title: Patterns of personality change across the life span.
abstract: Six aspects of personality were examined for a sample of 211 individuals across either a 30- or 40-year time span. Latent curve analyses found an underlying pattern of lifetime change for self-confidence, cognitive commitment, outgoingness, and dependability. An underlying pattern of lifetime stability was found for assertiveness. No shared systematic underlying pattern could be fit to individuals' lifetime trajectories for warmth. Although individuals shared a single underlying pattern of change or stability for 5 of the 6 dimensions of personality considered here, they also showed differences in the degree and direction of personality change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University, Fresno 93740-0011, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meredith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001242:Assertiveness; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002660:Child Guidance; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007360:Intelligence; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010553:Personality Development; D011779:Q-Sort; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment