College-educated women's personality development in adulthood: Perceptions and age differences.

Adulthood encompasses a large time span and includes a series of psychosocial challenges (E. H. Erikson, 1950). Five aspects of personality (identity certainty, confident power, concern with aging, generativity, and personal distress) were assessed in a cross-sectional study of college-educated women who at the time of data collection were young adults (age: M = 26 years), middle-aged adults (age: M = 46 years), or older adults (age: M = 66 years). Respondents rated each personality domain for how true it was of them at the time, and they then rated the other 2 ages either retrospectively or prospectively. Results are discussed with attention to the ways in which women's adult development may have been shaped by experiences particular to both gender and birth cohort, and to how these women fit with E. H. Erikson's theory of adult development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial development in adulthood: A 22-year sequential study.

Data supporting the notion of adult personality stability are challenged by the present findings, in which developmental change was demonstrated using the Eriksonian-stage-based Inventory of Psychosocial Development (A. Constantinople, 1969). A sequential design over the ages 20–42 was used on 2 cohorts of college students and alumni originally tested in 1966 and 1976–1977 (ns in 1988?=?99 and 83, respectively), and a 3rd cohort of college students in 1988–1989 (n?=?292). Results of longitudinal, cross-sectional, and sequential analyses challenged ideas about personality stability, with evidence of increasingly favorable resolutions of the early Eriksonian psychosocial stages up through the oldest age studied. There was evidence of a trend over the past decade toward less favorable resolution of ego integrity vs despair. The findings were interpreted in terms of developmental change processes during the adult years interacting with culturally based environmental effects on psychosocial development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem development from age 14 to 30 years: A longitudinal study.

We examined the development of self-esteem in adolescence and young adulthood. Data came from the Young Adults section of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which includes 8 assessments across a 14-year period of a national probability sample of 7,100 individuals age 14 to 30 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem increases during adolescence and continues to increase more slowly in young adulthood. Women and men did not differ in their self-esteem trajectories. In adolescence, Hispanics had lower self-esteem than Blacks and Whites, but the self-esteem of Hispanics subsequently increased more strongly, so that at age 30 Blacks and Hispanics had higher self-esteem than Whites. At each age, emotionally stable, extraverted, and conscientious individuals experienced higher self-esteem than emotionally unstable, introverted, and less conscientious individuals. Moreover, at each age, high sense of mastery, low risk taking, and better health predicted higher self-esteem. Finally, the results suggest that normative increase in sense of mastery accounts for a large proportion of the normative increase in self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religiousness, Spirituality, and Psychosocial Functioning in Late Adulthood: Findings From a Longitudinal Study.

This study used longitudinal data to examine the relations among religiousness, spirituality, and 3 key domains of psychosocial functioning in late adulthood: (a) sources of well-being, (b) involvement in tasks of everyday life, and (c) generativity and wisdom. Religiousness and spirituality were operationalized as distinct but overlapping dimensions of individual difference. In late adulthood, religiousness was positively related to well-being from positive relations with others, involvement in social and community life tasks, and generativity. Spirituality was positively related to well-being from personal growth, involvement in creative and knowledge-building life tasks, and wisdom. Neither religiousness nor spirituality was associated with narcissism. The relations between religiousness, spirituality, and outcomes in late adulthood were also observed using religiousness scored in early and spirituality scored in late middle adulthood. All analyses were controlled for gender, cohort, social class, and the overlap between religiousness and spirituality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: A cohort-sequential longitudinal study.

The authors examined the development of self-esteem from young adulthood to old age. Data came from the Americans’ Changing Lives study, which includes 4 assessments across a 16-year period of a nationally representative sample of 3,617 individuals aged 25 years to 104 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem follows a quadratic trajectory across the adult life span, increasing during young and middle adulthood, reaching a peak at about age 60 years, and then declining in old age. No cohort differences in the self-esteem trajectory were found. Women had lower self-esteem than did men in young adulthood, but their trajectories converged in old age. Whites and Blacks had similar trajectories in young and middle adulthood, but the self-esteem of Blacks declined more sharply in old age than did the self-esteem of Whites. More educated individuals had higher self-esteem than did less educated individuals, but their trajectories were similar. Moreover, the results suggested that changes in socioeconomic status and physical health account for the decline in self-esteem that occurs in old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Stability of Vocational Interests From Early Adolescence to Middle Adulthood: A Quantitative Review of Longitudinal Studies.

