Social expectations and abilities to meet them as possible mechanisms of youth personality development

Abstract

Personality traits change from childhood through midadolescence. In adulthood, traits tend to gradually shift in a socially desirable direction, with people becoming, on average, more agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable (

Social expectations as a possible mechanism for adult personality change: Limited empirical evidence for the social investment principle

“…This study differs from that of Hang et al (2022), in several fundamental ways. First, the two studies examine different developmental stages.…”

“…Hang et al (2022) focused on childhood and adolescence, whereas here we focused on adulthood. Second, although both studies used a nuance-level analysis to examine systematic variability among many personality traits in their various properties, Hang et al (2022) used a traditional personality inventory (CCQ) which was not specifically designed to measure nuances. Here we used a newly developed personality item pool deliberately designed to measure nuances, thus overcoming one key limitation of the previous study.…”

“…Third, the previous study only focused on mean-level changes of personality, but personality traits may also change in variance throughout the lifespan, which we considered in the present study. Finally, here we specifically evaluate the findings in relation to the SIP, whereas Hang et al (2022) focused on potential mechanisms explaining personality change in childhood and adolescence such as the intersection of expectations with the still-developing ability to meet them (Denissen et al, 2013).…”

“…Besides potentially a more refined description of the population‐level patterns of personality development (Hang et al, 2021), nuance‐level analyses allow us to study systematic variations between personality traits in their developmental trends and intersections with other trait‐level features such as social expectations for them (Mõttus et al, 2020; Mõttus & Rozgonjuk, 2021). For example, Hang et al (2022) capitalized on variations between traits to investigate whether social expectations and ability to catch up with these expectations (self‐regulatory ability to adapt to social expectations) can explain the personality changes during childhood and adolescence. Specifically, they quantified the mean‐level changes for 94 nuance‐level traits and the degrees to which these traits reflect social expectations, as well as how much self‐regulatory ability was required to meet these expectations.…”

“…Specifically, they quantified the mean‐level changes for 94 nuance‐level traits and the degrees to which these traits reflect social expectations, as well as how much self‐regulatory ability was required to meet these expectations. Nuance‐level traits' overall means were linked with social expectations, but social expectations were not linked with the nuance‐level traits' mean‐level age trajectories, apart from a slight uptick characterizing the most socially desirable traits in late adolescence (Hang et al, 2022). Being more numerous and capturing varied developmental trends, nuances allow testing hypotheses about differences between traits better than the Big Five domains.…”