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Objective: Leaders differ in their personalities from non-leaders. However, when do these differences emerge? Are leaders "born to be leaders" or does their personality change in preparation for a leadership role and due to increasing leadership experience?, Method: Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we examined personality differences between leaders (N = 2683 leaders, women: n = 967; 36.04%) and non-leaders (N = 33,663) as well as personality changes before and after becoming a leader., Results: Already in the years before starting a leadership position, leaders-to-be were more extraverted, open, emotionally stable, conscientious, and willing to take risks, felt to have greater control, and trusted others more than non-leaders. Moreover, personality changed in emergent leaders: While approaching a leadership position, leaders-to-be (especially men) became gradually more extraverted, open, and willing to take risks and felt to have more control over their life. After becoming a leader, they became less extraverted, less willing to take risks, and less conscientious but gained self-esteem., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that people are not simply "born to be leaders" but that their personalities change considerably in preparation for a leadership role and due to leadership experience. Some changes are transient, but others last for a long time., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Previous research suggests that romantic relationships play a crucial role for perceived control. However, we know surprisingly little about changes in perceived control before and after the end of romantic relationships., Methods: Based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a nationally representative household panel study from Germany, we examined changes of perceived control in the years around separation from a partner (N = 1,235), divorce (N = 423), and the death of a partner (N = 437)., Results: Multilevel analyses revealed that external control beliefs were higher in but not beyond the first year after separation from a partner. Internal and total control beliefs increased gradually in the years after separation. Moreover, internal control beliefs were higher in and especially beyond the first year after the death of a partner compared to the years before. No evidence was found that perceived control already changed in the years before relationship losses or in the years around a divorce., Conclusion: Taken together, these findings point toward stress-related growth of perceived control after some relationship losses-especially separation and the death of a partner., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objective: At work, people are confronted with clear behavioral expectations. In line with the Social Investment Principle, the beginning and ending of working life might thus promote changes in personality traits that are relevant at work (e.g., Conscientiousness)., Method: Based on the data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we examined nuanced differences of the Big Five personality traits in the years around the beginning and ending of working life. Whether participants had started working or retired in the past year was assessed yearly. The Big Five personality traits were assessed in four waves between 2005 and 2017., Results: In people who started working, multilevel analyses revealed that Conscientiousness was higher in the first year of working life versus all other years. Extraversion was higher in and after the first year of working life versus before, and Agreeableness increased gradually in the three years after people had started working. In people who retired, Conscientiousness was lower in and after the first year of retirement versus before. No other traits differed around the start of retirement., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the start of working life might promote personality maturation and that retirement might promote personality "relaxation.", (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

People differ from each other in their typical patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion and these patterns are considered to constitute their personalities (Funder, 2001). For various reasons, for example, because certain trait levels may help to attain certain goals or fulfill certain social roles, people may experience that their actual trait levels are different from their ideal trait levels. In this study, we investigated (a) the impact of age on discrepancies between actual and ideal Big Five personality trait levels and (b) the impact of these discrepancies on personality trait changes across a period of 2 years. We use data of a large, nationally representative, and age-diverse sample (N = 4,057, 17-94 years, M = 53 years). Results largely confirmed previously reported age effects on actual personality trait levels but were sometimes more complex. Ideal trait levels exceeded actual trait levels more strongly for younger compared with older adults. Unexpectedly, neither ideal trait levels nor their interaction with beliefs about the extent to which personality is malleable versus fixed predicted trait change over 2 years (controlling for actual trait levels). We conclude that ideal-actual trait level discrepancies may provide an impetus for change but that they appear to neither alone nor in combination with the belief that personality trait change is possible suffice to produce such change. We discuss commitment, self-efficacy, and strategy knowledge as potential additional predictors of trait change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality predicts how we interact with others, what partners we have, and how happy and lasting our romantic relationships are. At the same time, our experiences in these relationships may affect our personality. Who experiences specific major relationship events, and how do these events relate to personality development? We examined this issue based on data from a nationally representative household panel study from Germany (N = 49,932). In this study, the occurrence of major relationship events (moving in with a partner, marriage, separation, and divorce) was assessed yearly, and the Big Five personality traits were measured repeatedly in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 with the short version of the Big Five Inventory. We applied multilevel analyses to simultaneously model selection effects as well as different types of personality changes in the years before and after these events in the total sample and separately in women and men. Our findings revealed that less agreeable individuals were more likely to experience each of the examined relationship events. Moreover, each event was associated with personality changes, which only occurred after (not before) these events and considerably varied by event and gender. Individuals who moved in with a partner, got married, or separated from a partner primarily experienced changes in openness in the first year thereafter, and individuals who separated from a partner or got divorced became less emotionally stable in the following years. However, there was little evidence for "maturation" effects, except that individuals who moved in with a partner (especially men) became more conscientious in the following years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Although losing one's spouse is one of the worst experiences that can occur in life, it has not been resolved yet how this experience relates to personality development., Method: In the German Socio-Economic Panel study, information on the death of a spouse was assessed yearly from 1985 to 2017 and personality was measured repeatedly in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 with a short version of the Big Five Inventory. We used multilevel analyses to simultaneously model whether personality differed between individuals who did or did not lose their spouse and whether personality changed prior to and after this experience., Results: Compared to controls without the event, individuals who lost their spouse at a later point of time were more conscientious (β = .21) and more extraverted (β = .17). They became gradually more extraverted in the three years prior to the event (β = .25), but were less extraverted thereafter (β =-.27). Moreover, they gradually increased in Emotional Stability in the three years after this experience (β = .30). These changes were primarily driven by women and middle-aged individuals. Men whose spouse died were less open in the first year after the event (β =-.47)., Conclusions: Losing one's spouse relates to changes in Extraversion and Emotional Stability, especially in women and middle-aged adults., (© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The notion of person-environment fit implies that personal and contextual factors interact in influencing important life outcomes. Using data from 8,458 employed individuals, we examined the combined effects of individuals' actual personality traits and jobs' expert-rated personality demands on earnings. Results from a response surface analysis indicated that the fit between individuals' actual personality and the personality demands of their jobs is a predictor of income. Conclusions of this combined analysis were partly opposite to conclusions reached in previous studies using conventional regression methods. Individuals can earn additional income of more than their monthly salary per year if they hold a job that fits their personality. Thus, at least for some traits, economic success depends not only on having a "successful personality" but also, in part, on finding the best niche for one's personality. We discuss the findings with regard to labor-market policies and individuals' job-selection strategies.

Previous research found that cognitive training increases the Big Five personality trait Openness to Experience during and some weeks after the intervention. The present study investigated whether long-term changes happen in Openness to Experience and other personality traits after an extensive cognitive training of memory and perceptual speed. The intervention group consisted of 204 adults (20-31 years and 65-80 years; 50% female) who received daily 1-hour cognitive training sessions for about 100 days. The control group consisted of 86 adults (21-29 years and 65-82 years; 51% female) who received no cognitive training. All participants answered the NEO Five-Factor Inventory before and 2 years after the cognitive training. Latent change models were applied that controlled for age group (young vs. old) and gender. In the long run, the cognitive training did not affect changes in any facet of Openness to Experience. This was true for young and old participants as well as for men and women. Instead, the cognitive training lowered the general increase of Conscientiousness. Even an extensive cognitive training on memory and perceptual speed does not serve as a sufficient intervention for enduring changes in Openness to Experiences or one of its facets., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Consistency and change in personality were analyzed by examining personality types across adulthood and old age using data from 2 nationally representative panel studies from Germany (N = 14,718; 16-82 years) and Australia (N = 8,315; 15-79 years). In both samples, the Big Five personality traits were measured twice across a period of 4 years. Latent profile analyses and latent profile transition analyses revealed 4 main findings: First, solutions with 3 (in the German sample) or 4 (in the Australian sample) personality types were found to be most interpretable. Second, measurement invariance tests revealed that these personality types were consistent across all age groups but differed slightly between men and women. Third, age was related to the number of individuals classified within each personality type. Namely, there were more resilients and fewer undercontrollers in older compared with younger age groups. Fourth, there was strong consistency of personality type membership across a period of 4 years in both genders and most age cohorts. Comparatively less consistency across time was found for undercontrollers and individuals in old age. Taken together, these findings show that in the 2 nations studied here, personality types were highly consistent across gender, age, and time., (2014 APA, all rights reserved)

Does personality change across the entire life course, and are those changes due to intrinsic maturation or major life experiences? This longitudinal study investigated changes in the mean levels and rank order of the Big Five personality traits in a heterogeneous sample of 14,718 Germans across all of adulthood. Latent change and latent moderated regression models provided 4 main findings: First, age had a complex curvilinear influence on mean levels of personality. Second, the rank-order stability of Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness, and Agreeableness all followed an inverted U-shaped function, reaching a peak between the ages of 40 and 60 and decreasing afterward, whereas Conscientiousness showed a continuously increasing rank-order stability across adulthood. Third, personality predicted the occurrence of several objective major life events (selection effects) and changed in reaction to experiencing these events (socialization effects), suggesting that personality can change due to factors other than intrinsic maturation. Fourth, when events were clustered according to their valence, as is commonly done, effects of the environment on changes in personality were either overlooked or overgeneralized. In sum, our analyses show that personality changes throughout the life span, but with more pronounced changes in young and old ages, and that this change is partly attributable to social demands and experiences., (2011 APA, all rights reserved)