sample composed of 690 retirees and a “propensity-score matched comparison group of 532 nonretirees were drawn from a representative longitudinal study of the Netherlands” over a period of 7 years (Schwaba and Bleidorn). In the month after retirement, participants experienced “sudden increases in openness and agreeableness” (Schwaba and Bleidorn). This increase in openness and agreeableness was reportedly followed by gradual declines in these traits over the next 5 years. One can argue that this can be contributed to the lack of everyday pressures from one’s job and enjoying retirement. Overall, the study’s major results concluded that emotional and mental stability increased before and after retirement. This contributes to our understanding of continuity of personality development in older adulthood as well as the overall response to changes including major life events like retirement.
While many studies look at the personality development throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, one area of life is commonly not thought about. The end of life. A study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology focused on the personality trait development and changes at the end of life. This study is unique as it examines ‘role health, cognitive performance, perceived control, and social factors” (Wagner, Ram, Smith, Gerstorf, 2016). The study revealed that in the years close to one’s end of life neuroticism increases at a steeper rate than other periods of the life, while extraversion and openness decline steadily also. The study stated that poor health during one’s life “manifested as a risk factor for declines in extraversion and openness late in life” (Wagner, Ram, Smith, Gerstorf, 2016). In addition, underlying aspects of personality like increase in loneliness and withdrawal from everyday activities were found with the decreases in extraversion and increase in neuroticism. Furthermore, the feeling that one’s life is controlled by others or a higher being is associated with increases in neuroticism but higher openness closer to the time of death.
In addition to the different stages of life that could contribute or influence personality changes or stability, many studies focus on the genetics of personality development and the environment of the individual to seek answers to questions regarding personality. In a study done by the University of Texas in 2014, “24 longitudinal behavioral genetic studies containing information on a total of 21,057 sibling pairs from 6 types that varied in terms of genetic relatedness and ranged in age from infancy to old age” were examined (Briley, Drob 2014). The study focused on the stability of genetics and the effects of the environment in relation to the overall phenotype stability. The study found that both genetics and environmental influences on an individual will increase in stability as age increases therefore stabilizing one’s personality as they get older. The “intrinsic maturation perspective emphasizes the role that genetic effects increasing the stability of personality” (Briley and Drob, 2014). Factors that affect intrinsic maturation like the degree of parental influence or differences in cultures that underlie basic behaviors, contribute to personality and are all considered environmental factors that can affect one’s personality continuity or change across the lifespan.