Between- and within-person longitudinal associations between personality traits and social support across relationships during older adulthood

Abstract

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.

Keywords

personality traits social support older adulthood RI-CLPM longitudinal models relationships

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