However, what is most striking for this period is the wide variability in the nature and course of midlife (Lachman 2001 Willis and Martin 2005). Middle adulthood is also regarded in terms of gradual physical decline, along with the awareness of this decline and of the finiteness of the opportunities, and of life itself (Brim et al. However, the number and the nature of these roles change systematically during this time (Helson and Soto 2005). For example, middle-aged adults generally hold multiple social roles (e.g., spouse, parent, worker) with widest responsibilities. Although this might hold true to some extent, midlife is at the same time a challenging and complex period with diverse biosocial changes (cf. One reason for this is that, traditionally, middle adulthood has been considered as a time of relative stability in many realms of life. Given the centrality of midlife within the lifespan, surprisingly little is known about personality trait development within this unique period of life (Helson et al. 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. This implies that despite the relative stability of personality traits in the overall sample, some individuals show systematic deviations from the sample mean-levels. Results indicated relatively high stability with respect to rank-orders and mean-levels of personality traits, and at the same time reliable individual differences in change.

Seven types of self-identified psychological turning points were obtained in 1995.

The Big Five traits were assessed in 19 by means of self-descriptive adjectives. This study used longitudinal data from the Midlife in the US survey to examine personality trait development in adults aged 40вЂ“60В years. Self-defined 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 examined long-term personality trait development in midlife and explored the impact of psychological turning points on personality change.

Medieval 2 trait list