title: In your eyes only? Discrepancies and agreement between self- and other-reports of personality from age 14 to 29.
abstract: Do others perceive the personality changes that take place between the ages of 14 and 29 in a similar fashion as the aging person him- or herself? This cross-sectional study analyzed age trajectories in self- versus other-reported Big Five personality traits and in self-other agreement in a sample of more than 10,000 individuals from the myPersonality Project. Results for self-reported personality showed maturation effects (increases in extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability), and this pattern was generally also reflected in other-reports, albeit with discrepancies regarding timing and magnitude. Age differences found for extraversion were similar between the self- and other-reports, but the increase found in self-reported conscientiousness was delayed in other-reports, and the curvilinear increase found in self-reported openness was slightly steeper in other-reports. Only emotional stability showed a distinct mismatch with an increase in self-reports, but no significant age effect in other-reports. Both the self- and other-reports of agreeableness showed no significant age trends. The trait correlations between the self- and other-reports increased with age for emotional stability, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness; by contrast, agreement regarding extraversion remained stable. The profile correlations confirmed increases in self-other agreement with age. We suggest that these gains in agreement are a further manifestation of maturation. Taken together, our analyses generally show commonalities but also some divergences in age-associated mean level changes between self- and other-reports of the Big Five, as well as an age trend toward increasing self-other agreement. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig.
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8564-4523
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rohrer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5736-9912
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Egloff
authors.affiliation: Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kosinski
authors.affiliation: The Psychometrics Centre, University of Cambridge.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stillwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Stefan C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6279-9618
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schmukle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002605:Character; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult