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Researcher personality traits change throughout our lives
As people grow older, the body also ages, and the consequences of it are usually not overlooked. Researchers have now discovered that not only does the body undergo massive changes, but the personality can undergo dramatic changes throughout life.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that human personality changes dramatically throughout life. So at the age of 14 you were a completely different person than you will be at the age of 77. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Psychology and Aging".
Not only our skin and our body change during the aging process. The personality also seems to undergo dramatic changes. (Image: JenkoAtaman - fotolia) Study examines six personality traits
The longest-running personality study to date found significant personality changes that occur over the course of aging. The study began in 1947 and recruited 1,208 adolescents from Scotland at the age of 14. The doctors questioned the teachers of the participants at that time in order to better judge their personality. The teachers were asked to complete six different questionnaires. These should then assess the students on the basis of six characteristics, explain the experts. These dealt with the topics: self-confidence, perseverance, stability of moods, conscientiousness, originality and desire for existence. The findings were then summarized in an overall assessment.
More than sixty years later, the physicians again examined almost 640 subjects
More than six decades later, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have succeeded in contacting 635 of the original study participants. 174 volunteers agreed to have their personalities examined again, say the doctors. With an average age of 76.7 years, the participants were again asked to judge themselves with the above personality traits. Then, a close friend or family member was also asked to rate the subjects on these traits, the authors add.
No correlation was found between 77-year-olds and 14-year-olds
In a re-examination, subjects were asked to complete seven personality scales and tests. In addition, her mental health was re-evaluated by the experts. When the researchers then compared the results of the 77-year-olds with those of the 14-year-old subjects, they found no remarkable correlation. No positive correlations could be found that would have been strong enough to allow significant significance between juvenile and older characteristic evaluations or reliability, the researchers explain. "We suspected that we would find statements about personality stability over a longer period of 63 years," the scientists explain. But the non-existent correlation did not support this hypothesis, the experts add.
Results were a surprise to the researchers
Even when the team ran the data through a more complex model that took into account the effects that occurred, they found only a fairly low correlation of conscientiousness and mood stability between the 14-year-old subject and the 77-year-old subject, the authors explain. There was also no correlation between the other features. The results were a surprise for the doctors. Previous research had found personality stability in individuals from childhood to middle age and from middle to older age.
Longer interval in examinations weakens the connection
According to the researchers, there are indications that many small changes in personality over the course of a lifetime can lead to studies that look at characteristics over a certain period of time, failing to recognize the larger picture. As a result of this gradual change, the personality may appear relatively stable over short intervals. This effect is increasingly observed during adulthood, the experts add. However, the longer the interval between two personality assessments, the weaker is the detectable connection. The current results suggest that increasing the interval to 63 years would probably result in little relationship.
Reservations in the investigation
There are, however, some fierce reservations that need to be highlighted here. The sample size was very small and not very diverse. The original study did not allow the participants to rate themselves. The results were based solely on the opinion of their teachers, explain the physicians. The researchers were only looking for links between personality outcomes, not why our personality traits could change over the course of our lives. Further research was needed to better understand this effect, the researchers concluded.
Twenty-five percent of participants made dramatic personality changes after the age of 70 years
The current findings support the results of a study from 2014, which examined more than 23,000 people in Germany. The experts found that the personality of older people can change at a speed similar to that of young adults. This study found that up to 25 percent of participants underwent a dramatic personality change after the age of 70 years. Unlike with young adults, the personality change in the elderly was incomprehensible, the experts explain.
Further research is needed
In order to explain the personality change in the course of human life, we must find out the origin, the researchers report However, further investigations are needed. But the results may be the first sign that it's not just our cells that undergo significant changes over the course of life, say the authors. Behavior and emotions are not set in stone, as previously suspected by many experts, but change drastically in the course of life. (As)