Scientists from the University of Edinburgh carried out personality tests on people at the age of 14 then again over sixty years later when they were 77 years old. The team found hardly any relationship at all between adolescent and older-age characteristics
It's good news for awkward teenagers the world over, as it turns out you really do become a completely different person as you get older.
Scientists carried out personality tests on people at the age of 14, and then again more than sixty years later when they were 77 years old.
The team found
hardly any relationship between traits people had as adolescents and those in their golden years.
They did, however, pinpoint some specific trends.
As a teenager, many of us become less conscientious, impulsive, moody and irritable. We also become more social for a few years, then reverse those trends as we move into adulthood. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh expected to see some evidence of personality stability over 63 years.
'There were no positive correlations strong enough to achieve significance between adolescent and older-age characteristic ratings or dependability,' the
team concluded in their paper, published in
Psychology and Aging.
Six key character traits were taken into consideration: self-confidence, perseverance, stability of moods, conscientiousness, originality, and desire to excel.
There was no significant stability in any of the six characteristics. The researchers found a 'fairly low' link between conscientiousness and stability of moods, but no link between any of the other traits.
The team recruited 1,208 14-year-olds in Scotland in 1947 and asked their teachers to assess their personality.
In 2012, the authors traced as many of these participants as possible and invited them to take part in a follow-up study.
Out of the original 1,208, the team at the University of Edinburgh managed to track 635 of them down, and 174 agreed to complete the questionnaire.
They rated themselves and got someone who knew them well to rate them on the same six characteristics on which they were rated on when they were 14.
The results were condensed into an overall rating for a single underlying trait - 'denoted dependability'.
'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 researchers said.
'Our results suggest that, when the interval is increased to as much as 63 years, there is hardly any relationship at all.'
Surviving into old age and agreeing to be part of the follow-up was not random.
The 174 who completed the questionnaire had higher cognitive ability scores as children. On average they were also rated by teachers as more dependable.
Dr Wendy Johnson, who was involved in the research, said it was difficult to assess key personality changes but was able to draw some general conclusions about personality development.
'Very broadly adolescents become rather less conscientious, more impulsive, more willing to take risks and seek adventure, more moody and irritable, and more social for a few years, then reverse those trends as they move into adulthood', she told MailOnline.
'First jobs and then parenthood tend to accentuate the trends toward general maturity and better and more stable mood.
'In older age, people tend to become more accepting of themselves and all that goes with that.'
She added there were large individual differences in these patterns and lots of these changes depend on what's going on in a person's life.
There are also some important caveats that need to be pointed out in the study, according to
Science Alert.
The sample size was very small and not very diverse, and the original study also relied on teachers rating their personality and the participants were not able to rate themselves. But the results are nonetheless interesting.
The researchers suggest that studies which only assess personality traits over part of a lifetime could be missing the bigger picture.
'Future studies should focus on developing better understanding of how and why personality changes throughout the life course', the researchers added.
Reader Comments
Each day is like a birth and a death.
There is a mystery to it.
But you won't solve the mystery.
Instead the mystery will solve you.
If you are kind and gentle and careful enough. And this will be your reward.
If you are not kind and gentle and careful enough, you will have a real problem on your hands.
And this problem will GROW.
A note to all scientists and their admirers.
ned,
OUT