Personality Development Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: The Role of Life Transitions and Self-Concept Clarity

Lisanne de Moor; Stefanie Nelemans; Andrik Becht; Wim Meeus; Susan Branje

doi:10.1177/08902070221119782

Personality Development Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: The Role of Life Transitions and Self-Concept Clarity

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Abstract

Personality develops across the lifespan, but most development occurs in adolescence and young adulthood. Life transitions to new social roles may be important drivers of mean-level personality development. The present study examined mean-level personality development in adolescence and young adulthood, and the role of the transition to tertiary education and working life therein in a sample of Dutch young people that were followed across 14 years (N = 497, AgeW1 = 13.03 years). We explored whether young people’s self-concept clarity moderated these associations. Our hypotheses and analytical plan were pre-registered. Findings from Latent Growth Models showed support for maturation in personality across adolescence and young adulthood, but not a maturity dip. Having the role of employee was associated with higher conscientiousness, but no associations were found of the transition to tertiary education and the transition to work with mean-level development of any of the personality traits. Self-concept clarity did not moderate the role of transitions in mean-level personality development. Our findings suggest that socialization effects may not explain associations between life transitions and personality development in adolescence and young adulthood.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	587-604
Number of pages	18
Journal	European Journal of Personality
Volume	37
Issue number	5
Early online date	16 Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221119782
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Elisabeth L. de Moor and Susan Branje were supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC-CoG INTRANSITION-773023). Data of the RADAR (Research on Adolescent Development And Relationships) study were used ( https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zrb-v5wp ). RADAR has been financially supported by main grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006), Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to the Consortium Individual Development (CID; 024.001.003), a grant of the European Research Council (ERC-2017-CoG—773023 INTRANSITION), and various other grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, VU University Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Initial ethical approval for the project was gained from the medical ethical committee of the University Medical Center in Utrecht (the Netherlands, project number: #05/159-K).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

Keywords

adolescence
young adulthood
big five personality traits
life transitions
self-concept clarity

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Cite this

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title = "Personality Development Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: The Role of Life Transitions and Self-Concept Clarity",

abstract = "Personality develops across the lifespan, but most development occurs in adolescence and young adulthood. Life transitions to new social roles may be important drivers of mean-level personality development. The present study examined mean-level personality development in adolescence and young adulthood, and the role of the transition to tertiary education and working life therein in a sample of Dutch young people that were followed across 14 years (N = 497, AgeW1 = 13.03 years). We explored whether young people{\textquoteright}s self-concept clarity moderated these associations. Our hypotheses and analytical plan were pre-registered. Findings from Latent Growth Models showed support for maturation in personality across adolescence and young adulthood, but not a maturity dip. Having the role of employee was associated with higher conscientiousness, but no associations were found of the transition to tertiary education and the transition to work with mean-level development of any of the personality traits. Self-concept clarity did not moderate the role of transitions in mean-level personality development. Our findings suggest that socialization effects may not explain associations between life transitions and personality development in adolescence and young adulthood.",

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note = "Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Elisabeth L. de Moor and Susan Branje were supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC-CoG INTRANSITION-773023). Data of the RADAR (Research on Adolescent Development And Relationships) study were used ( https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zrb-v5wp ). RADAR has been financially supported by main grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006), Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to the Consortium Individual Development (CID; 024.001.003), a grant of the European Research Council (ERC-2017-CoG—773023 INTRANSITION), and various other grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, VU University Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Initial ethical approval for the project was gained from the medical ethical committee of the University Medical Center in Utrecht (the Netherlands, project number: \#05/159-K). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

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AU - Meeus, Wim

AU - Branje, Susan

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Elisabeth L. de Moor and Susan Branje were supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC-CoG INTRANSITION-773023). Data of the RADAR (Research on Adolescent Development And Relationships) study were used ( https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zrb-v5wp ). RADAR has been financially supported by main grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006), Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to the Consortium Individual Development (CID; 024.001.003), a grant of the European Research Council (ERC-2017-CoG—773023 INTRANSITION), and various other grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, VU University Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Initial ethical approval for the project was gained from the medical ethical committee of the University Medical Center in Utrecht (the Netherlands, project number: #05/159-K). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

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N2 - Personality develops across the lifespan, but most development occurs in adolescence and young adulthood. Life transitions to new social roles may be important drivers of mean-level personality development. The present study examined mean-level personality development in adolescence and young adulthood, and the role of the transition to tertiary education and working life therein in a sample of Dutch young people that were followed across 14 years (N = 497, AgeW1 = 13.03 years). We explored whether young people’s self-concept clarity moderated these associations. Our hypotheses and analytical plan were pre-registered. Findings from Latent Growth Models showed support for maturation in personality across adolescence and young adulthood, but not a maturity dip. Having the role of employee was associated with higher conscientiousness, but no associations were found of the transition to tertiary education and the transition to work with mean-level development of any of the personality traits. Self-concept clarity did not moderate the role of transitions in mean-level personality development. Our findings suggest that socialization effects may not explain associations between life transitions and personality development in adolescence and young adulthood.

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Personality Development Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: The Role of Life Transitions and Self-Concept Clarity

Abstract

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Keywords

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