Does Age Matter for Personality Psychology?

Wrzus, Cornelia

doi:10.1002/per.2205

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Our original expectation was that ATOA is more closely associated with health in old age than in midlife, whereas, given the inconsistency in previous findings, we tested “age-dependent personality effects” (Wrzus, 2019) by an exploratory approach. Though late-life health changes are remarkably heterogeneous (Leigh, Byles, & Mishra, 2017; Wettstein, Schilling, & Wahl, 2016; Willis, Jay, Diehl, & Marsiske, 1992), health usually deteriorates with advancing age (Baltes & Smith, 2003; Jacobs et al, 2012; Santoni et al, 2015), so that psychosocial factors such as attitudes on aging may become more crucial for achieving stable health in old age than in midlife (Mueller et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Personality traits change across the entire life span (Lucas & Donnellan, 2011; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006; Specht, 2017). The question therefore is that “If levels of personality characteristics change over the lifespan, do personality effects on intrapersonal or interpersonal outcomes change as well?” (Wrzus, 2019, p. 217; see also Mroczek, Weston, & Willroth, 2020; Shanahan et al, 2014). Generally speaking, psychosocial predictors including personality (but also views on aging) may be of varying importance at different life stages (Mueller et al, 2017): “Health-protective” factors — such as personality as a “system of adaptive functioning” (Baltes et al, 2006, p. 637) — might be particularly crucial for the health of older adults.…”

Section: The Health-relevance Of Personality and Attitudes Toward Own...mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…So far, empirical evidence on such “age-dependent personality effects” (Wrzus, 2019) with regard to health is scarce and mixed. Some empirical evidence is in support of stronger personality-health associations with advancing age, particularly for neuroticism and aspects of perceived health (Canada, Stephan, Jaconelli, & Duberstein, 2016; Duberstein et al, 2003).…”

Section: The Health-relevance Of Personality and Attitudes Toward Own...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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20-year trajectories of health in midlife and old age: Contrasting the impact of personality and attitudes toward own aging.

Wettstein¹,

Wahl²,

Siebert³

2020

Psychology and Aging

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Personality traits affect health throughout adulthood. Recent research has demonstrated that attitudes toward own aging (ATOA) also play an important role in various health outcomes. To date, the role of personality versus ATOA for health has rarely been considered in parallel and contrasted for different periods of the second half of life, such as midlife versus early old age. We posit that with advancing age, associations of personality and ATOA with trajectories of health might change. To address this assumption, we examined trajectories of physician-rated health and its between-person and time-varying, within-person associations with personality (neuroticism and conscientiousness) and ATOA over 20 years in middle-aged (baseline age 43-46 years; n ϭ 502) and older (61-65 years; n ϭ 500) adults. Based on longitudinal multilevel regression models (controlling for gender and education), we found at the between-person level that lower neuroticism scores and more positive ATOA scores were independently associated with better physician-rated health at baseline. This association of ATOA with health was stronger in the old age sample than in the midlife sample. At the within-person level, time-varying associations revealed that both middle-aged and older individuals had better physician-rated health on measurement occasions when they reported more favorable ATOA. In addition, in the old age subsample alone, individuals' physician-rated health was better on occasions when they had higher conscientiousness scores. Our findings suggest that certain personality traits (conscientiousness, but not neuroticism) as well as attitudes toward own aging may gain in importance in later life as predictors of objective health changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Health-relevance Of Personality and Attitudes Toward Own...mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: The Health-relevance Of Personality and Attitudes Toward Own...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

20-year trajectories of health in midlife and old age: Contrasting the impact of personality and attitudes toward own aging.

Wettstein¹,

Wahl²,

Siebert³

2020

Psychology and Aging

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“…One of last year's highlights was the special issue 'Does Age Matter for Personality Psychology?' edited by Wrzus (2019). It provided a state-of-the-art collection of empirical investigations of one of the field's most important underexamined issues, namely, the extent to which personality processes and effects on outcomes are invariant across or moderated by age.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: A Brief Wish List for Personality Research

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2020

Eur J Pers

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“…Considering an age perspective further reflects the increasing awareness that is given to age-related effects in the field of personality psychology, as recently discussed in a special issue of the European Journal of Personality dedicated to this topic. To reveal how ‘age matters for personality psychology’ (Wrzus, 2019, p. 217), it is considered crucial to go beyond young-adult samples and to systematically assess age-related effects in an age-heterogeneous sample. In the present study, we address both points (i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The actor, agent, and author across the life span: interrelations between personality traits, life goals, and life narratives in an age-heterogeneous sample

Bühler

Weidmann²,

Grob

2020

Eur J Pers

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According to the integrative framework for studying people, personality manifests and develops along three separate, but related, levels: the actor (e.g. traits), agent (e.g. goals), and author (i.e. narratives). Although these levels are thought to be conceptually interrelated, few studies have empirically examined such interrelations. To address this gap, the present study tested how traits, goals, and narratives are longitudinally related to each other and whether master motives (getting along and getting ahead) serve as helpful tools to structure these interrelations. Applying a developmental approach, we further explored these interrelations against the background of age-related effects. A sample of 141 participants (14-68 years, M = 35.40 years) completed self-reports on traits and goals at the beginning and end of a 2-year study. In between these measurements, participants took part in a life story interview that assessed narratives. We applied multilevel analyses and found that traits, goals, and narratives were meaningfully related to each other. Interactions with age occurred in less than 20% of the cases, emerged among the majority of variables (except for agreeableness and openness), were most pronounced for narratives and were mainly found among young and middle-aged participants. The findings are discussed in view of master motives.

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Does Age Matter for Personality Psychology?

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

20-year trajectories of health in midlife and old age: Contrasting the impact of personality and attitudes toward own aging.

20-year trajectories of health in midlife and old age: Contrasting the impact of personality and attitudes toward own aging.

Editorial: A Brief Wish List for Personality Research

The actor, agent, and author across the life span: interrelations between personality traits, life goals, and life narratives in an age-heterogeneous sample

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