A Revised Sociogenomic Model of Personality Traits

Dating App Users: Interpersonal Styles and Self-Reported Mating Success

In this study (N = 495), dating apps were conceptualized as digital leks. We examined how interpersonal (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), sexual (sociosexual attitudes, desires, and behavior), and search (satisficing, alternatives) styles relate to mating success through dating apps (dates and sex). Individuals with a faster life history strategy, particularly men high in psychopathy and sexual desires, report more mating success via dating apps. Women who were easier satisficed also experienced more Tinder-sex. These findings clarify the nuanced roles of sociosexuality facets in dating app success, enriching the discourse on digital mating behaviors. Using the life history framework, this research advances our understanding of how personality shapes real-world mating outcomes that originate in digital contexts.

Short-term personality development and early career success: Two longitudinal studies during the post-graduation transition

OBJECTIVE

Investigate short-term personality development during the post-graduation transition.

BACKGROUND

Prior research indicates that long-term personality development matters for employment outcomes. However, this evidence is primarily limited to multi-year longitudinal studies. This research switches the focus to personality changes during a shorter, impactful life transition.

METHOD

We examined how short-term personality development during the 14-month post-graduation transition relates to early career outcomes among two diverse samples of graduates from universities (N = 816) and community colleges (N = 567). We used latent growth curve models to examine associations between career outcomes measured 14 months after graduation with initial personality levels and personality changes.

RESULTS

Results revealed that mean-level changes in personality were small and mostly negative. Moreover, individual differences in personality changes were not associated with career outcomes. However, initial levels of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and extraversion positively related to both subjective and objective career success. Initial levels of agreeableness were also positively related to subjective (but not objective) success.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that individual differences in personality trait levels at graduation are stronger predictors of early career success compared to short-term personality changes during the post-graduation transition. Taken together, these results help define the time sequence through which personality changes relate to career outcomes.

The Development of Intellect in Emerging Adults: Predictors of Longitudinal Trajectories

Intellect is an important personality trait, especially with regard to the prediction and explanation of intellectual performance, such as occupational or academic success. However, much less is known about the development of Intellect. I present results from a longitudinal study spanning eight years to investigate changes in Intellect during a critical period: the transition from school to vocation. The study is based on a large and heterogeneous sample with up to 1964 participants. Using a facet approach, I investigate predictors of longitudinal trajectories theoretically derived from construct definition, including subjective and objective attributes of education and profession; attitudes regarding the malleability of personality traits; as well as personality traits beyond Intellect, especially intelligence. Results reveal some support for the social investment principle according to neo-socioanalytic theory, as epistemic job demands and epistemic leisure activities predicted the increase in Intellect over time. The study contributes to our understanding of the development of personality traits related to intellectual achievement, including important internal and external predictors of longitudinal trajectories.

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders: Assessment, Convergent and Discriminant Validity, and a Look to the Future

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) is a dimensional, empirically based diagnostic system developed to overcome the serious limitations of traditional categories. We review the mounting evidence on its convergent and discriminant validity, with an incursion into the less-studied ICD-11 system. In the literature, the AMPD's Pathological Trait Model (Criterion B) shows excellent convergence with normal personality traits, and it could be useful as an organizing framework for mental disorders. In contrast, Personality Functioning (Criterion A) cannot be distinguished from personality traits, lacks both discriminant and incremental validity, and has a shaky theoretical background. We offer some suggestions with a view to the future. These include removing Criterion A, using the real-life consequences of traits as indicators of severity, delving into the dynamic mechanisms underlying traits, and furthering the integration of currently disengaged psychological paradigms that can shape a sounder clinical science.

Volitional Change in Pathological Traits: Can People Change Their Maladaptive Traits?

Research suggests people want to change their normative personality traits-and they can volitionally do so. However, studies have not yet addressed volitional change in pathological personality. Consequently, the current study examined (a) people's desires to change pathological traits, (b) whether these change goals predict subsequent trait change, (c) whether this withstands controlling normative traits, and (d) the extent to which pathological trait change predicts relevant outcomes. College students (N = 463) self-reported their pathological traits weekly for up to 16 weeks. People with elevated pathological traits generally desired to decrease these traits. Furthermore, goals to change negative affectivity and disinhibition predicted corresponding trait change. Thus, people want to reduce their pathological traits-and they may be able to do so for some traits.

Life events sometimes alter the trajectory of personality development: Effect sizes for 25 life events estimated using a large, frequently assessed sample

OBJECTIVE

Personality changes across the life span. Life events, such as marriage, becoming a parent, and retirement, have been proposed as facilitating personality growth via the adoption of novel social roles. However, empirical evidence linking life events with personality development is sparse. Most studies have relied on few assessments separated by long time intervals and have focused on a single life event. In contrast, the content of life is composed of small, recurrent experiences (e.g., getting sick or practicing a hobby), with relatively few major events (e.g., childbirth). Small, frequently experienced life events may play an important and overlooked role in personality development.

METHOD

The present study examined the extent to which 25 major and minor life events alter the trajectory of personality development in a large, frequently assessed sample (Nsample  = 4904, Nassessments  = 47,814, median retest interval = 35 days).

RESULTS

Using a flexible analytic strategy to accommodate the repeated occurrence of life events, we found that the trajectory of personality development shifted in response to a single occurrence of some major life events (e.g., divorce), and recurrent, "minor" life experiences (e.g., one's partner doing something special).

CONCLUSION

Both stark role changes and frequently reinforced minor experiences can lead to personality change.

Personality, intelligence, and academic achievement: Charting their developmental interplay

OBJECTIVE

Although intelligence and personality traits have long been recognized as key predictors of students' academic achievement, little is known about their longitudinal and reciprocal associations. Here, we charted the developmental interplay of intelligence, personality (Big Five) and academic achievement in 3880 German secondary school students, who were assessed four times between the ages 11 and 14 years (i.e., in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8).

METHOD

We fitted random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPs) to investigate reciprocal within-person associations between (a) academic achievement and intelligence, (b) academic achievement and personality, as well as (c) intelligence and personality.

RESULTS

The results revealed negative within-person associations between Conscientiousness and Extraversion assessed at the first wave of measurement and intelligence assessed at the second wave. None of the reciprocal personality-achievement associations attained statistical significance. Academic achievement and intelligence showed reciprocal within-person relations, with the strongest coefficients found for achievement longitudinally predicting intelligence.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work contributes to developmental theorizing on interrelations between personality, intelligence, and academic achievement, as well as to within-person conceptualizations in personality research.

A daily diary study of self-compassion and adaptive coping behaviours in women with symptoms of bulimia nervosa

BACKGROUND

Mental health is more than the absence of illness and includes the ability to cope adaptively with stress. To shed light on the factors that promote mental health in people with eating disorders, this daily diary study examined whether daily and trait levels of self-compassion predict adaptive coping behaviours in women with symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHODS

Women (N = 124) who met the DSM-5 criteria for BN completed 2 weeks of nightly measures assessing their daily level of self-compassion and their daily adaptive coping behaviours, namely, their use of problem-solving strategies, seeking and receiving of instrumental social support, and seeking and receiving of emotional social support.

RESULTS

Multilevel modelling revealed that on days when self-compassion levels were higher than their personal mean level or than the preceding day's level, participants reported greater use of problem-solving strategies, greater seeking and receiving of instrumental social support, and greater receiving of emotional social support. Daily levels of self-compassion, but not increased self-compassion from the preceding day, were associated with emotional support sought. Further, higher trait self-compassion, as measured by participants' mean level of self-compassion over the 2 weeks, was associated with increased seeking and receiving of instrumental and emotional social support but not with problem-solving strategies. All models controlled for participants' daily and mean eating pathology over the 2 weeks, highlighting the unique contribution of self-compassion to adaptive coping behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that self-compassion may help individuals with symptoms of BN cope with challenges in their daily life more adaptively, an integral component of positive mental health. The present study is among the first to suggest that the benefits of self-compassion for individuals with eating disorder symptoms may lie not only in facilitating reduced eating pathology, as evidenced by prior research, but also in promoting positive mental health. More broadly, findings underscore the potential value of interventions designed to build self-compassion in individuals with eating disorder symptoms.

A scoping review on innovative methods for personality observation

Background

Personality's investigation has always been characterized as a central area of research for psychology, such that it was established in the 1920s as an autonomous scientific-disciplinary field. Identifying and observing the people's typical ways of "being in the world" has made possible to define the predictability of a pattern of behavioral responses related both to the possession of distinct characteristics of the agent subject and to specific environmental situations. In the actual scientific landscape, there is a strand of research that makes a description of personality through methodologies and indicators not usually used by psychology, but scientifically validated through standardized procedures. Such studies seem to be significantly increasing and reflect the emerging need to have to consider the human being in his or her complexity, whose existential and personal dimensions can no longer be traced to classification systems that are divorced from the epochal reference.

Objective

In this review, attention is focused on highlighting publications in the literature that have included the use of unconventional methods in the study of nonpathological personality, based on the Big Five theoretical reference model. To better understand human nature, an alternative based on evolutionary and interpersonal theory is presented.

Design

Online databases were used to identify papers published 2011-2022, from which we selected 18 publications from different resources, selected according to criteria established in advance and described in the text. A flow chart and a summary table of the articles consulted have been created.

Results

The selected studies were grouped according to the particular method of investigation or description of personality used. Four broad thematic categories were identified: bodily and behavioral element; semantic analysis of the self-descriptions provided; integrated-type theoretical background; and use of machine learning methods. All articles refer to trait theory as the prevailing epistemological background.

Conclusion

This review is presented as an initial attempt to survey the production in the literature with respect to the topic and its main purpose was to highlight how the use of observational models based on aspects previously considered as scientifically uninformative (body, linguistic expression, environment) with respect to personality analysis proves to be a valuable resource for drawing up more complete personality profiles that are able to capture more of the complexity of the person. What has emerged is a rapidly expanding field of study.

Linking the Momentary Processing of Injustice to Intraindividual Change in Dispositional Victim Sensitivity

We investigated how the dispositional sensitivity to becoming the victim of injustice (victim sensitivity) is linked to the momentary processing of injustice and how such processes predict dispositional change. In two samples ( N = 149, N = 513), we combined four dispositional assessments across students’ first year at university, with intensive assessments given on a weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) basis at the beginning of the first semester. We assessed how frequently injustice from a victim perspective was perceived and ruminated about (Studies 1 and 2), and how intensely anger was experienced in reaction (Study 2). These indicators of momentary processes were tested as correlates of baseline victim sensitivity and as predictors of dispositional change. The intensity of anger reactions predicted dispositional change in victim sensitivity after 4 months, but not earlier or later, and did not generalize to predict change in neuroticism. These findings are in line with recent theorizing about personality development, emphasizing the relevance of patterns of momentary processes for understanding dispositional change.

Impact of Social Support on Depressive Symptoms among Postgraduates during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread worldwide, and its related stressors are causing a high prevalence of mental health problems among graduate students. This has the potential for long-term effects on their mental well-being. However, few large-scale studies have been conducted on multiple risk and protective factors. Therefore, we aimed to test the impact of social support on depressive symptoms among graduate students and analyze the mediating role of positive coping and the regulatory role of neuroticism. From 1-8 October 2021, 1812 Chinese graduate students were surveyed online. We used a structural equation model to study the mediating role of positive coping in the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms and used the Hayes PROCESS macro to conduct mediating analysis. The incidence of depressive symptoms was 10.40%. These results showed that positive coping influenced the social support's influence on depression symptoms to some extent. Moreover, neuroticism regulates the indirect relationship between social support and depressive symptoms through active coping. Further research is needed to assess the impact of various forms of social support on graduate students' mental health and to develop strategies for maintaining their well-being, such as network mindfulness.

A meeting of positive behaviors: The relations of three aspects of flexibility with character strengths

Introduction

The adaptation of own plans and behaviors to new circumstances seems to be a desirable personal quality in the modern world. it has been assumed that adaptability cannot be transferred to a single character strength.

Methods

The present research examines this assumption using typical and daily behaviors of three aspects of flexibility (predictability, adaptability and orderliness) and 24 character strengths across two studies (N1 = 283, N2 = 188).

Results

Flexibility showed a consistent and large overlap with character strengths. Adaptability was positively related to most of the strengths. Predictability was positively related to humility and prudence, and orderliness to perseverance, prudence, and selfregulation.

Discussion

These results support our initial assumption and build a strong basis for further examining the relationships and interplay between flexibility and character strengths. They also constitute an important first step toward integrative positive interventions that target relevant aspects of flexibility and character.

Aging Out of Crime and Personality Development: A Review of the Research Examining the Role of Impulsiveness on Offending in Middle and Late Adulthood

Virtually everything we know about the relationship between impulsivity and offending is confined to adolescence and early adulthood. There is a paucity of research that examines impulsivity and offending in middle and late adulthood. What little is known is covered in this review. There are normative declines in offending, but it remains quite common in middle and late adulthood. This challenges the notion that the majority of offenders age out of crime by middle age. There are also normative declines in impulsivity, consistent with the maturity principle of personality development. While impulsivity is associated with offending (and other externalizing behaviors) in middle and late adulthood, preciously little evidence exists that speaks to whether the declines in impulsivity are causally related to decreases in offending. Various suggestions are offered for future research that can better address this notable void in the literature.

