Personality Change: Longitudinal Self-Other Agreement and Convergence With Retrospective-Reports

Abstract

The research literature on personality development is based mostly on self-report studies and on samples in younger adulthood. The present multi-method study examines self-other agreement on longitudinal personality change and convergence between self-and informant-reports of longitudinal and retrospective personality change in older adulthood. It provides a rare validation test of longitudinal measurements of personality change. A representative community sample of 1,630 older adults (M age = 62.5) and their informants completed self-and informant-personality assessments across three waves that were on average 6.5 years apart. Self-and informant-reports of retrospective personality change were collected at the third wave. Latent growth modeling was used to examine longitudinal personality change, longitudinal self-other agreement on personality change, and convergence between longitudinal and retrospective personality change in each five-factor model domain. Older adults in the present study reported less change than has been found in younger samples; however, both self-and informant-reports indicated declines in extraversion. Results showed strong self-other agreement on longitudinal personality change in all five-factor model domains, moderate correspondence between longitudinal and retrospectivereports of change within-method (i.e., within self-or informant-report), modest self-other agreement on retrospective-reports, and little association between longitudinal and retrospective change across-method (i.e., between self-and informant-reports). Findings provide validation evidence for both longitudinal and retrospective assessments of personality change, indicate that informants provide unique perspectives on personality change, and could have potentially important implications for research, assessment, and clinical settings.

Perceived and actual posttraumatic growth in religiousness and spirituality following disasters

“…Lastly, Study 2 revealed evidence that perceived and actual R/S growth are only modestly positively related. This finding is consistent with similar existing research on personality change more broadly (Oltmanns et al, 2019; Robins et al, 2005) and on attachment patterns (Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994). Taken together, retrospective measurement of personality change may tend to have limited value, because people are generally not very accurate in tracking their own change.…”

“…There was a weak correlation ( r = .22) between perceived PTG (PTGI scores at Time 2 [T2; posttrauma]) and actual change in C‐PTGI scores from Time 1 (T1; pretrauma) to T2. Those results corroborated the modest link that has been found between actual and perceived change in people's personality traits (Oltmanns, Jackson, & Oltmanns, 2019; Robins, Noftle, Trzesniewski, & Roberts, 2005) and attachment patterns (Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994). In their examination of convergence between perceived PTG and pre‐ to posttrauma changes in measures of each PTG domain (more likely reflecting actual PTG), Frazier et al (2009) found perceived PTG was only related to change in religious commitment ( r = .29); it was unrelated to change in the other four PTG domains.…”

Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

“…Traits are reliable predictors of work outcomes, including occupational choice (Denissen, Ulferts, Lüdtke, Muck, & Gerstorf, 2014), job performance (Dudley, Orvis, Lebiecki, & Cortina, 2006), leadership (Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002), income (Denissen et al, 2018), and occupational attainment (Roberts et al, 2007). There is also a large body of evidence highlighting the role of personality traits in predicting romantic relationship outcomes and marital trajectories (Asendorpf, Penke, & Back, 2011; Luciano & Orth, 2017; Neyer & Lehnart, 2007; Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Schutte, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2010; Roberts et al, 2007, Wagner, Becker, Lüdtke, & Trautwein, 2015); friendship, popularity, and status in peer relations (Anderson, John, Keltner, & Kring, 2001; Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2011; Selfhout et al, 2010; Stopfer, Egloff, Nestler, & Back, 2013); and subjective well–being and overall functioning (Bleidorn et al, in press; Lucas & Diener, 2015; Mueller, Wagner, Wagner, Ram, & Gerstorf, 2019).…”

How Our Caregivers Shape Who We Are: The Seven Dimensions of Attachment at the Core of Personality

“…In this respect, a central issue concerns the possibility of personality change throughout life. The APM proposes personality to be resistant to change, but empirical findings underpinned by the FFM indicate that changes are to be expected (Lucas and Donnellan, 2011;Oltmanns et al, 2019). For example, agreeableness and conscientiousness have been found to increase between age 20 and 60, while openness to decrease after 60, with important individual differences (Roberts and Mroczek, 2008).…”