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Running Head: AGING AND PERSONALITY CHANGES
Personality in the Elderly: Does It Change As They Age?
A Paper Presented to Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Psychology 430
Virginia P. Larkin
Central Connecticut State University
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Abstract
Personality has been categorized and studied from as long ago as the time of the Greek physician
Hippocrates to the days of modern psychologists. Contemporary psychologists focus on trait
theory which categorizes personality into traits or facets and measures individuals along the lines
of those characteristics. This review looks at personality in the elderly and questions whether it
remains stable in older ages or does it change. It includes reviews of studies that show that
personality remains stable after the age of 30, personality changes in interaction with
environmental situations, and the idea that personality is both stable and changes. This review
focuses on studies using the Five Factor Method (FFM) which measures personality on the basis
of Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness
(C). From the review of the literature, this reviewer concludes that personality in adulthood is
both stable and subject to change.
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Personality in the Elderly: Does It Change As They Age?
How often have you heard, He is just a grumpy old man, or She has become so cantankerous
in her old age? Do people have personality changes as they grow older or are they simply
grouchy old people who, at earlier ages, were grouchy young ones?
A review of the literature has found different opinions, with many psychologists believing
personality does not change and remains constant over time (Block as cited in Gleitman, 1986)
and (Block as cited in Darley, Glucksberg, & Kinchla, 1991) while others believe that
“personality in adulthood and later life is characterized by stability AND change” (Ryff, Kwan
and Singer, 2001 p. 480). Some studies have looked at the question of consistency in personality
across the life span of study participants (Block, 1971, 1981 as cited in Darley, Glucksberg &
Kinchla, 1991). One of the longitudinal studies did show consistency in personality for people
studied first in junior high and at later intervals into their 40’s. Certain personality
characteristics were found to be relatively stable in males, as were some characteristics in
females
Other studies have shown that personality does change, with older adults, indicating modest
stability and moderate change (Field, 1991, in Maiden, Peterson, Caya, and Hayslip, Jr., 2003).
“Personality, broadly defined, refers to the study of individual differences in diverse human
characteristics, such as traits, goals and motives, emotion and moods, self-evaluative processes,
coping strategies, and well-being” according to Ryff, Kwan and Singer, (2001) in Burrin and
Schaie (p.477),
Many psychologists discuss personality in terms of trait theory. As far back as the ancient
Greek physician Hippocrates, it was believed people could be described in terms of categories.
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Hippocrates’ categories were melancholic (depressive), choleric (touchy and irritable), sanguine
(cheerful and optimistic), and phlegmatic (calm, but tending to listlessness).
Later personality psychologists also described personality in terms of observable traits and
developed tests or inventories to rate people. Raymond Cattrell created the Sixteen Personality
Factor Questionnaire (Cattrell & Kline, 1937). Gordon Allport designed the test called the Study
of Values (Allport, Vernon & Lindsey, 1960). Two other tests were The Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (Hathaway & McKinley, 1970), and Eysenck’s Two Personality Types and
Their Asociated Traits (1975). The test that seems to be very prominent in the literature is the
Five Factor Method (NEO-PI) (Costa & McCrae, 1978, 1985). This review is mainly focused on
the last trait theory inventory, and discusses studies that mostly used the FFM to measure
personality and the question of stability or change.
Levy, Slade, Kunkel, and Kasl’s study, while not directly discussing the question of
personality stability, has a focus on aging. The study looked at whether older people who have a
positive self-perception of aging, lived longer than those with less positive self-perceptions. In
an introduction to the study, the authors discussed the effect of stereotype threat, but they
discount the idea that self-stereotypes of aging appear to not fit into the usual classification of
stereotype threat. Their reasoning for this idea that older people do not subscribe to the
stereotype threat of aging is that they internalize their self-stereotypes of aging rather than having
them operate within those domains that might be a problem to them. The study goes on to
present its two hypotheses: Do those with more positive aging self-perceptions live longer and,
does will to live act as a mediator? The study examined data from the Ohio Longitudinal Study
of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR) and matched it with data from the National Death Index
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(NDI) to look at the survival rates over a 22.6 year period of those participants from the OLSAR
study, which was conducted in 1975.
