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Self-Perceptions of Stability and Change in Personality at Midlife: The UNC Alumni Heart Study

Jeffrey H. Herbst

Robert R. McCrae

Paul T. Costa, Jr.

National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD

John R. Feaganes

Ilene C. Siegler

Duke University Medical Center

The finding of personality stability in adulthood may be counterintuitive to people who perceive a great deal of change in their own personality. The purpose of this study is to determine whether self-reported perceived changes in personality are associated with actual changes based on a 6-to 9-year follow-up of 2,242 middle-aged male and female participants of the UNC Alumni Heart Study (UNCAHS). Respondents completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory on two occasions and were asked to reflect back over a 6-year period and assess changes in their personality. The majority of respondents (n = 1,177; 52.5%) reported they had "stayed the same," while 863 (38.5%) reported they had "changed a little" and 202 (9%) reported they had "changed a good deal." Coefficients of personality profile agreement computed to evaluate global personality change for the three perceived change groups were essentially equivalent. Further, directional analyses of domain-specific changes in personality showed that perceived changes were weak predictors of residual gain scores. In an absolute sense, perceptions of stability or change were discordant in 8 of 15 (53%) comparisons. Self-perceptions of change are not an adequate substitute for objective assessments.

Key Words: Personality • stability • perceptions • longitudinal • midlife

Assessment, Vol. 7, No. 4, 379-388 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/107319110000700406
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Overview: Innovations in Assessment Using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory
Assessment, December 1, 2000; 7(4): 325 - 327.
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