Personality development across the adult life span: subjective conceptions vs cross-sectional contrasts

This research examined possible contributions of subjective conceptions about development to the study of long-term personality stability and change. Young, middle-aged, and old adult subjects rated 100 trait-descriptive adjectives with respect to perceived stability and change across seven decades of adulthood, their desirability, self-descriptiveness, and personal controllability. Subjective conceptions indicated growth during early and middle adulthood, followed by decline in old age. These conceptions were optimistic. They involved more growth than decline, and desirable traits were seen as more descriptive of self and more controllable than were undesirable traits. Older subjects were more optimistic about late-life development than were young or middle-aged subjects. In contrast, cross-sectional comparisons of self-descriptions indicated stability. Potential threats to the validity of both approaches are discussed, and it is concluded that the use of both measurement procedures will be beneficial for research on personality stability and change.