Abstract
Longitudinal studies have shown that, on average, agreeableness and conscientiousness increase and neuroticism decreases in adulthood, a phenomenon dubbed the “maturity principle”. The rank-order stability of personality also tends to increase with age, sometimes called the “cumulative continuity principle”. It remains unclear, however, whether the rank-order stability and average levels of different types of well-being increase with age. Therefore, using a large longitudinal sample of adults (N > 6,000), the present study aimed to replicate studies of the maturity and cumulative continuity of the Big Five and test whether these developmental trends extend to different types of well-being. The present study demonstrates that, although many types of well-being exhibit developmental trends that are similar to those of the Big Five, distinguishing the general tendency toward all forms of well-being from variation in specific kinds of well-being can illuminate potentially important developmental differences.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 109737 |
Journal | Personality and Individual Differences |
Volume | 169 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, through the Genetics and Human Agency project. Since 1995 the MIDUS study has been funded by the following: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network; National Institute on Aging (P01-AG020166); National institute on Aging (U19-AG051426).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Big Five
- Development
- Personality
- Stability
- Well-Being