The Development of the Rank-Order Stability of the Big Five Across the Life Span

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that the rank-order stability of personality increases until midlife and declines later in old age. However, this inverted U-shaped pattern has not consistently emerged in previous research; in particular, a recent investigation implementing several methodological advances failed to support it. To resolve the matter, we analyzed data from two representative panel studies and investigated how certain methodological decisions affect conclusions regarding the age trajectories of stability. The data came from Australia (N = 15,465; Study 1) and Germany (N = 21,777; Study 2), and each study included four waves of personality assessment. We investigated the life span development of the rank-order stability of the Big Five for 4-, 8-, and 12-year intervals. Whereas Study 1 provided strong evidence for an inverted U-shape with rank-order stability declining past age 50, Study 2 provided more mixed results that nonetheless generally supported the inverted U-shape. This developmental trend held for single personality traits as well as for the overall pattern across traits; and it held for all three retest intervals—both descriptively and in formal tests. Additionally, we found evidence that health-related changes accounted for the decline in rank-order stability in older age. This suggests that if analyses are implicitly conditioned on health (e.g., by excluding participants with missing data on later waves), the decline in stability in old age will be underestimated or even missed. Our results provide further evidence for the inverted U-shaped age pattern in personality stability development but also extend knowledge about the underlying processes.

Personality and limitations in instrumental activities of daily living in old age: Reciprocal associations across 12 years

“…The studies on personality change in old age suggest a decrease in rank-order stability (e.g. Lucas & Donnellan, 2011;Seifert et al, 2021;Specht et al, 2011) and mean-level increases in neuroticism (Graham et al, 2020;Kandler et al, 2015;Mõttus et al, 2012;Wortman et al, 2012) and decreases in extraversion, conscientiousness and openness (Allemand et al, 2007;Graham et al, 2020;Kandler et al, 2015;Lucas & Donnellan, 2011;Mõttus et al, 2012;Wortman et al, 2012). This suggests that after a phase of increasing personality stability and maturation during young and middle adulthood (e.g.…”

Codevelopment of life goals and the Big Five personality traits across adulthood and old age.

“…Studying the codevelopment of the Big Five traits and life goals during this developmental phase is important because during this time personality traits and life goals undergo the largest changes (Arnett, 2000;Bleidorn et al, 2022). However, there is evidence that both constructs continue to change during middle and old adulthood (e.g., Bühler et al, 2019;Seifert et al, 2022). Here, we examined the moderating role of age in the developmental links between life goals and traits.…”

Open Peer Commentary and Author Response Regarding ‘Life Events and Personality Change: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’

“…In their meta-analysis of event-related personality change, Bühler et al provide the most comprehensive quantification to date of a curious issue in the field: despite nearly everyone's expectations that life events should bring personality change (Schwaba et al, 2023), associations between life events and average personality change are quite small and flimsy (see also Beck, 2019). This is especially paradoxical and problematic when considering research on lifespan personality development, which finds that change over many years is relatively large and robust Seifert et al, 2023). In other words, how does the average person become almost a standard deviation less Open to Experience across adulthood if no life events predict more than a fifth of a standard deviation of Openness to Experience change (Bühler et al, this issue)?…”