A Longitudinal Study of Personality Change in Young Adulthood

The present research examined personality continuity and change in a sample of young men and women assessed at the beginning and end of college. Two‐hundred seventy students completed measures of the Big Five personality traits when they first entered college and then four years later. Analyses indi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality 2001-08, Vol.69 (4), p.617-640
Main Authors: Robins, Richard W., Fraley, R. Chris, Roberts, Brent W., Trzesniewski, Kali H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Adulthood
Age Factors
Ageing
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
California
Changes
College students
Developmental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Long-term analysis
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Models, Psychological
Personality
Personality change
Personality Development
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Young adults
Youth
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The present research examined personality continuity and change in a sample of young men and women assessed at the beginning and end of college. Two‐hundred seventy students completed measures of the Big Five personality traits when they first entered college and then four years later. Analyses indicate small‐ to medium‐sized normative (i.e., mean‐level) changes, large rank‐order stability correlations, high levels of stability in personality structure, and moderate levels of ipsative (i.e. profile) stability. Overall, the findings are consistent with the perspective that personality traits exhibits considerable continuity over time, yet can change in systematic ways.
ISSN:0022-3506
1467-6494
DOI:10.1111/1467-6494.694157