Goal and personality trait development in a transitional period: assessing change and stability in personality development.

Full Abstract

This longitudinal study examined continuity and change in the Big Five personality traits and in the importance of life goals from eight domains (Personal Growth, Relationships, Community, Health, Wealth, Fame, Image, and Hedonism) in 2,141 students in a 2-year period at the transition from school to college or employment. Both personality traits and life goals demonstrated high levels of rank-order and structural stability and showed significant individual differences in individual change. Moreover, mean-level changes were in line with the maturity principle: Scores on Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness increased over time, whereas Neuroticism decreased. However, the importance of life goals decreased in all domains except health. Reciprocal effects models revealed that there were effects of prior personality traits on subsequent life goal importance but almost no effects of prior life goal importance on subsequent personality traits. Separate analyses by gender showed that the findings were almost invariant across gender.

Author information

Author/s: Lüdtke, Oliver (O); Trautwein, Ulrich (U); Husemann, Nicole (N);

Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Educational Research, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany. luedtke(-atsign-)mpib-berlin.mpg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Personality and social psychology bulletin (Pers Soc Psychol Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Apr; vol 35 (issue 4) : pp 428-41

Dates: Created 2009/03/09; Completed 2009/06/05;

PMID: 19144768, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/5/2009, IMS Date: 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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