The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 40 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Personality at Midlife: Stability, Intrinsic Maturation, and Response to Life Events
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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In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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)
In the citing paper
“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)
In the citing paper
“an instrument with excellent psychometric properties (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and temporal stability across 6 to 9 years (Costa, Herbst, McCrae, & Siegler, 2000).”
From Acute intranasal oxytocin improves positive self-perceptions of personality (2012) · cites this paper as Costa, Herbst, McCrae, & Siegler, 2000
Citations
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Self-citationFacet Scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness: A Revision of the NEO Personality Inventory
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McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., Hřebı́čková, M., Avia, M. D., Sanz, J., Sánchez-Bernardos, M. L., Kuşdil, M. E., Woodfield, R., et al. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.173 · Cited by 1,018
Self-citation
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Metadata
- 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)
- Venue
- Assessment
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2000-12
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 365-378
- ISSN
- 1073-1911 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3489
- 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
- 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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