A longitudinal investigation of the role of perceived autonomy support from coaches in reducing athletes' experiential avoidance: The mediating role of subjective vitality

Experiential avoidance, a personality trait that refers to individuals' tendency to avoid negative experiences, can have a negative impact on athletes' goal achievement. For this reason, it is crucial to identify the factors that can mitigate such a tendency. Drawing on self-determination theory and referring specifically to the function of subjective vitality, we first hypothesize that perceived autonomy support from coaches is positively associated with athletes' subjective vitality, which in turn is negatively associated with athletes' experiential avoidance. Data were collected from one hundred eighty-five high school athletes in Taiwan using a three-wave, time-lagged survey design spanning a period of seven months. These athletes were drawn from ten senior high schools and were in their second year of high school. The results of regression analysis showed that perceived autonomy support from coaches at Time 1 was associated with higher vitality among athletes at Time 2, which was, in turn, associated with lower levels of experiential avoidance at Time 3, conditional on the athletes' experiential avoidance at Time 2. While perceived autonomy support from coaches at Time 1 was also associated with lower experiential avoidance at Time 2, experiential avoidance at Time 2 was not associated with vitality at Time 3 after controlling for vitality at Time 2. The results of mediation analysis further supported the claim that vitality is a critical mediator of the relationship between perceived autonomy support from coaches and athletes' experiential avoidance. Implications concerning the identification of this mediator are discussed.

The Stressful Personality: A Meta-Analytical Review of the Relation Between Personality and Stress

The current study presented the first meta-analytic review on the associations between the Big Five personality traits and stress measured under different conceptualizations (stressor exposure, psychological and physiological stress responses) using a total of 1,575 effect sizes drawn from 298 samples. Overall, neuroticism was found to be positively related to stress, whereas extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness were negatively linked to stress. When stress assessed under different conceptualizations was tested, only neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to stressor exposure. All of the Big Five personality traits were significantly associated with psychological stress perception, whereas the five personality traits showed weak to null associations with physiological stress response. Further moderation analyses suggested that the associations between personality traits and stress under different conceptualizations were also contingent upon different characteristics of stress, sample, study design, and measures. The results supported the important role of personality traits in individual differences in stress.

Perception of major life events and personality trait change

Major life events can trigger personality trait change. However, a clear, replicable pattern of event-related personality trait change has yet to be identified. We examined whether the perception of major life events is associated with personality trait change. Therefore, we assessed young adults’ personality traits at five measurement occasions within 1 year. At the second measurement occasion, we also assessed their perception of a recently experienced major life event using the Event Characteristics Questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, perceived impact of the event was not associated with the amount of personality trait change, but perceived valence was associated with changes in agreeableness and neuroticism. Exploratory analyses revealed some weak associations between other perceived event characteristics and the amount of personality trait change as well as interactions between perceived event characteristics and event categories in predicting changes in neuroticism. In general, effect sizes were small, and associations depended on the time interval between pre-event and post-event personality assessment. Results indicate that perceived event characteristics should be considered when examining event-related personality trait change.

The development of trait greed during young adulthood: A simultaneous investigation of environmental effects and negative core beliefs

Recent models of personality development have emphasized the role of the environment in terms of selection and socialization effects and their interaction. Our study provides partial evidence for these models and, crucially, extends these models by adding a person variable: Core beliefs, which are defined as mental representations of experiences that individuals have while pursuing need-fulfilling goals. Specifically, we report results from a longitudinal investigation of the development of trait greed across time. Based on data from the German Personality Panel, we analyzed data on 1,965 young adults on up to 4 occasions, spanning a period of more than 3 years. According to our results, negative core beliefs that have so far been proposed only in the clinical literature (e.g., being unloved or being insecure) contributed to the development of trait greed, indicating that striving for material goals might be a substitute for unmet needs in the past. Additionally, greedy individuals more often self-selected themselves into business-related environments, which presumably allow them to fulfill their greed-related need to earn a lot of money. Our results expose important mechanisms for trait greed development. Regarding personality development in general, core beliefs were identified as an important variable for future theory building.

Lighten the Darkness: Personality Interventions Targeting Agreeableness Also Reduce Participants' Levels of the Dark Triad

OBJECTIVE

Previous research suggests that people want to change their big five traits-and moreover, they may be able to do so. The present paper extends these findings in three ways. First, I examined the extent to which people want to change their levels of the dark triad-Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Second, I tested whether desires to change the dark triad predicted actual changes in the corresponding traits across approximately four months. Finally, participants received an intervention designed to change their big five personality traits. Consequently, I tested whether this intervention could also facilitate changes in the dark triad.

METHOD

The present study was a 16-wave, weekly, intensive longitudinal design (N = 467).

RESULTS

Results revealed that participants generally did not want to change their levels of the dark triad. Nevertheless, individual variance in desires to change the dark triad did predict actual changes in the dark triad across four months. Moreover, interventions targeting agreeableness spurred changes in all three dark triad traits.

CONCLUSIONS

This research suggests that taking small steps to become more agreeable may also reduce individuals' levels of the dark triad. These findings may have implications for future research, as well as therapeutic treatments.