The present meta-analysis examined the stability of vocational interests from early adolescence (age 12) to middle adulthood (age 40). Stability was represented by rank-order and profile correlations. Interest stability remained unchanged during much of adolescence and increased dramatically during the college years (age 18-21.9), where it remained for the next 2 decades. Analyses of potential moderators showed that retest time interval was negatively related to interest stability and that rank-order stability was less stable than profile stability. Although cohort standings did not moderate stability, interests of the 1940s birth cohort were less stable than those of other cohorts. Furthermore, interests reflecting hands-on physical activities and self-expressive/artistic activities were more stable than scientific, social, enterprising, and clerical interests. Vocational interests showed substantial continuity over time, as evidenced by their higher longitudinal stability when compared with rank-order stability of personality traits. The findings are discussed in the context of psychosocial development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of conversations with parents about sex and dating during college.

Emerging adulthood is a time of sexual and romantic relationship development as well as change in the parent–child relationship. This study provides a longitudinal analysis of 30 young adults’ (17 women, 13 men) sexual experiences, attitudes about sexuality and dating, and reported conversations with parents about sexuality and dating from the 1st and 4th years of college. Self-report questionnaires revealed increases in general closeness with parents, increases in sexual and dating experiences, and more sexually permissive as well as more gender stereotyped attitudes. Qualitative analyses of individual interviews indicated a movement from unilateral and restrictive sex-based topics to more reciprocal and relationship-focused conversations over time. Gender analyses revealed that young women reported more restrictive sex messages and young men more positive sex messages. Participants also described increased openness and comfort in talking about sexual topics with both mothers and fathers from the 1st to 4th year of college. Overall, the results suggest that prior findings of increased mutuality with parents during the college years extend to the traditionally taboo topic of sexuality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on personality trait stability and growth during the transition to adulthood: A three-wave longitudinal study.

During the transition to adulthood individuals typically settle into adult roles in love and work. This transition also involves significant changes in personality traits that are generally in the direction of greater maturity and increased stability. Competing hypotheses have been offered to account for these personality changes: The intrinsic maturation hypothesis suggests that change trajectories are endogenous, whereas the life-course hypothesis suggests that these changes occur because of transactions with the social environment. This study investigated the patterns and origins of personality trait changes from ages 17 to 29 using 3 waves of Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire data provided by twins. Results suggest that (a) trait changes were more profound in the first relative to the second half of the transition to adulthood; (b) traits tend to become more stable during the second half of this transition, with all the traits yielding retest correlations between .74 and .78; (c) Negative Affectivity declined over time, and Constraint increased over time; minimal change was observed on agentic or communal aspects of Positive Emotionality; and (d) both genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for personality changes. Overall, these genetically informed results support a life-course perspective on personality development during the transition to adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prosocial development in early adulthood: A longitudinal study.

Consistency of measures of a prosocial personality and prosocial moral judgment over time, and the interrelations among them, were examined. Participants' and friends' reports of prosocial characteristics were obtained at ages 21-22, 23-24, and 25-26 yrs. In addition, participants' prosocial judgment was assessed with interviews and with an objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning at several ages. Reports of prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding in childhood and observations of prosocial behavior in preschool also were obtained. There was interindividual consistency in prosocial dispositions, and prosocial dispositions in adulthood related to empathy/sympathy and prosocial behavior at much younger ages. Interview and objective measures of moral reasoning were substantially interrelated in late adolescence/early adulthood and correlated with participants' and friends' reports of a prosocial disposition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns and sources of adult personality development: Growth curve analyses of the NEO PI-R scales in a longitudinal twin study.

