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How do personality and social structures interact with each other to predict important life outcomes?: the importance of accounting for personality change

Boyce, Christopher J.; Wood, Alex M.; Delaney, Liam; Ferguson, Eamonn

Authors

Christopher J. Boyce

Alex M. Wood

Liam Delaney

EAMONN FERGUSON eamonn.ferguson@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Health Psychology



Abstract

Personality is important for a range of life outcomes. However, despite evidence that personality changes across time, there is a concerning tendency for researchers outside of personality psychology to treat measures of personality as if they are non-changing when establishing whether personality predicts important life outcomes. This is problematic when personality changes in response to outcomes of interest and creates a methodological issue that may result in misleading conclusions. We illustrate this methodological issue and suggest using measures before the outcome takes place to mitigate concerns. We then demonstrate, using data from Germany that using post-event personality measures, as opposed to pre-outcome measures, to predict both occurrence of, and reactions to, socio-economic events results in inconsistent conclusions in the directions hypothesized and therefore increases the likelihood of Type 1 and Type 2 errors. This has implications for research investigating the importance of personality for psychological, behavioral, and socio-economic outcomes.

Citation

Boyce, C. J., Wood, A. M., Delaney, L., & Ferguson, E. (in press). How do personality and social structures interact with each other to predict important life outcomes?: the importance of accounting for personality change. European Journal of Personality, 31(3), https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2099

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 13, 2017
Online Publication Date Apr 27, 2017
Deposit Date Mar 27, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal European Journal of Personality
Print ISSN 0890-2070
Electronic ISSN 1099-0984
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 3
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2099
Keywords Big Five personality; Regression methods; Socio-economic events; Development of personality
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/857767
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/per.2099/full
Additional Information This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Boyce, C. J., Wood, A. M., Delaney, L., and Ferguson, E. (2017) How do Personality and Social Structures Interact with Each Other to Predict Important Life Outcomes? The Importance of Accounting for Personality Change. Eur. J. Pers., doi: 10.1002/per.2099 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/per.2099/full This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

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