Advancing a Three-Tier Personality Framework for Posttraumatic Growth

Adversity has been assumed to foster positive personality change under certain conditions. In this article, we examine this assumption within the context of the three-tier personality framework integrating traits, characteristic adaptations, and narrative identity to provide a comprehensive understanding of personality growth. We first review findings on how adverse events affect personality on each of these three levels. Second, we summarize knowledge on event-based and person-based predictors of personality change in the face of adversity. Third, we specify affective, behavioral, and cognitive processes that explain personality change across levels of personality. Innovatively, our proposed process model addresses change at all three levels of personality, as well as similarities and differences in processes across the levels. We conclude by discussing unresolved issues, asking critical questions, and posing challenging hypotheses for testing this framework.

Conceptualizing and Studying Characteristics, Units, and Fits of Persons and Environments: A Coherent Synthesis

Based on a perspective on personality coherence as the extent to which personality-relevant characteristics are differentiated and integrated within a person in his or her environment, we propose a synthesis that builds on and harmonizes existing and partly conflicting theories, methodological approaches, and empirical findings. This understanding of personality coherence needs clear definitions of person and environment characteristics. We define traits as characteristics of the person, adaptations as characteristics of the person-in-contexts, and states as characteristics of the person-in-situations. Thus, our synthesis involves concepts of environments and person-environment units. Next, we provide testable criteria to differentiate characteristics of persons from characteristics of person-environment units and to identify dispositional traits for a narrow-sense perspective on personality coherence. We raise awareness of the importance of fit between (profiles of) person and environment characteristics for an understanding of the integrated uniqueness of persons in their environments. We outline implications of this broader perspective on personality coherence for personality development, self-regulation, social integration, well-being, and psychological interventions. Lastly, we conclude that the analysis of an individual’s uniqueness and personality differences requires information about how well-defined, well-differentiated, well-integrated, and well-operationalized person(ality) variables are actually expressed in, or interact and transact with, the individual environment.

Personality Psychology

Personality psychology, which seeks to study individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persist over time and place, has experienced a renaissance in the last few decades. It has also not been reviewed as a field in the Annual Review of Psychology since 2001. In this article, we seek to provide an update as well as a meta-organizational structure to the field. In particular, personality psychology has a prescribed set of four responsibilities that it implicitly or explicitly tackles as a field: (a) describing what personality is-i.e., what the units of analysis in the field are; (b) documenting how it develops; (c) explaining the processes of personality and why they affect functioning; and (d) providing a framework for understanding individuals and explaining their actions, feelings, and motivations. We review progress made over the last 20 years to address these four agendas and conclude by highlighting future directions and ongoing challenges to the field. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Mindful of personality trait change: Are treatment effects on personality trait change ephemeral and attributable to changes in states?

OBJECTIVE

Are treatment effects on personality trait change ephemeral and attributable to change in clinical states? Data of an intervention study were used to examine if change in clinical states (e.g., stress or depression) accounts for change in personality traits and to test whether both changes in traits and clinical states were independently associated with substance use.

METHOD

Seventy-nine substance use patients (M_age = 25.3, SD = 2.7; 35% female) took part at a 4-week intervention and completed a total of 15 bi-monthly assessments across 28 weeks to measure change in traits and states during and after treatment.

RESULTS

The results suggest that participants showed large trait and state changes over time, which happened rapidly with the majority occurring during the first four weeks. Trait and state changes were highly correlated, but not perfectly redundant. Significant variance in personality trait change remained after controlling for change in clinical states. Moreover, both trait and state change independently predicted substance use.

CONCLUSION

Personality trait change occurred relatively fast and was maintained until the last follow-up assessment six months after the end of the intervention. Also, the findings point to the notion that the conceptual distinction between traits and states may not be as important as originally thought.

Components and Correlates of Personality Coherence in Action, Agency, and Authorship

Personality coherence is an individual difference capturing the extent to which a person’s psychological characteristics are coordinated, unified, and integrated. The present research addressed the extent to which coherence indicators inter-correlate and predict relevant outcomes over and above the effects of the Big Five among midlife adults ( N = 446). Coherence indicators loaded onto four components: actor coherence, which captured the extent to which people were consistent in their interpersonal values, traits, and behavior; agent coherence, which captured the extent to which people’s goals were coordinated and need-congruent; author coherence, which captured the extent to which people’s self-defining stories were well composed and theme laden; and controlled coherence, which captured the extent to which people experienced their goals as pressured or compelled and as leading them to need-detracting futures. Although actor coherence correlated with both agent and author coherence, agent and author coherence were not correlated. Nevertheless, the actor-, agent-, and author-coherence composites each predicted at least one of the outcome variables (i.e., well-being, autonomy, and ego development) over and above the Big Five. The present findings suggest that the coherence of personality constitutes an individual difference domain of consequence beyond the established content dimensions of personality.

