Beyond Big Five trait domains: Stability and change in personality facets across midlife and old age

Objective Accumulated evidence indicates both stable and malleable parts of inter‐individual differences in the broad Big Five domains. Less is known, however, about stability and change at the more diversified facet level. With the current study, we fill this gap by investigating personality stabil...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality 2023-10, Vol.91 (5), p.1171-1188
Main Authors: Brandt, Naemi D., Drewelies, Johanna, Willis, Sherry L., Schaie, K. Warner, Ram, Nilam, Gerstorf, Denis, Wagner, Jenny
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age differences
Aging
Big Five
Changes
facets
Five factor model
Individual differences
local structural equation modeling
mean‐level change
Measurement
Middle age
Midlife
Neo Personality Inventory
Personality
Quantitative psychology
rank‐order stabilities
Structural equation modeling
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective Accumulated evidence indicates both stable and malleable parts of inter‐individual differences in the broad Big Five domains. Less is known, however, about stability and change at the more diversified facet level. With the current study, we fill this gap by investigating personality stability and change across midlife and old age. Method We apply local structural equation measurement models and second‐order growth curve models to four waves of data obtained with the full NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) collected over 11 years from 1667 adults (Mage = 62.69 years, SDage = 15.62, 55% female) who participated in the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Results Measurement invariance analyses indicated that the psychometric properties of the NEO‐PI‐R facets are comparable across time and age. Results revealed substantial rank‐order stabilities across all facets, yet the exact pattern varied strongly between facets of the same trait and across traits. Mean‐level change of facets from midlife to old age largely mirrored the mean‐level change observed for the broader traits. Conclusion We discuss conceptual implications and argue that in the face of overall stability across midlife and old age, changes in the rank‐ordering of people reveals a much more complex and diverse pattern of development than analyses at the trait level suggest.
ISSN:0022-3506
1467-6494
DOI:10.1111/jopy.12791