The reciprocal impacts of adversity and personality traits: A prospective longitudinal study of growth, change, and the power of personality.

Objective: We integrate the study of post-traumatic growth with personality science by examining the reciprocal effects of adversity and core personality traits. We implemented conceptual (i.e., incorporating personality traits into the study of adversity-related growth, examining trait-specific and configural personality change, and adopting a cumulative approach to adversity) and methodological (i.e., three-wave prospective design, assessing many life events, sampling from populations likely to experience adversity) innovations to advance the study of personality development and of the generality of adversity-related growth.

Method: A diverse sample (41% nonwhite, 48% low-income, 68% female, M  = 44, 30% diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) participated in a three-wave prospective longitudinal study (N = 258-128 across waves). Participants completed a personality inventory and a battery of life-event surveys (including 105 events) at each wave.

Results: Personality was generally stable from trait-specific and configural perspectives, and all traits were correlated with adversity. All traits, particularly Extraversion and Conscientiousness, predicted adversity. Adversity predicted increases in Emotionality and decreases in Agreeableness.

Conclusions: Although personality growth is not the typical response to adversity within a 3-year period, findings underscore the real-world impact of personality, and they provide some support for developmental theories emphasizing the effects of life events.