Basic Research In Personality: Aging

稳定性的概念是定义人格特质的核心，人格特质通常被认为是行为、思想和情绪的持久倾向或习惯性模式(McCrae&Costa，2003)，但稳定性并不意味着一成不变。在正常情况下，成年人的性状基本上是稳定的，对同一性状进行两次评估的群体计算的高相关系数表明这一点。这些系数代表了样本的平均稳定性，但个体内部的稳定性有所不同。纵向个体内方法被用来检查个体内追踪的两个连续区间的稳定性。计算了8个不同纵向样本的个体稳定性系数，以评估个体内(即人内)稳定性随时间的变化。复测时间从5年到9年不等。对于特质稳定性和侧面稳定性，结果表明，个体内部稳定性在30岁之前增加，然后是平台期。无论是人口统计变量(性别、种族、教育程度和世俗趋势)，还是在人格的五个主要维度上的立场，都不能预测特质稳定性的变化。与对青少年的研究结果相反，人格成熟与成年后的人格稳定性无关。这些发现支持了人格稳定性在成年初期处于平台期的观点。 尽管个体差异是相对稳定的，但近年来，我们通过检查更多不同样本的纵向轨迹和跨文化的横截面趋势，扩展了对人格平均水平变化的研究。我们还将重点放在社区或流行病学调查上，以研究成年后人格特征发生轻微变化的原因。除了健康，我们还对个性和生活环境的相互影响感兴趣，例如工作特征和退休过渡。此外，我们的目标是通过纵向评估来描绘人格维度的神经和认知相关性。最近，我们调查了人格因素与阿尔茨海默病风险之间的关系，以及人格与尸检中阿尔茨海默氏病病理的关系。这些研究表明，高度神经质和缺乏责任心是阿尔茨海默病风险增加的预测因素。此外，尽管存在阿尔茨海默氏症的病理，但神经质含量低、责任心强的人更有可能没有症状。 作为某些人格特征的下游后果的更大研究项目的一部分，我们调查了文化的作用，以及文化的社会经济相关性，对不同年龄段的个人的人格、健康和幸福感的影响。我们收集了人们一生中对不同年龄段目标的自我报告和个性认知。在各种各样的文化中，不同年龄段的人的个性差异的水平和轨迹基本上是相似的；对不同年龄段的人的个性的认知密切跟踪每个特定年龄段的自我报告的个性水平。目前，我们正在调查文化内和文化间个体差异的可能的社会经济学相关性，以了解影响各种特质倾向的环境表达的基本过程。

The notion of stability is central to the definition of personality traits, which are generally thought of as enduring tendencies or habitual patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions (McCrae & Costa, 2003), but stability does not imply immutability. Under normal circumstances, adult traits are largely stable, as indicated by high correlation coefficients computed for a group assessed twice on the same trait. These coefficients represent the average stability for a sample, but individuals vary in terms of their intra-individual stability. A longitudinal intra-individual approach was used to examine stabilities across two successive intervals traced within individuals. Individual stability coefficients from eight different longitudinal samples were computed to evaluate intra-individual (i.e., within-person) change in stability over time. Test-retest periods ranged from five to nine years. For both trait and profile (ipsative) stability, results indicate that intra-individual stability increases up to age 30 and then plateaus. Neither demographic variables (sex, ethnicity, education, and secular trends), nor the standing on the five major dimensions of personality, were predictors of change in trait stability. Contrary to results from studies of adolescents, personality maturity was unrelated to personality stability in adulthood. These findings support the notion that personality stability plateaus early in adulthood. Despite the relative stability of individual differences, in recent years we have extended the studies of mean-level change in personality by examining longitudinal trajectories in more diverse samples and cross-sectional trends across cultures. We have also focused on community or epidemiological investigations to study the causes of the modest changes that occur in personality traits in adulthood. In addition to health, we are interested in the reciprocal influences of personality and life circumstances, such as job characteristics and retirement transition. Furthermore, we aim to delineate the neural and cognitive correlates of personality dimensions across longitudinal assessments. Most recently, we have investigated the association between personality factors and risk for Alzheimer's disease, as well as personality in relation to the presence of Alzheimer's pathology at autopsy. These studies have shown that high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are predictors of increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, individuals who are low in neuroticism and high in conscientiousness are more likely to be asymptomatic despite the presence of Alzheimer's pathology. As part of a larger research program in downstream consequences of certain personality traits, we investigated the role of culture, and the socioeconomic correlates of culture, on personality, health, and well-being of individuals of different age groups. We collected both self-report and personality perceptions of people across the lifespan about targets of different ages. Both the levels and trajectory of personality differences across the lifespan were substantially similar across a wide variety of cultures; perceptions about the personality of people in various age groups closely track the self-reported personality levels at each particular age. Currently we are investigating possible socioeconomic correlates of individual differences both within and across cultures in order to understand basic processes that affect the environmental expression of various trait dispositions.