The longest personality study reveals wild differences from ages 14 to 77
Scientists have carried out personality tests on people at the age of 14 and then again when they were 77 years old.
The researchers have found that there is no connection between the characteristics the subjects had as teenagers to the characteristics that have in their senior years.
The researchers from the University of Edinburgh found some trends for the specific age groups but not between the subjects in their overall life time.
In Psychology and Aging paper the researchers said, “There were no positive correlations strong enough to achieve significance between adolescent and older-age characteristic ratings or dependability.”
The scientists explained that as there was 63 years between the two interviews, the length of time meant their characteristics and priorities had significantly altered.
The researchers said, “As a result of this gradual change, personality can appear relatively stable over short intervals - increasingly so throughout adulthood. However, the longer the interval between two assessments of personality, the weaker the relationship between the two tends to be.”
The experiment looked into six key traits for their experiment which were self-confidence, perseverance, stability of moods, conscientiousness, originality and desire to excel.
The study did find that teenagers become more social but then decrease that priority as they move into their adult years.
They also found that first jobs and parenting increase maturity and stable mood levels. The senior years revealed that people become more comfortable and accepting of themselves.
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