Abstract

This study examined long-term personality trait
development in midlife and explored the impact of psychological
turning points on personality change. Selfdefined
psychological turning points reflect major changes
in the ways people think or feel about an important part of
their life, such as work, family, and beliefs about themselves
and about the world. This study used longitudinal
data from the Midlife in the US survey to examine personality
trait development in adults aged 40–60 years. The
Big Five traits were assessed in 1995 and 2005 by means of
self-descriptive adjectives. Seven types of self-identified
psychological turning points were obtained in 1995. Results
indicated relatively high stability with respect to rankorders
and mean-levels of personality traits, and at the same
time reliable individual differences in change. This implies
that despite the relative stability of personality traits in the
overall sample, some individuals show systematic deviations
from the sample mean-levels. Psychological turning
points in general showed very little influence on personality
trait change, although some effects were found for specific
types of turning points that warrant further research, such as discovering that a close friend or relative was a much better
person than one thought they were.