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Cited by 381Personality Traits and PsychologyPersonality Disorders and PsychopathologyPsychological Testing and Assessment

Personality at Midlife: Stability, Intrinsic Maturation, and Response to Life Events

Costa, Paul T., Herbst, Jeffrey H., McCrae, Robert R., Siegler, Ilene C.·2000·Assessment
DOI 10.1177/107319110000700405
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Abstract

Although developmental theories and popular accounts suggest that midlife is a time of turmoil and change, longitudinal studies of personality traits have generally found stability of rank order and little or no change in mean levels. Using data from 2,274 men and women in their 40s retested after 6 to 9 years, the present study examined two hypotheses: (a) that retest correlations should be no higher than about .60 and (b) that there should be small decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness, and small increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The study also explored the effects of recalled life events on subsequent personality scores. Results did not support the first hypothesis; uncorrected retest correlations uniformly exceeded .60. This was true for all personality traits, including facets of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness not previously included in longitudinal studies. The hypothesized decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness were found, but Conscientiousness showed a small decrease instead of the predicted increase. Life events in general showed very little influence on the levels of personality traits, although some effects were seen for changes in job and marital status that warrant further research.

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Crossref · 10.1177/107319110000700405

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42 of 42 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • In Costa et al. (2000), effect sizes were small to medium-sized and ranged around 4 to 6 T-Score points (r = .20 - .30).

    “The effect sizes were small to medium-sized and ranged around 4 to 6 T -Score points ( r = .20 - .30).”

    From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Costa et al., 2000

  • Costa et al. (2000) found divorced women showed modest increases in extraversion and openness relative to women who got married across 6 to 9 years.

    “they found divorced women (N=29) to show modest increases in extraversion and openness relative to women who got married (N= 20) across 6 to 9 years.”

    From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Costa, Herbst, McCrae, and Siegler, 2000

  • Costa et al. (2000) found divorced men showed increases in facets of neuroticism and decreases in facets of conscientiousness, whereas married men decreased in neuroticism.

    “Divorced men (N = 79) showed increases in facets of neuroticism and decreases in facets of conscientiousness; whereas married men (N = 68) decreased in neuroticism.”

    From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Costa et al., 2000

  • Costa et al. (2000) suggested that divorce affects men and women differently.

    “The early work by Costa et al. (2000) discussed above suggested that divorce affects men and women differently.”

    From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Costa et al., 2000

  • Costa et al. (2000) found that individuals who were fired exhibited a decrease in conscientiousness relative to individuals who were promoted.

    “Results indicated that individuals who were fired indeed exhibited an increase in neuroticism and a decrease in conscientiousness relative to individuals who were promoted.”

    From Life Events and Personality Trait Change. (2018) · cites this paper as Costa et al. (2000)

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Authors
Costa, P. T., Herbst, J. H., McCrae, R. R., & Siegler, I. C.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • National Institute on Aging (US)
  • Duke Medical Center (US)
ORCID
Venue
Assessment
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2000-12
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
365-378
ISSN
  • 1073-1911 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-3489
DOI
10.1177/107319110000700405
OpenAlex
W2018616670
Cited by
381
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 21
FWCI
13.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Assessment (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01ag012458-04)
  • National Institute on Aging (AG12458)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL 36587, P01HL036587, HL55356, R01HL055356)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
Keywords
personality stability, midlife, personality development, life events, test-retest reliability, Big Five personality traits, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, personality facets, job change, marital status change
MeSH terms
Aging, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Human Development, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, North Carolina, Personality, Personality Inventory, Reproducibility of Results, Marital Status

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