TY - JOUR T1 - Physical activity and personality development across adulthood and old age: Evidence from two longitudinal studies JF - Journal of Research in Personality Y1 - 2014 A1 - Yannick Stephan A1 - Angelina R Sutin A1 - Antonio Terracciano KW - Event History/Life Cycle KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Methodology AB - Personality traits are associated with a number of health-related factors; less is known about how such factors contribute to adult personality development. Based on evidence for the protective role of physical activity for individual functioning, the present study tests whether physical activity contributes to personality stability and change. Using longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States study (N= 3758) and the Health and Retirement Study (N= 3774), we found that more physically active individuals declined less on conscientiousness, extraversion, openness and agreeableness, and had higher rank-order stability and profile consistency over time. These findings suggest that physical activity may help preserve personality stability and prevent maladaptive personality changes across adulthood and old age. 2013 Elsevier Inc. PB - 49 VL - 49 UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84891893126andpartnerID=40andmd5=e8bbe16791d8966632edd46360a3f5e6 IS - 1 N1 - Export Date: 29 January 2014 Source: Scopus U4 - Normative development/Personality change/Physical activity/Stability ER -