Two Forms of Social Inequality in Students' Socio-Emotional Skills: Do the Levels of Big Five Personality Traits and Their Associations With Academic Achievement Depend on Parental Socioeconomic Status?

Some researchers and policymakers advocate a stronger focus on fostering socio-emotional skills in the hope of helping students to succeed academically, especially those who are socially disadvantaged. Others have cautioned that this might increase, rather than reduce, social inequality because personality traits conducive to achievement are themselves unevenly distributed in disfavor of socially disadvantaged students. Our paper contributes to this debate. Analyzing representative, large-scale data on 9,300 ninth graders from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and using the Big Five personality traits as a measure of socio-emotional skills, we cast light on two related yet distinct aspects of social inequality in socio-emotional skills: First, do levels of personality traits conducive to achievement vary as a function of students' parental socioeconomic status (pSES)? Second, do the returns to personality traits in terms of trait–achievement relations vary as function of pSES? Results showed that differences in Big Five traits between students with different pSES were small (0.04 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.09), especially when compared with pSES-related differences in cognitive skills (fluid intelligence) and sex-related differences in personality. The returns to Conscientiousness—the personality trait most relevant to achievement—in terms of its relations to academic achievement were higher in higher- vs. lower-SES students. Trait–achievement relations did not vary as a function of pSES for the other Big Five traits. Overall, both types of inequality were limited in magnitude. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice and delineate directions for further research.

Integrating state dynamics and trait change: A tutorial using the example of stress reactivity and change in well-being

Recent theoretical accounts on the causes of trait change emphasize the potential relevance of states. In the same vein, reactions to daily stress have been shown to prospectively predict change in well-being, speaking for the proposition that state dynamics can be a precursor to long-term change in more stable individual-differences characteristics. A common analysis approach towards linking state dynamics such as stress reactivity and change in some more stable individual differences characteristic has been a two-step approach, modeling state dynamics and trait change separately. In this paper, we elaborate on one-step procedures to simultaneously model state dynamics and trait change, realized in the multilevel structural equation modeling framework. We highlight three distinct advantages over the two-step approach which pre-exists in the methodological literature, and we disseminate these advantages to a larger audience. We target a readership of substantive researchers interested in the relationships between state dynamics and traits or trait change, and we provide them with a tutorial style paper on state-of-the-art methods on these topics.

Personality-informed intervention design: Examining how trait regulation can inform efforts to change behavior

Research that helps people change their behavior has the potential to improve the quality of lives, but it is too often approached in a way that divorces behavior from the people who need to enact it. In this paper, we propose a personality-informed approach to classifying behavior-change problems and designing interventions to address them. In particular, we argue that interventions will be most effective when they target the appropriate psychological process given the disposition of the participant and the desired duration of change. Considering these dimensions can help to reveal the differences among common types of behavior-change problems, and it can guide decisions about what kinds of intervention solutions will most effectively solve them. We review key concepts and findings from the personality literature that can help us understand the dynamic nature of dispositions and to identify the psychological processes that best explain both short-term variance in behavior and long-term development of personality. Drawing on this literature, we argue that different types of behavior-change problems require different forms of “trait regulation,” and we offer a series of propositions to be evaluated as potential guides for the design of intervention strategies to address them.

Sensitization or inoculation: Investigating the effects of early adversity on personality traits and stress experiences in adulthood

Cumulative evidence has been found for the associations between personality traits and stress experiences in adulthood. However, less is known about the moderating mechanisms underlying these associations. The present study tested whether the stress sensitization and stress inoculation hypotheses could be applied to the relationship between early adversity and personality in adulthood. Specifically, we tested the linear and curvilinear relations between early adversity (measured retrospectively) and adulthood personality traits, as well as the linear and curvilinear moderating effects of early adversity on the associations between adulthood stress and personality traits. Samples of older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 6098) and middle-aged adults from the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS; N = 6186) were used. Across the two samples, positive linear associations were found between retrospective early adversity and neuroticism. The results also suggested significant linear effects of early adversity on the association between ongoing chronic stressors and neuroticism such that individuals with moderate exposure to early adversity showed stronger associations between ongoing chronic stressors and neuroticism. Results from the current research were more in line with the stress sensitization model. No support was found for the stress inoculation effects on personality.

The dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of personality: An overview of the field

Personality psychology has long focused on structural trait models, but it can also offer a rich understanding of the dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of individual differences or entire persons. The field of personality dynamics, which works towards such an understanding, has experienced a renaissance in the last two decades. This review article seeks to act as a primer of that field. It covers its historical roots, summarizes current research strands - along with their theoretical backbones and methodologies - in an accessible way, and sketches some considerations for the future. In doing so, we introduce relevant concepts, give an overview of different topics and phenomena subsumed under the broad umbrella term 'dynamics', and highlight the interdisciplinarity as well as applied relevance of the field. We hope this article can serve as a useful overview for scholars within and outside of personality psychology who are interested in the dynamic nature of human behaviour and experience.

Coping with Stress During the Coronavirus Outbreak: the Contribution of Big Five Personality Traits and Social Support

This study investigated the relationships between active, problem-focused, and maladaptive coping with stress during the Coronavirus outbreak, the Big Five personality traits, and social support among Israeli-Palestinian college students (n = 625). Emotion-focused coping negatively correlated with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, while it positively correlated with neuroticism. On the other hand, problem-focused coping was found to positively correlate with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but negatively correlate with neuroticism. Thus, positive social support may increase one's ability to cope actively, adaptively, and efficiently. In addition, Israeli-Palestinian college students high in openness, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness tend to use active problem-focused coping while those high in neuroticism tend to use maladaptive emotion-focused coping.

Integrating Models of Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is a core aspect of human functioning that helps facilitate the successful pursuit of personal goals. There has been a proliferation of theories and models describing different aspects of self-regulation both within and outside of psychology. All of these models provide insights about self-regulation, but sometimes they talk past each other, make only shallow contributions, or make contributions that are underappreciated by scholars working in adjacent areas. The purpose of this article is to integrate across the many different models in order to refine the vast literature on self-regulation. To achieve this objective, we first review some of the more prominent models of self-regulation coming from social psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. We then integrate across these models based on four key elements—level of analysis, conflict, emotion, and cognitive functioning—specifically identifying points of convergence but also points of insufficient emphasis. We close with prescriptions for future research.

You can’t always get what you want: The role of change goal importance, goal feasibility and momentary experiences for volitional personality development

Most adults want to change aspects of their personality. However, previous studies have provided mixed evidence on whether such change goals can be successfully implemented, perhaps partly due to neglecting the goals’ importance and feasibility as well as the experience of trait-relevant situations and states. This study examined associations between change goals and changes in self-reported Big Five traits assessed four times across two years in an age-heterogeneous sample of 382 adults (255 younger adults, Mage = 21.6 years; 127 older adults, Mage = 67.8 years). We assessed trait-relevant momentary situations and states in multiple waves of daily diaries over the first year ( M = 43.9 days). Perceived importance and feasibility of change goals were analysed as potentially moderating factors. Contrary to our hypotheses, the results demonstrated that neither change goals nor goal importance or feasibility were consistently associated with trait change, likely due to inconsistent associations with momentary situations and behaviours. The results suggest that wanting to change one’s traits does not necessarily lead to changes without engaging in trait-relevant situations and behaviours. These findings provide novel insights into the boundary conditions of volitional personality development.

Association between GPx-1 polymorphisms and personality traits in healthy Chinese-Han subjects

OBJECTIVES

Cloninger developed the three-dimensional personality theory and Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), which shows that some dimensions of personality traits are heritable and related to neurotransmitters including dopamine. glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) plays an important role in metabolic dopamine change and closely relates to neurological and psychiatric disorders. The impact of GPx-1 polymorphisms has been rarely explored in the field of personality traits. We decide to explore the relationships between them in healthy Chinese-Han subjects by using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

METHODS

In our study, 493 healthy Chinese-Han participants (male = 234, female = 259) were recruited. 2 ml of EDTA-treated blood from each volunteer was taken; meanwhile, personality traits were assessed by TPQ. We detected the genotypes of selected two polymorphisms through PCR-RFLP after extracting DNA. Finally, the association between different genotypes and TPQ scores was performed using SPSS, p < .05 is seen as significant statistical significance.

RESULTS

Our data found a correlation between rs1800668 and novelty seeking (NS) subscale NS2 (X²  = 7.392, p = .025). While the results showed the rs1050450 was significantly associated with NS4 (X²  = 6.059, p = .048). Regarding sex stratification, there was a significant difference in the NS2 score (X²  = 8.232, p = .016) among women for rs1800668. No sex effect was observed for either genotype for rs1050450.

CONCLUSION

GPx-1polymorphism is related to personality traits in healthy Chinese-Han subjects. Our results suggested that GPx-1 may be involved in the biological mechanisms and be a potential gene that influenced personality.

Using Mobile Sensors to Study Personality Dynamics

Abstract. Research interest in personality dynamics over time is rapidly growing. Passive personality assessment via mobile sensors offers an intriguing new approach for measuring a wide variety of personality dynamics. In this paper, we address the possibility of integrating sensor-based assessments to enhance personality dynamics research. We consider a variety of research designs that can incorporate sensor-based measures and address pitfalls and limitations in terms of psychometrics and practical implementation. We also consider analytic challenges related to data quality and model evaluation that researchers must address when applying machine learning methods to translate sensor data into composite personality assessments.

