Correlated personality change across time and age

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine differential and correlated change in personality across the adult lifespan. Studying differential and correlated change can help understand whether intraindividual trait change trajectories deviate from the norm and how these trajectories are coupled with each other. We used data from two large longitudinal panel studies from the United States that covered a total age range of 20 to 95 years on the first measurement occasion. We used correlated factor models and bivariate latent change score models to examine the rank-order stability and correlations between change across three measurement waves covering 18 years ( N = 3250) and four measurement waves covering 12 years ( N = 4145). We examined the moderation effects of continuous age on these model parameters using local structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the test–retest correlations decrease with increasing time between measurements but are unaffected by participants’ age. We found that change processes in Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were strongly related, particularly in late adulthood. Correlated change patterns were highly stable across time intervals and similar to the initial cross-sectional Big Five correlations. We discuss potential mechanisms and implications for personality development research.

Structural and Inter-individual Differentiation in Personality Traits Across the Adult Lifespan

“…The majority increased in absolute size across age (i.e. dedifferentiation), mirroring the age patterns on trait domain correlations reported previously (e.g., Beck et al, 2020;Klimstra et al, 2013;Olaru & Allemand, 2021). This is particularly interesting as we expected the accumulation of life events, social roles, or environmental effects, as well as the increasing complexity of life from early to middle adulthood to result in a differentiation pattern.…”

“…For instance, Allemand and colleagues (2008a) found that constraining factor correlations to equivalence in a MGCFA across six age groups covering 16 to 91 years of age did not affect model fit substantially. However, two studies with similarly broad age ranges found some indication of structural change, more specifically, comparatively high trait correlations in old age (Klimstra et al, 2013;Olaru & Allemand, 2021). These findings suggest some personality dedifferentiation in old age.…”

“…In a study by Klimstra and colleagues (2013), these correlations increased most for Extraversion and Openness, from r = .33 at age 20 to r = .44 at age 80. Olaru and Allemand (2021) reported factor correlations as high as r = .60 between all Big Five factors (excluding Neuroticism) in an on average 63 year old sample from the Health and Retirement study (HRS;Juster, & Suzman, 1995). These factor correlations using the same inventory were r = .47 for an on average 46 year old sample from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS; Barry, 2014).…”

“…The number of studies on personality differentiation and dedifferentiation is very limited. With some exceptions (e.g., Beck et al, 2020;Klimstra et al, 2013;Olaru & Allemand, 2021) the majority of studies support the stability of personality structure and variance (but also see the lack of measurement invariance reported by Dong & Dumas, 2020).…”

“…There are only a small number of studies on the effect of age on trait domain correlations (Allemand et al, 2007;2008a;Klimstra et al, 2013;Olaru & Allemand, 2021;Robins et al, 2001;Small et al, 2003). All of these studies found some correlations between the Big Five or Five Factor model trait domains (see also Park et al, 2020;Thielman et al, 2021), despite the theoretically assumed orthogonality of the factors (Costa & McCrae, 1992;Goldberg, 1990;Saucier, 2002).…”