Personality plasticity in later adulthood: Contextual and personal resources are needed to increase openness to new experiences
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The central objective of the present study was to investigate whether it would be possible to facilitate increases in openness to new experiences in later adulthood. Specifically, we investigated whether individuals with higher internal control beliefs (personal resource) provided with training to successfully prepare them for a challenging volunteering context (contextual resources) would increase in openness. Participants of the training program (n = 148, 44-72 years, Mage = 62.80) and a control group of volunteers (n = 92, 46-80 years, Mage = 63.01) were assessed 3 times: before the training program (T0), after the training program (T1), and 1 year later (T2). As expected, there was a significant training by internal control beliefs interaction such that participants of the training program with higher internal control beliefs increased significantly in openness relative to control participants between T1 and T2. The current study provides evidence for the plasticity of personality in later adulthood and confirms the importance of both personal and contextual resources.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 855-866 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Psychology and aging |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 4 |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2012 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 22846062 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Internal control beliefs, Intervention, Openness to new experiences, Personality change, Plasticity