Divorce and personality development across middle adulthood
Abstract
Abstract This study tested whether divorce helps explain individual differences in personality development in the years that follow a divorce. The sample consisted of 526 middle‐aged adults aged 42–46 years at the beginning. Personality traits were measured using the NEO ‐Five‐Factor Inventory at three measurement occasions over 12 years. First, personality development was characterized by individual differences in change. Second, those individuals who experienced a divorce showed a decrease in extraversion and positive affect over time although nondivorced individuals did not change on these traits. Third, divorce was associated with a decrease in dependability. Fourth, divorce was associated with a decrease in orderliness for individuals who were remarried. The results of this study indicated that divorce had little influence on personality development.
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Allemand et al. (2015) found that participants who experienced at least one divorce showed more pronounced decreases in extraversion during the 12-year research period (r < .20) compared to participants who did not experience a divorce.
“Compared to the participants who did not experience a divorce ( N =383) those participants who did experience at least one divorce ( N =143) showed more pronounced decreases in extraversion during the 12-year research period ( r < .20).”
From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Allemand, Hill, and Lehmann, 2015
Cites
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Research on Divorce: Continuing Trends and New Developments
Amato, P. R. (2010) · Journal of Marriage and Family · doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00723.x · Cited by 1,918 · cited 4× · see citing works
“In addition to the idea that a divorce represents a “temporary crisis,” researchers have claimed that divorce can be seen as a source of multiple chronic strains that might have long-term consequences for the divorcees (Amato, 2010; Demo & Fine, 2010).”
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Personality Change Influences Mortality in Older Men
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Replicable Item-Cluster Subcomponents in the NEO Five-Factor Inventory
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“…of both broad and specific traits, in line with the suggestion that personality traits are hierarchically organized with many narrow, specific traits clustering to define broad dimensions at a higher level of abstraction such as the Big Five traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992, 1995; Saucier, 1998).”
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“However, our reliabilities are within the range of previous studies using the item clusters (Chapman, 2007).”
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Life Events and Personality Trait Change.
Bleidorn, W., Hopwood, C. J., & Lucas, R. E. (2018) · Journal of personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12286 · Cited by 588 · see citing works
Longitudinal associations between trait neuroticism and negative daily experiences in adolescence.
Borghuis, J., Bleidorn, W., Sijtsma, K., Branje, S., Meeus, W. H. J., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2020) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000233 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
- Authors
- ALLEMAND, M., HILL, P. L., & LEHMANN, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Zürich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- ALLEMAND, MATHIAS
- Venue
- Personal Relationships
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-01-08
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 122-137
- ISSN
- 1350-4126 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-6811
- OpenAlex
- W2153593228
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4
- FWCI
- 3.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personal Relationships (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Schweizerische Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNSF-100014-120625)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- divorce, personality development, midlife, individual differences, extraversion, positive affect, dependability, orderliness, remarriage, personality change over time
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