For the first hypothesis, the authors found that the median survival of those who were
considered to be in the positive perception of aging group was 7.6 years longer than the median
survival of those in the negative self-perception aging group. For the second hypothesis, it was
“found that the will to live partially mediated the relationship between positive self-perceptions
of aging and survival” (Levy, Slade, Kunkel, and Kasl, 2002, p.267). The authors also
contrasted the results of this study, which had found an improvement in life span of 7.6 years
was greater than that found in studies of low blood pressure and low cholesterol, each of which
had shown a longer life span of 4 years or more. In closing, the authors proposed that “a
comprehensive remedy requires that the denigrating views and actions directed at elderly targets
undergo delegitimization by the same society that has been generating them” (Levy, Slade,
Kunkel, and Kasl, 2002, p.268).
In the Maiden, Peterson, Caya, and Hayslip, Jr. longitudinal study of 74 elderly women, they
looked at the question of personality stability in the very old. The mean age for this study was
80. This study begins with an introduction that current research has found personality traits are
stable and change very little after age 30 (Costa & McCrae, 1997; McCrae, 2002, as cited in
Caprara, G. V., Caprara, M., Steca, 2003). McCrae and Costa also proposed an explanation
based on biology for personality stability (McCrae & Costa, 1997, and McCrae et al, 1996).
They went on to posit a genetic basis for the determination of personality that it is universal, and
that personality “unfolds across the life span according to a predetermined plan” (p.32). It is
affected neither by environmental change nor by culture.
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They further say that people change their environment to suit their personality. Additionally,
Conley, 1985 as cited in Maiden, Peterson, Caya and Hayslip, Jr., (2003) did a meta-analysis of
many prior studies and found that personality traits did remain stable but additional correlational
studies showed that personality organization may erode over time providing for the possibility
that personality can change in adulthood. The authors’ two major hypotheses were that
participants would evidence stability on the personality traits of Neuroticism, Extroversion, and
Openness to Experience over time. For their second hypothesis they expected that changes in
such traits would be associated with negative life events experienced by the participants as they
become very old. Their study looked at the changes in 78 women who were mean age 74 in
1987 and mean age 80, 6-7 years later. Findings from the study supported their hypotheses as
they found moderate stability in the three traits while finding moderate change in those same
traits. In particular, more Neuroticism and less Extroversion were associated with negative
events in later life.
G. V. Caprara, M. Caprara, and Steca’s introduction begins by stating that personality traits
are stable in adults and they reach a plateau around age 30 (Costa & McCrae, 1997; McCrae,
2002, as cited in G.V. Caprara, M. Caprara, & Steca, 2003). They go on to say that “change is
more the rule than the exception in later years” (Helson, Jones & Kwan, 2002 as cited in G.V.
Caprara, M. Caprara, & Steca, 2003, p.131). Additionally, they reported that personality has a
reciprocal interaction with the environment, causing both stability and change (Caprara
&Cervone, 2000). The article reported the findings of three studies that incorporated the Big
Five personality traits and self-efficiency beliefs into broad domains of functioning. In the first
study, “the Five Factor Theory, which explains coherence in cognition, affect, and action in
terms of five basic tendencies that some scholars consider the genotypes of personality” (McCrae
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& Costa, 1996, 1999, as cited in G.V. Caprara, M. Caprara, & Steca, 2003, p.133). There is also
an influential role of self-efficacy beliefs in various domains of functioning. The study reported
significant gender and age differences for four of the FFM traits. For Friendliness and Openness,
there is a decline from the younger to the older respondents. The traits of Energy (Extroversion),
Friendliness (Agreeableness) and Openness to Experience were down in older participants,
Conscientiousness remained stable, and Emotional Stability (Neuroticism) was reduced for
women, only showing that Personality is both stable and subject to change over time.
The
discussion reported that there is both change and stability in personality over the course of life
but they noted that aging “does not always imply a decline, and that it may occasionally imply an
improvement” (p.143).
Costa and McCrae’s six-year longitudinal study focused on using the Five Factor Model
(FFM) of personality traits as a taxonomy of personality (Digman & Inouye, 1986; Goldberg,
1981; McCrae, Costa & Busch, 1986). The FFM consists of Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E),
Openness to Experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C). In studying the
related traits of the FFM, the authors posited that it would be a systematic approach to determine
whether personality was stable or changed over time. The authors had previously concluded
“that mean levels of most personality traits neither increase nor decrease substantially in
adulthood and that individuals retain their relative standing over periods as long as 40 years”
(Costa & McCrae, 1986, p.853). The authors’ study also looked to test the reliability of selfreports as a means of evaluating personality traits by using spouse ratings to verify the validity of
self-reports. Based on their analysis, they concluded that despite the normal aging events of
disease, divorce, unemployment, and loss of a loved one, personality remains stable over a
lifetime. An additional finding was that self-reports are accurate as compared to spouse ratings
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when evaluating personality. They made the point that this was a good thing since many studies
use self-reports for their information.