The present study examined the patterns and sources of 10-year stability and change of adult personality assessed by the 5 domains and 30 facets of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Phenotypic and biometric analyses were performed on data from 126 identical and 61 fraternal twins from the Bielefeld Longitudinal Study of Adult Twins (BiLSAT). Consistent with previous research, LGM analyses revealed significant mean-level changes in domains and facets suggesting maturation of personality. There were also substantial individual differences in the change trajectories of both domain and facet scales. Correlations between age and trait changes were modest and there were no significant associations between change and gender. Biometric extensions of growth curve models showed that 10-year stability and change of personality were influenced by both genetic as well as environmental factors. Regarding the etiology of change, the analyses uncovered a more complex picture than originally stated, as findings suggest noticeable differences between traits with respect to the magnitude of genetic and environmental effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial work stressors in the development and maintenance of insomnia: A prospective study.

This study is aimed at examining whether psychosocial work stressors are related to the development and maintenance of insomnia. A prospective design was used with a baseline and a 1-year follow-up questionnaire (N = 1,530). The results showed that among individuals with no insomnia at baseline, high work demands increased the risk of developing insomnia 1 year later. Among participants with insomnia at baseline, high leader support decreased the risk of still reporting insomnia at follow-up. Finally, low influence over decisions and high work demands were related to the maintenance of insomnia. The results indicate that perceived work stressors are related to the development and maintenance of insomnia. This might have implications for how insomnia is conceptualized as it places work stressors in the model and for how interventions at different stages of insomnia are implemented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent satisfaction in family rituals and psychosocial development: A developmental systems theory perspective.

Adolescent satisfaction in family rituals and psychosocial development (E. Greenberger & A. B. Sorenson, 1974) were explored in the context of adolescent personality characteristics (International Personality Item Pool, 1999) and family environment characteristics (S. M. Gavazzi, M. J. Reese, & R. M. Sabatelli, 1998; D. H. Olson et al., 1983). Data were collected from 159 female undergraduates with the Adolescent Satisfaction in Family Rituals Scale (D. G. Eaker & L. H. Walters, 1999). Family ritual satisfaction was positively related to late adolescent psychosocial development and mediated the relation between family boundaries and psychosocial development. Furthermore, the relation between personality (measured as discontentedness, an aspect of neuroticism) and satisfaction with family rituals was found to be mediated by family boundaries in preliminary analyses. These results suggest that the relevance of family ritual experiences to adolescent psychosocial development is in part a function of an individual's personality and the family environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality trait development from age 12 to age 18: Longitudinal, cross-sectional and cross-cultural analyses.

Three studies were conducted to assess mean level changes in personality traits during adolescence. Versions of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (P. T. Costa, Jr., & R. R. McCrae, 1992a) were used to assess the 5 major personality factors. A 4-year longitudinal study of intellectually gifted students (N = 230) was supplemented by cross-sectional studies of nonselected American (N = 1,959) and Flemish (N = 789) adolescents. Personality factors were reasonably invariant across ages, although rank-order stability of individual differences was low. Neuroticism appeared to increase in girls, and Openness to Experience increased in both boys and girls; mean levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were stable. Results extend knowledge of the developmental curve of penalty traits backward from adulthood and help bridge the gap with child temperament studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality development in emerging adulthood: Integrating evidence from self-ratings and spouse ratings.

The authors examined self-ratings and spouse ratings in a young adult newlywed sample across a 2-year interval. Rank-order stability correlations were consistently high and did not differ across the 2 types of ratings. As expected, self-ratings showed significant increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness- and declines in neuroticism/negative affectivity- over time. Spouse ratings yielded a very different pattern, however, showing significant decreases in conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness across the study interval. Spouse ratings also showed evidence of a "honeymoon effect," such that they tended to be more positive than self-ratings at Time 1. This effect had dissipated by the 2nd assessment; in fact, the spouse ratings tended to be more negative at Time 2. Analyses of individual-level change revealed little convergence between self- and spouse-rated change, using both raw change scores and reliable change index scores. Finally, correlational and regression analyses indicated that changes in spouse ratings were significantly associated with changes in marital satisfaction; in contrast, changes in self-ratings essentially were unrelated to marital satisfaction. These results highlight the value of collecting multimethod data in studies of adult personality development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contributions of parental attachment bonds to college student development and adjustment: A meta-analytic review.

