A random walk down university avenue: life paths, life events, and personality trait change at the transition to university life

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined the relation between continuity and change in the Big Five personality traits and life events. Approximately 2,000 German students were tracked from high school to university or to vocational training or work, with 3 assessments over 4 years. Life events were reported retrospectively at the 2nd and 3rd assessment. Latent curve analyses were used to assess change in personality traits, revealing 3 main findings. First, mean-level changes in the Big Five factors over the 4 years were in line with the maturity principle, indicating increasing psychological maturity from adolescence to young adulthood. Second, personality development was characterized by substantive individual differences relating to the life path followed; participants on a more vocationally oriented path showed higher increases in conscientiousness and lower increases in agreeableness than their peers at university. Third, initial level and change in the Big Five factors (especially Neuroticism and Extraversion) were linked to the occurrence of aggregated as well as single positive and negative life events. The analyses suggest that individual differences in personality development are associated with life transitions and individual life experiences.

Figure 1

Generic multiple indicator latent growth model with four indicators (parcels) of the latent variable Neuroticism (N), measured at three time points (T1, T2, and T3). The occasion-specific measurement models for N were constrained to be invariant across time, as indicated by factor loadings (a1, a2, and a3) that were set to be equal for each measurement occasion. Residuals of the four indicators were allowed to covary across occasions. Occasion-specific factors were used to specify one factor assessing initial differences at T1 (INT = intercept of the growth trajectory) and one factor assessing the individual amount of linear change (SLO = slope of the growth trajectory). To accommodate nonlinear change, one factor loading (λ) for the slope factor was set to be free; it can be interpreted as the proportion of change between T1 and T2 relative to the total change occurring from T1 to T3. COR(I, S) = correlation between initial level and change.

Figure 2

Latent curve trajectories for the Big Five personality traits for participants who entered college after high school (college) and participants who entered work or vocational training (noncollege).