In the study by Kling, Ryff, Love, and Essex, the authors looked at the influence of
personality on adjustment to a life transition of moving to a new community. The study
measured personality traits in study participants using the Five Factor Model (FFM) of
personality (Costa McCrae, 1989; Goldberg, 1992; John, 1990). The traits measured were
Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness to Experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and
Conscientiousness (C). The study focused on the effects of the traits (N) and (O) which can
predict an increase in depressive symptoms while (E) and (O) predicted increases in Self-Esteem
in relation to the participants’ adjustment to the stress of moving. Essentially, the report found
that personality traits were stable, and that certain traits could be used to predict reaction to
stress. The study also looked at possible mediators in the study, investigating whether particular
facets of personality would influence move adjustment over time. This longitudinal study
interviewed participants before the move and several times after the move. While not focusing
specifically in the consistency of personality over time, this study provides important
information as to how personality affects the adjustment process.
In the last review, Pervin seems to moderate the trait theorists view of the description of
personality through the use of the Five Factor Method (NEO-PI). According to Pervin, FFM
theory is actually a dynamic process describing personality as “the dynamic psychological
organization that coordinates experience and action” (McCabe & Costa, 1999 as cited in Pervin,
2001, p.173). He further goes on to discuss his views of the concept of a dynamic systems
approach to personality by referencing a number of authors who have similar views including
Lewin (1935) who “ viewed the person as a complex energy system that is in constant interaction
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with the environment”. Other authors have written about the interplay of the environment with
the personality with some viewing it as not affected by changes in the environment and even
arguing that people change the environment to suit their personality (McCrae & Costa, 1997, and
McCrae et a., 1996) as cited in Maiden, Peterson, Caya, and Hayslip, Jr., 2003). Pervin
discussed three general systems principles which he believes are important. The first,
mutidetermination, involves the interplay of multiple determinants and Pervin suggests that it
requires “systematic investigation of the interplay of multiple motives or goals as the person
confronts various situations”. The second principle. equipotentiality, suggests that different
outcomes are possible coming from the same starting point, due to different situations. The third
concept, equifinality, means that “ the same action can be expressive of different motives in the
person at different times or in the actions of different people in the same situation”. Pervin’s
further review of the concept of levels does not have implications for the discussions here.
While not discounting the trait theorists who focus on the stability of personality, Pervisn’s
views have implications for looking at whether that stability should be explored as part of a more
dynamic systems approach to personality.
In closing, an editorial by Abrams seems to best describe the status of the question of
Personality in the Elderly: Does it Change As They Age? (Abrams, R. C., 1991). In Abrams
words, “Although the aging personality has been extensively discussed (Bee, 1986; Schaie,
1983; Gynther, 1979), there has been no closure on the question of whether or in what ways
people change over time in their dealings with the world” (p.1). In his opinion there is even
uncertainty how best to evaluate personality in the elderly. While it is possible to say there is
stability in personality throughout lifetime (the grouchy old person was probably a grouchy
young person), it is likely that there can also be evidence of change, particularly that brought on
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by significant events in older adults’ lives such as illness, death of loved ones, and economic
distress.
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References
Abrams, R. C., (1991). The aging personality. [Editorial. Electronic version.] International
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6:1-3.
Caprara, G. V., Caprara, M., & Steca, P., (2003). Personality’s correlates of adult development
and aging. [Electronic version.] European Psychologist, 8, 131-147.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R.R., (1988). Personality in adulthood: a six-year longitudinal study
of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO personality inventory. [Electronic version.]
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 853-863.
Darley, J. M., Glucksberg, S., Kinchla, R. A., (1991). Psychology (5th ed.). (pp. 464-467).
Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall
Gleitman, H., (1986). Psychology (2nd ed.). (p. 623). New York: W. W. Norton & Company
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in depressive symptoms and self-esteem across a significant life transition. [Electronic
version.] Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 922-932.
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self-perceptions of aging. [Electronic version.] Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 83, 261-270.
Maiden, R. J., Peterson, S. A., Caya, M., & Hayslip, Jr., B., (2003). Personality Change in the
Old-Old: A longitudinal study. [Electronic version.] Journal of Adult Development, 10,
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Pervin, L., (2001). A dynamic systems approach to personality. [Electronic version.] European
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Ryff, C. D., Kwan, M. L., & Singer, B. H.(2001). Personality and aging, flourishing agendas and
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