Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
PLoS One. 2019 Oct 9;14(10):e0223622. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223622. eCollection 2019.
Big Five personality traits are assumed to be linked with attitudes toward own aging. Since both constructs have central importance for the aging process, it is surprising that to our knowledge no study so far comprehensively addressed their mutual connection over time. We used data from the ILSE study, a longitudinal study capturing personality and attitudes toward own aging at four measurement occasions, spanning 20 years and including two participant cohorts in midlife (n = 501; born 1950-52) and later life (n = 500; born 1930-32). Dual latent change score models showed that personality was longitudinally related to change in attitudes toward own aging: Lower Neuroticism, higher Conscientiousness, and higher Openness predicted more positive attitudes, whereas the direction of the effect for Extraversion varied by time. Furthermore, the role of personality seems to be confined to certain sensitive periods in midlife and early old age. Contrary to our expectations, attitudes toward own aging had only marginal longitudinal impact on the Big Five. Our results shed light on the developmental co-dynamics of personality and subjective perceptions of aging across the second half of the lifespan.
五大人格特质被认为与个体对自身衰老的态度有关。由于这两个结构对衰老过程都具有核心重要性，令人惊讶的是，据我们所知，迄今为止尚无研究全面探讨它们随时间的相互关系。我们使用了 ILSE 研究的数据，该研究是一项纵向研究，在四个测量时间点上捕捉人格和对自身衰老的态度，跨度为 20 年，包括两个中年（n = 501；出生于 1950-52 年）和晚年（n = 500；出生于 1930-32 年）的参与者队列。双重潜变量变化评分模型显示，人格与对自身衰老态度的变化具有纵向相关性：较低的神经质、较高的尽责性和较高的开放性预示着更积极的态度，而外向性的影响方向随时间而变化。此外，人格的作用似乎仅限于中年和早老年的某些敏感时期。与我们的预期相反，对自身衰老的态度对五大人格特质只有微小的纵向影响。我们的研究结果揭示了人格和主观衰老感知在生命后半段的发展协同动态。