The Many Faces of Stress: Three Factors that Predict Physical Illness in Young Adults

Three studies examined how various forms of stress uniquely contribute to physical illness. We compared negative affect and perceived stress in Study 1, neuroticism and perceived stress in Study 2, and negative affect, neuroticism, and perceived stress in Study 3. We also controlled for health-related covariates (i.e., exercise, nutrition, substance use, and BMI). In all three studies (ns = 271, 577, and 300), participants completed online surveys for course credit. The results of Study 1 demonstrated that both negative affect and perceived stress predicted physical illness. In Study 2, neuroticism and perceived stress each predicted illness symptoms, and an additional interaction between neuroticism and perceived stress, were found. In Study 3, where all three stress factors were included, only negative affect predicted illness symptoms. Taken together, these results suggest that negative affect uniquely explains most of the variance in physical illness symptoms while controlling for other forms of stress.

Log on and Prosper? Little Evidence for Codevelopment Between Psychological Adjustment and Technology Use in Older Adulthood

Objectives

Researchers have hypothesized that using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), such as e-mail and social media, may buffer older adults from normative age-graded declines in psychological adjustment. However, past intervention research has been unable to conclusively evaluate this proposition, and no studies to date have examined this topic using naturalistic large-scale longitudinal methods.

Method

In this preregistered study, we examined the codevelopment between three aspects of psychological adjustment (loneliness, satisfaction with life [SWL], and depressiveness) and three factor-analytically derived clusters of ICT use (instrumental, social, and media) using a longitudinal representative sample of 2,922 Dutch adults aged 65 and older that contributed data annually from 2012 to 2017.

Results

Latent growth curve analyses indicated that ICT use was largely unrelated to psychological adjustment, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Of 36 associations tested, three were significant, and only one remained significant after including health and demographic covariates. Specifically, higher levels of media ICT use at baseline predicted steeper declines in SWL across the study period. Furthermore, results of random-intercept cross-lagged analyses indicated that change in ICT use did not predict future change in psychological adjustment, and vice versa.

Discussion

Results of this study help clarify the mixed results of past intervention research, indicating that effects of ICT use on psychological adjustment tend to be either null or much smaller than can be detected using typical intervention sample sizes. Overall, these results suggest that the association between technology use and psychological adjustment is negligible in older adults.

Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

Personality Traits and Psychopathology Over the Course of Six Months of Outpatient Psychotherapy: A Prospective Observational Study

There is a lack of prospective studies that test pre-specified hypotheses on the role of personality traits in outpatient psychotherapy. A total of 47 patients with a broad range of psychopathological syndromes were enrolled in a prospective 6-month observational study conducted in Zurich, Switzerland. We found evidence for remarkably high differential stability in all Big Five personality traits during the first 6 months of psychotherapy. Mean-level stability was very high in agreeableness and conscientiousness, while modest changes were observed in neuroticism, extraversion and openness. Baseline scores in neuroticism and conscientiousness at the beginning of therapy predicted modest change in self-reported severity of psychopathology over 6 months, but no effect was found in association with therapist-rated functional deficits. We conclude that personality trait levels may change slightly over the course of 6 months of psychotherapy and that both neuroticism and conscientiousness may have weak associations with the self-perceived improvement in psychopathology.

Most women with anorexia nervosa report less eating pathology on days when they are more self-compassionate than usual

OBJECTIVE

Individuals with eating disorders who have lower trait levels of self-compassion have more severe eating pathology. This study examined the extent to which levels of self-compassion fluctuate day-to-day in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and whether these fluctuations contribute to their eating pathology.

METHOD

For 2 weeks, 33 women with typical (75%) and atypical AN reported on their daily eating pathology and self-compassion.

RESULTS

Nearly half the variance in participants' self-compassion scores occurred at the within-persons daily level. Multilevel modeling revealed that on days when participants were more self-compassionate than usual, their eating pathology was lower. However, this effect was moderated by participants' mean self-compassion level over the 2 weeks. Specifically, daily self-compassion was negatively related to eating pathology among individuals with average and higher mean self-compassion levels but was not related to eating pathology among those with lower levels.

DISCUSSION

One-time self-reports of self-compassion in individuals with AN may overlook the substantial within-person variability in their self-compassion levels. For most individuals with AN, responding to distressing daily experiences with more compassion than usual should be associated with decreased eating pathology. More work is needed to understand how individuals lower in dispositional self-compassion can benefit from these upward fluctuations.