Basic Research In Personality: Age Changes and Differences

National Institute On Aging

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Abstract

Personality stability and change in the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA)[unreadable] [unreadable] In previous years, we noted the limitations in existing studies of personality stability and change, especially the need for longitudinal studies of ethnic minorities. We also suggested the need for future research in the community or epidemiological investigations to study the causes of the modest changes that occur in personality traits in adulthood. To that end, we examined the personality traits and longitudinal change in traits in an ethnically and educationally diverse sample of 505 adults living in East Baltimore as part of the East Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study. Our main objective was to assess the influence of demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, age, ethnicity Black or White, and education) on five indices of personality stability and change over an average interval of 8 years. These five indices of stability consisted of:[unreadable] (1) Structural: Measurement invariance over time[unreadable] (2) Mean-level: Temporal stability of mean level of traits at the group level[unreadable] (3) Rank-order: The extent to which personality traits maintain similar relative positions in the distribution of personality scores over time[unreadable] (4) Reliable change: Individual-level change above and beyond chance fluctuations[unreadable] (5) Ipsative: Consistency in the configurations of traits within individual participants[unreadable] [unreadable] In the full sample, examination of all five stability indices suggested that NEO-PI-R personality traits showed moderate to high levels of[unreadable] stability over time. There were few age and gender effects on temporal stability but rank-order, ipsative, and mean level stability were lower among Blacks and individuals with lower education. [unreadable] [unreadable] Mean level trajectories for Whites and Blacks differed for the N factor and two of its facets (N1: Anxiety & N3: Depression), suggesting that Whites showed a slight increase in N whereas Blacks decreased. Mean level changes also differed for two facets of C (C1: Competence & C5: Self-Discipline), with Blacks showing increases while Whites remained stable. Thus, while Blacks were generally less stable than Whites, they showed greater consistency with previously reported mean level changes. As for education, while more highly educated participants decreased in O, O1: Openness to Fantasy, and C2: Order, participants with lower education levels showed the opposite trajectories.[unreadable] [unreadable] These findings support the view that indices of temporal stability differ by age, gender, ethnicity and education. However, it is important to keep in mind that across the different indices, demographic factors only accounted for a very small portion of the variability in personality[unreadable] plasticity (i.e., < 2% for mean level plasticity, &#8804; 5% for rank order plasticity and reliable change, and < 10% for ipsative stability).[unreadable] [unreadable] Future work will investigate the possible sources of non-normative change and examine the possible explanations for differences found between demographic groups.