The current study investigated how perceived social support was associated with personality trait development in a Swedish longitudinal sample (n = 3914; mean age = 63.09 years) with six waves of data on individuals’ Big Five personality traits, and perceived support from family, friends, and a special someone. We employed random intercept cross-lagged panel models to consider the between- and within-person associations for these constructs over time. First, in almost all cases, between-person associations were found between the levels for personality traits and support variables. Moreover, findings did not differ much depending on the source of the relationship. Second, again in almost every model, significant within-person covariances were evidenced, suggesting that when individuals increased on support relative to their typical level at a given wave, they also tended to report higher levels than they typically do on these traits. Finally, however, little evidence was found for cross-lagged effects in either direction. Across models, only one cross-lagged association even reached significance. In sum, our findings support the close connection between personality and perceived social support in older adulthood, and they motivate future directions into when and why such associations occur using more proximal measurements.
Plain language summary
In older adulthood, social relationships take on new meanings and importance compared to earlier in the lifespan. However, work is needed to understand how social relationships may shape the kind of person we are, or our personalities, in older adulthood. The current study examined whether older adults’ personality changed in tandem with their social support levels. Older adults were asked to report on their personality and how much they felt supported six times, one year apart. Our findings suggest that when older adults feel more or less supported by others, it often coincides with changes in their personality.
AllemandM.SchaffhuserK.MartinM. (2015). Long-term correlated change between personality traits and perceived social support in middle adulthood. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(3), 420–432. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167215569492
3.
AnderssonA.KajoniusP.ThorvaldssonV. (2022). Testing the personality differentiation by intelligence hypothesis in a representative sample of Swedish hexagenerians. Journal of Research in Personality, 99, 104242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2022.104242
4.
AsendorpfJ. B.Van AkenM. A. (2003). Personality–relationship transaction in adolescence: Core versus surface personality characteristics. Journal of Personality, 71(4), 629–666. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.7104005
5.
AsselmannE.SpechtJ. (2021). Personality maturation and personality relaxation: Differences of the big five personality traits in the years around the beginning and ending of working life. Journal of Personality, 89(6), 1126–1142. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12640
BatesD.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48.
8.
BjälkebringP.HenningG.VästfjällD.DickertS.BrehmerY.BurattiS.HanssonI.JohanssonB. (2021). Helping out or helping yourself? Volunteering and life satisfaction across the retirement transition. Psychology and Aging, 36(1), 119–130. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000576
BleidornW.HopwoodC. J.LucasR. E. (2018). Life events and personality trait change. Journal of Personality, 86(1), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12286
11.
BleidornW.KlimstraT. A.DenissenJ. J.RentfrowP. J.PotterJ.GoslingS. D. (2013). Personality maturation around the world: A cross-cultural examination of social-investment theory. Psychological Science, 24(12), 2530–2540. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613498396
12.
BolgerN.EckenrodeJ. (1991). Social relationships, personality, and anxiety during a major stressful event. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(3), 440–449. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.61.3.440
13.
CarstensenL. L. (1992). Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 7(3), 331–338.
14.
CarstensenL. L.IsaacowitzD. M.CharlesS. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181.
15.
CostaP. T.McCraeR. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO personality inventory. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.5
16.
DenissenJ. J.LuhmannM.ChungJ. M.BleidornW. (2019). Transactions between life events and personality traits across the adult lifespan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(4), 612–633. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000196
17.
DonnellanM. B.OswaldF. L.BairdB. M.LucasR. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the big five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18(2), 192–203. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.18.2.192
18.
FredricksonB. L.CarstensenL. L. (1990). Choosing social partners: how old age and anticipated endings make people more selective. Psychology and Aging, 5(3), 335–347.
19.
FungH. H.CarstensenL. L.LutzA. M. (1999). Influence of time on social preferences: implications for life-span development. Psychology and Aging, 14(4), 595–604.
20.
GregoryT.NettelbeckT.WilsonC. (2010). Openness to experience, intelligence, and successful ageing. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(8), 895–899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.017
21.
HamakerE. L.KuiperR. M.GrasmanR. P. (2015). A critique of the cross-lagged panel model. Psychological Methods, 20(1), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038889
22.
HanssonI.BergA. I.ThorvaldssonV. (2018). Can personality predict longitudinal study attrition? Evidence from a population-based sample of older adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 77, 133–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.10.002
23.
HanssonI.HenningG.BurattiS.LindwallM.KiviM.JohanssonB.BergA. I. (2020). The role of personality in retirement adjustment: Longitudinal evidence for the effects on life satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 88(4), 642–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12516
24.
HavighurstR. J. (1972). Developmental tasks and education. McKay Company.
25.
HenningG.BergA. I.CengiaA.HanssonI.SpulingS. M.WettsteinM. (2021). Do neuroticism and conscientiousness interact with health conditions in predicting 4-year changes in self-rated health among Swedish older adults?Psychology and Aging, 36(6), 730–743. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000626
26.
