Personality Change
Whereas basic personality traits may remain rather stable throughout adulthood, relatively predictable shifts may occur in other aspects of a person's personality. One of the best-documented personality changes in adulthood is an increased preoccupation with one's inner life, including:
- greater attention to personal feelings
- experiences
- reduced extraversion
This increased attention to one's self, often is accompanied by a tendency to be less hasty and more careful than at earlier ages. In some, it may be accompanied by greater cautiousness and decreased interest in the outside world.
A second domain in which age-related changes have been found concerns gender role identity. As they age, men and women appear to become more similar in terms of their values and personality styles.
Studies in a number of different cultures have found that men tend to become more:
- nurturing
- expressive
- affiliation-seeking as they grow older
Whereas women tend to become:
- more instrumental
- achievement-oriented
It is not clear whether these shifts reflect true personality changes or are simply a result of differential role opportunities across the life cycle. Retirement may provide an opportunity for men to express nurturing qualities that are not seen as adaptive at work. Whereas the end of child-rearing responsibilities may allow women an opportunity to express achievement-oriented qualities.
Any attempt to identify predictable personality changes in later life should note that longitudinal studies have found that adults tend to exhibit greater inter-individual distinction, as they grow older. Interaction styles become more individualized and people may appear to be "more themselves" than at any other time of their lives. To some extent, this may be a result of a reduced need to harmonize to outside expectations, particularly in societies that lack clear and apparent social role norms for older adults.
In addition, it is likely that persons of any age may become somewhat less flexible when faced with the types of social and role losses typically experienced by older persons. Finally, there is some evidence that persons with stronger, more inflexible personalities may have lower mortality rates in certain situations, causing them to be over represented among the elderly.
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