Person-environment transaction underlying personality development in middle and late adulthood

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Behavioral Genetics

Background:

• The niche-picking principle suggests personality traits remain stable through person-environment interactions.
• Previous research has not longitudinally examined this principle in middle and older adulthood using twin studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the niche-picking principle explains personality continuity in middle and older adulthood.
• To test reciprocal effects between individuals and their environments on personality trait stability.

Main Methods:

• Utilized longitudinal twin data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging.
• Employed genetic simplex models with reciprocal effects (phenotype-environment covariance) parameters.
• Analyzed within-family differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.

Main Results:

• The niche-picking principle partially explains continuity of neuroticism and openness in middle adulthood.
• It also partially explains continuity of neuroticism and extraversion in older adulthood.
• Stable genetic and unique environmental factors also contributed to trait continuity.

Conclusions:

• Findings partially support lifespan theories on adaptation and behavior optimization for trait maintenance.
• The reciprocal exchange between individuals and environments plays a role in personality continuity across adulthood.
• These person-environment exchanges may shift to support trait stability throughout life.