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Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study

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Normative personality trait development in adulthood: A 6-year cohort-sequential growth model.

Petar Milojev¹, Chris G Sibley¹

¹School of Psychology.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

|November 11, 2016

Summary

Personality traits like extraversion and neuroticism change throughout adulthood, with some traits increasing and others decreasing with age. Young adulthood is a critical period for personality development, but changes continue across the entire lifespan.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Personality Psychology

Background:

Personality traits are considered relatively stable, but research suggests they can change throughout adulthood.
Understanding normative personality development is crucial for various fields, including clinical psychology and social sciences.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate normative changes in key personality traits across the adult lifespan.
To examine how aging and cohort effects influence personality trait development.
To identify distinct developmental trajectories for different personality dimensions.

Main Methods:

Utilized data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a large-scale longitudinal national probability panel (N = 10,416).
Employed a cohort-sequential latent growth model to analyze personality changes from age 19 to 74.
Assessed changes in extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and honesty-humility.

Main Results:

Extraversion and openness to experience decreased with age, with notable declines in young adulthood and old age for extraversion.
Conscientiousness increased in young adulthood and then stabilized, while agreeableness decreased in young adulthood and remained stable thereafter.
Honesty-humility showed a consistent increase across the adult lifespan; neuroticism decreased with age, potentially influenced by cohort effects.

Conclusions:

Different personality dimensions exhibit distinct developmental patterns throughout adulthood.
Young adulthood is a significant period for personality development, but change persists across the entire lifespan.
Longitudinal data reveal complex age-related and cohort-related shifts in personality traits.