HenningG.HanssonI.BergA. I.LindwallM.JohanssonB. (2017). The role of personality for subjective well-being in the retirement transition–Comparing variable-and person-oriented models. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 385–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.017
27.
HillP. L.KiviM.HanssonI.ThorvaldssonV.AllemandM. (2022). Future time perspective and personality trait change during the retirement transition: Insights from a six-wave longitudinal study in Sweden. Psychology and Aging, 37(2), 272–281. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000647
28.
HillP. L.WestonS. J.JacksonJ. J. (2018). The co-development of perceived support and the big five in middle and older adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 42(1), 26–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025417690262
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.
31.
HuttemanR.HenneckeM.OrthU.ReitzA. K.SpechtJ. (2014). Developmental tasks as a framework to study personality development in adulthood and old age. European Journal of Personality, 28(3), 267–278. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1959
32.
JacksonJ. J.AllemandM. (2014). Moving personality development research forward: Applications using structural equation models. European Journal of Personality, 28(3), 300–310. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1964
33.
JacksonJ. J.BeckE. D. (2021). Personality development beyond the mean: Do life events shape personality variability, structure, and ipsative continuity?Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 76(1), 20–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa093
34.
JohnO. P.NaumannL. P.SotoC. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W.PervinL. A. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 114–158). Guilford.
35.
KönigS.LindwallM.JohanssonB. (2019). Involuntary and delayed retirement as a possible health risk for lower educated retirees. Journal of Population Ageing, 12(4), 475–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-018-9234-6
36.
LindwallM.BergA. I.BjälkebringP.BurattiS.HanssonI.HassingL.HenningG.KiviM.KönigS.ThorvaldssonV.JohanssonB. (2017). Psychological health in the retirement transition: Rationale and first findings in the Health, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1634. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01634
37.
Lodi-SmithJ.RobertsB. W. (2007). Social investment and personality: A meta-analysis of the relationship of personality traits to investment in work, family, religion, and volunteerism. Personality and Social Psychology Review: An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 11(1), 68–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868306294590
38.
LuhmannM.FassbenderI.AlcockM.HaehnerP. (2021). A dimensional taxonomy of perceived characteristics of major life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(3), 633–668. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000291
39.
OrthU.ClarkD. A.DonnellanM. B.RobinsR. W. (2021). Testing prospective effects in longitudinal research: Comparing seven competing cross-lagged models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(4), 1013–1034.
40.
PfundG. N.AllemandM. (2022). Correlated change between personality traits and perceived social support in old age. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 014616722211204. in press. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221120493
41.
RobertsB. W.DelVecchioW. F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.3
RobertsB. W.NickelL. B. (2021). Personality development across the life course: A neo‑socioanalytic perspective. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 259–283). The Guilford Press.
44.
RobertsB. W.WoodD.CaspiA. (2008). Personality development. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W.PervinL. A. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 375–389). Guilford Press.
45.
RobertsB. W.WoodD.SmithJ. L. (2005). Evaluating five factor theory and social investment perspectives on personality trait development. Journal of Research in Personality, 39(1), 166–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2004.08.002
46.
RosseelY. (2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02
47.
StephanY. (2009). Openness to experience and active older adults’ life satisfaction: A trait and facet-level analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(6), 637–641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.05.025
48.
SwickertR. (2009). Personality and social support processes. In CorrP. J.MatthewsG. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology (pp. 524–540). Cambridge University Press.
49.
SwickertR. J.HittnerJ. B.FosterA. (2010). Big five traits interact to predict perceived social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(6), 736–741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.018
50.
SwickertR. J.RosentreterC. J.HittnerJ. B.MushrushJ. E. (2002). Extraversion, social support processes, and stress. Personality and Individual Differences, 32(5), 877–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00093-9
51.
van ScheppingenM. A.JacksonJ. J.SpechtJ.HuttemanR.DenissenJ. J.BleidornW. (2016). Personality trait development during the transition to parenthood: A test of social investment theory. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(5), 452–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616630032
52.
WagnerJ.BeckerM.LüdtkeO.TrautweinU. (2015). The first partnership experience and personality development: A propensity score matching study in young adulthood. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(4), 455–463. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550614566092
53.
WagnerJ.OrthU.BleidornW.HopwoodC. J.KandlerC. (2020). Toward an integrative model of sources of personality stability and change. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(5), 438–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420924751
54.
WrzusC.HänelM.WagnerJ.NeyerF. J. (2013). Social network changes and life events across the life span: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 53–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028601
55.
WrzusC.RobertsB. W. (2017). Processes of personality development in adulthood: The TESSERA framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review: An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 21(3), 253–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316652279
56.
ZimetG. D.DahlemN. W.ZimetS. G.FarleyG. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(1), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5201_2
57.
ZulkaL. E.HanssonI.HassingL. B.ThorvaldssonV. (2021). Personality and reasoning ability during retirement age: Report from a Swedish population-based longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 93, 104126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104126
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
