title: Sailing Uncharted Waters: Adolescent Personality Development and Social Relationship Experiences During a Year Abroad.
abstract: How does spending a year abroad influence the personality and relationship development of adolescents? This question was studied using a prospective control group design comprising 457 sojourners (high school exchange students) and 284 control participants (German adolescents; 73.3 % female; mean age = 15.63, SD = 0.78), all of whom were assessed three times across one academic year. Sojourners demonstrated higher pre-departure levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness as well as lower levels of Neuroticism. Longitudinal results indicated a steeper increase in Openness and Agreeableness trajectories, as well as a buffered increase in Neuroticism for exchange students. As expected, sojourners' social relationships showed high fluctuation, which partially mediated sojourn effects on personality development. The role of international youth mobility for personal and social development in adolescence is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Germany. henriette.greischel@uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Greischel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noack
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Franz J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Neyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D041923:Adolescent Development; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007393:International Educational Exchange; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; International mobility; Longitudinal design; Personality development; Social relationships