Does personality change following spousal bereavement?

TitleDoes personality change following spousal bereavement?
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsChopik, WJ
JournalJournal of Research in Personality
Volume72
Pagination10-21
ISSN Number00926566
KeywordsBereavement, Marriage, Personality
Abstract

Personality has been shown to be a large predictor of intrapersonal adjustment during the bereavement transition. However, the degree to which bereaved spouses' personalities change is relatively unclear, and extant studies that have examined this phenomenon have provided mixed results. In the current study, personality change following spousal bereavement was examined in two samples (N = 9944 and N = 535). There was little evidence for differences in mean-level changes in personality between bereaved and control participants. However, rank-order stability was considerably lower among bereaved participants over time, suggesting that personality change occurs less systematically than previously thought. The current study provides additional information about the conditions under which personality changes and suggests exciting new avenues for future research. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

URLhttp://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092656616301076http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0092656616301076?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0092656616301076?httpAccept=text/plain
DOI10.1016/j.jrp.2016.08.010
Short TitleJournal of Research in Personality
Citation Key9554