Age differences in personality across the adult life span: Parallels in five cultures

Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in the United States have sho wn consistent changes between college age and middle adulthood. There appea r to be declines in 3 of the 5 major factors of personality-Neuroticism, Ex traversion, and Openness-and increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousne ss. To examine cross-cultural generalizability of these findings, translati ons of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory were administered to samples i n Germany, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, and South Korea (N = 7,363). Similar p atterns of age differences were seen in each country, for both men and wome n. Common trends were also seen for the more specific traits that define th e major factors. Because these nations differ substantially in culture and recent history, results suggest the hypothesis that these are universal mat urational changes in adult personality.