New research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that stable personality traits not only predict important life outcomes, like health, happiness, and career success, but that even small changes in our personality over time can shape our future in meaningful ways.
Personality traits, defined as enduring characteristics that influence the way we think, feel, and behave, play a critical role in predicting a range of life outcomes. The Big Five personality framework – encompassing openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism – is often used to study these traits. Recent research has begun to explore not only how these characteristics predict outcomes, but also how changes in these characteristics over time might also impact future outcomes.
In this study, researchers Amanda J. Wright and Joshua J. Jackson analyzed data from seven longitudinal datasets involving 81,980 participants to explore how changes in the Big Five personality traits affect life outcomes in terms of health, education, career, finance, relationships and civic engagement. .
Datasets include the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), US Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Longitudinal Studies on the Internet for Social Sciences (LISS) of the Netherlands, Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—Children and Young Adults (NLSY-CYA) and Swiss Household Panel (SHP), whose collection began from 1984. These studies provide annual to biennial updates, capturing data on up to fourteen waves, with at least two waves of personality assessments.
Various outcomes were measured to assess the overall impact of personality changes. Health measures included self-reported health status, BMI, number of health conditions, and exercise habits. The study also looked at marital and divorce status as well as the number of marriages. Educational outcomes were assessed by completion of at least a four-year degree, while career impacts focused on unemployment status. Financial measures included annual salary and financial security, and civic involvement was measured by volunteering.
Results were standardized and evaluated against the final wave of personality data to minimize variance due to timing. The study controlled for initial levels of personality traits and outcomes.
Many discoveries have emerged. Changes in traits such as conscientiousness and neuroticism have shown a relationship with behaviors and health conditions. For example, increased mindfulness was associated with improved self-reported health and more frequent exercise. Decreased neuroticism was associated with fewer reported mental health problems.
Personality changes were also relevant in the context of personal relationships. For example, an increase in agreeableness predicted higher marital satisfaction and stability, while a decrease in neuroticism was associated with lower divorce rates.
Additionally, changes in extraversion and conscientiousness had implications for job satisfaction and employment status. People who demonstrated greater conscientiousness were less likely to be unemployed over time. Similarly, changes in personality traits impacted financial security, with increased awareness leading to better financial management and stability.
Changes in openness to experience were positively correlated with higher education level. In terms of civic engagement, increased agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted a higher likelihood of volunteering.
This study effectively demonstrates that changes in personality traits can significantly influence various aspects of life, ranging from health and relationships to career and civic engagement.
One limitation is the varying scales and intervals between assessments on different datasets, which could have introduced inconsistencies in the measurement of changes and outcomes.
The study titled “Do Personality Changes Predict Life Outcomes?” » was written by Amanda J. Wright and Joshua J. Jackson.
News Source : www.psypost.org
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