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Becoming as Open-Minded and Organized as My Classmates? Peer Effects on Self-Reported Personality Trait Development
Mieke Johannsen1, Naemi D Brandt1,2, Oliver Lüdtke3,4
1Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Classroom personality composition does not significantly impact adolescent personality development. Contrary to hypotheses, higher class-level openness and conscientiousness did not predict individual changes in these Big Five personality traits.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Adolescent Psychology
Background:
- Adolescence is a critical period for personality development.
- School classes serve as important social comparison groups.
- Understanding peer influence on personality is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of classroom personality composition on adolescent personality development.
- To test hypotheses on the association between class-level traits and individual changes in the Big Five personality traits.
- To explore additional classroom composition effects.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multilevel structural equation modeling.
- Analyzed two large longitudinal samples of German adolescents.
- Examined changes in Big Five personality traits over time.
Main Results:
- Individual personality traits demonstrated high stability across measurement points.
- Classroom-level openness and conscientiousness did not positively predict individual personality development.
- A negative association was observed between higher class-level openness and individual openness to experience.
Conclusions:
- Systematic personality composition effects at the classroom level were largely absent.
- Methodological challenges in studying classroom composition effects are discussed.
- Peer influence on adolescent personality development may be less direct than hypothesized.
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