We report findings from a meta-analysis of 156 studies conducted between 1987 and 2009 (N = 32,969) that examined the relationship between self-reported parental attachment and multiple adjustment outcomes and developmental advances during the college years. Overall, a small-to-medium relationship was found between indicators of parental attachment quality and favorable adjustment outcomes (r = .23). Effect sizes were of similar magnitude for mother and father attachment relationships, for male and female students, and across ethnicity and nationality of the sample. The attachment–adjustment relationship varied somewhat according to the developmental task being investigated in the study, showing the strongest association for the task of separation–individuation. Additionally, we found stronger attachment–adjustment links for students residing away from their parents when compared with students living at home during college. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The kids are alright: Growth and stability in personality development from adolescence to adulthood.

This longitudinal study provides a comprehensive analysis of continuity and change in personality functioning from age 18 to age 26 in a birth cohort (N?=?921) using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (A. Tellegen, 1982). Data were analyzed using 4 different methods: differential continuity, mean-level change, individual differences in change, and ipsative change. Convergent evidence pointing toward personality continuity, as opposed to change, was found. The personality changes that did take place from adolescence to adulthood reflected growth in the direction of greater maturity; many adolescents became more controlled and socially more confident and less angry and alienated. Consistent with this, greater initial levels of maturity were associated with less personality change over time. The results indicate that the transition from adolescence to young adulthood is marked by continuity of personality and growth toward greater maturity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Most of the girls are alright, but some aren't: Personality trajectory groups from ages 14 to 24 and some associations with outcomes.

Personality traits show normative patterns of development toward maturity during adolescence. Yet individuals follow these normative patterns to differing degrees. This study used growth mixture modeling to characterize personality development patterns and their associations with outcomes in a population-based sample of 1,537 girls aged 14 to 24. The authors used latent class analysis to identify 3 trajectory groups labeled alright (47%), growing up (42%), and trouble (11%). Alright group members were more likely at age 24 to have completed college, remained involved with their families, and obtained good jobs. Trouble group members were more likely to be involved with drugs and alcohol, to display interpersonal problems, and to behave antisocially. Growing up group members fell in between. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social role and birth cohort influences on gender-linked personality traits in women: A 20-year longitudinal analysis.

Growth curve modeling was used to examine the impact of social role experiences (e.g., marital support, occupational prestige) and birth cohort on mean-level differences and age-related changes in positive personality traits indicative of either femininity or masculinity in 758 mothers heterogeneous in age, assessed 4 times over 2 decades. Both femininity and masculinity increased significantly from mean ages 39 through 59; each was predictive of an age change in the other. Low masculinity was associated with a more rapid increase in femininity, whereas high occupational prestige decreased the magnitude of association between masculinity and femininity. Femininity increased with more marital support but decreased with unmarried status, more children at home, and working full or part time; among full-time workers, that effect was modified by marital support. Masculinity increased with full-time work and high occupational prestige. A trend for differing levels of femininity, and contrasting associations of masculinity with femininity and marital conflict in women born after 1944 compared with those born earlier, suggests shifting social norms and gender relations in the marital role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial influences on the development and course of coronary heart disease: Current status and implications for research and practice.

Psychosocial characteristics predict the development and course of coronary heart disease (CHD). In this review, the authors discussed human and animal research on psychophysiological mechanisms influencing coronary artery disease and its progression to CHD. They then reviewed literature on personality and characteristics of the social environment as risk factors for CHD. Hostility confers increased risk, and a group of risk factors involving depression and anxiety may be especially important following myocardial infarction. Social isolation, interpersonal conflict, and job stress confer increased risk. Psychosocial interventions may have beneficial effects on CHD morbidity and mortality, although inconsistent results and a variety of methodological limitations preclude firm conclusions. Finally, they discussed implications for clinical care and the agenda for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dynamics of masculine-agentic and feminine-communal traits: Findings from a prospective study.

A reciprocal impact hypothesis posits an influence of gender-related traits (agency and communion) on role enactment and a reciprocal impact of role enactment on gender-related traits, for both men and women. Specifically, in this study it was predicted that agency influences career success and career success influences agency. In addition, the reciprocal influence of communion and family roles was examined. A prospective study with almost 2,000 university graduates, who were tested after graduation and 1.5 years later, clearly supported the reciprocal impact hypothesis for agency and career success. Communion influenced family roles, but there was no reciprocal influence. Implications for theories of career success and of sex and gender are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)