European Journal of Personality

Personality traits predict both the initiation and continued usage of alcohol and drugs. Less established is if substance use is associated with subsequent changes in personality, especially during the sensitive period of adolescence. We used three approaches to disentangle selection and socialization effects to address whether substance use is associated with personality development (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, depression, self-esteem). First, we used a multi-wave longitudinal sample of adolescents (N = 8,303) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - Child and Young Adult dataset to study the first use of several substances. Second, we used propensity score weighting to equate users and abstainers on a range of background variables. Third, we investigated changes before, during, and after initiation of substances. Overall, there was unique variability and effects in personality across time for average levels, trajectories, and magnitudes of change both between users and abstainers as well as within users of specific substances. Results suggest that initiation of substance use is associated with changes in personality; the specifics of which are largely contingent upon the substance being used. Impulsivity and sensation-seeking were the traits associated with the most change while cocaine and cigarettes were the substances associated with the greatest changes.

Nearly 25 years ago, four studies examined the development of social value orientation (SVO) and uncovered that SVO was related to specific and general adult attachment, the number of siblings, and age. However, some of these findings have been challenged by two recent replication studies. The present (pre-registered) research extends these replication studies and the original research by using multiple measurements of both SVO and adult attachment on two large samples that allowed us to detect small effect sizes. With online samples (N = 1446 and 2644) from MTurk and Prolific, we replicated earlier findings that prosociality was associated with a greater level of secure attachment and a lower level of avoidant attachment. Moreover, prosociality was positively related to the number of siblings, especially sisters, as discovered by Study 3 of the original study. However, we failed to replicate the significant relation between SVO and age. Generally, we conclude that prosocial orientation is associated—even if modestly—with secure and avoidant attachment and the number of siblings, but the link with age is a question open to future investigation.

Major stressors often challenge emotional well-being—increasing negative emotions and decreasing positive emotions. But how long do these emotional hits last? Prior theory and research contain conflicting views. Some research suggests that most individuals’ emotional well-being will return to, or even surpass, baseline levels relatively quickly. Others have challenged this view, arguing that this type of resilient response is uncommon. The present research provides a strong test of resilience theory by examining emotional trajectories over the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In two pre-registered longitudinal studies (total N =1147), we examined average emotional trajectories and predictors of individual differences in emotional trajectories across 13 waves of data from February through September 2020. The pandemic had immediate detrimental effects on average emotional well-being. Across the next 6 months, average negative emotions returned to baseline levels with the greatest improvements occurring almost immediately. Yet, positive emotions remained depleted relative to baseline levels, illustrating the limits of typical resilience. Individuals differed substantially around these average emotional trajectories and these individual differences were predicted by socio-demographic characteristics and stressor exposure. We discuss theoretical implications of these findings that we hope will contribute to more nuanced approaches to studying, understanding, and improving emotional well-being following major stressors.

Becoming a parent could be expected to affect personality development, but the existing results on parenthood-personality change connection are mixed. The present study investigated 2445 primi- and multiparous mothers’ facet- and domain-level changes in Neuroticism and Extraversion from early pregnancy to 6 months post-partum, using latent difference score models. The results showed that Excitability and the affective facets of Neuroticism decreased, and the Neuroticism facets Impulsivity and Self-Consciousness increased during the follow-up. Furthermore, mother-perceived child difficult temperament attenuated desirable personality change and amplified the increases in Impulsivity. The results suggested that considering facet-level changes in personality development across significant life events is informative, and that mother-perceived child temperament may represent an important moderator of short-term personality change across the transition to parenthood.

Self-control has predominantly been characterized as a domain-general individual difference, assuming that highly self-controlled individuals are generally, that is, irrespective of domain, better at resisting their desires. However, qualitative differences in the domains in which these desires emerge and how individuals interact with these domains have rarely been examined. We re-analyzed three experience sampling datasets (N _participants = 431, N _observations = 15,962) and found that person × domain interactions predicted significant additional variance in momentary self-control above and beyond person differences, ranging from additional 6.2% of variance in desire strength to 17.0% of variance in conflict strength. Moreover, person × domain interactions in resistance strength predicted significantly more variance in resistance success than person or domain differences. Nevertheless, the number of individual resistance profiles was too diverse to be meaningfully reduced to a core set of latent resistance profiles. Thus, our results demonstrate the importance of considering person × domain interactions in future investigations of self-control and show that there is great diversity in how and how successfully different people interact with their self-control conflicts in different domains.

Is what is beautiful good and more accurately understood? Lorenzo et al. (2010) explored this question and found that more attractive targets (as per consensus) were judged more positively and accurately. Perceivers’ specific (idiosyncratic) ratings of targets’ attractiveness were also related to more positive and accurate impressions, but the latter was only true for highly consensually attractive targets. With a larger sample (N = 547), employing a round-robin study design, we aimed to replicate and extend these findings by (1) using a more reliable accuracy criterion, (2) using a direct measure of positive personality impressions, and (3) exploring attention as a potential mechanism of these links. We found that targets’ consensual attractiveness was not significantly related to the positivity or the accuracy of impressions. Replicating the original findings, idiosyncratic attractiveness was related to more positive impressions. The association between idiosyncratic attractiveness and accuracy was again dependent on consensual attractiveness, but here, idiosyncratic attractiveness was associated with lower accuracy for less consensually attractive targets. Perceivers’ attention helped explain these associations. These results partially replicate the original findings while also providing new insight: What is beautiful to the beholder is good but is less accurately understood if the target is consensually less attractive.

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) predicts that moral behaviour reflects at least five foundational traits, each hypothesised to be heritable. Here, we report two independent twin studies (total n = 2020), using multivariate multi-group common pathway models to test the following three predictions from the MFT: (1) The moral foundations will show significant heritability; (2) The moral foundations will each be genetically distinct and (3) The clustering of moral concerns around individualising and binding domains will show significant heritability. Supporting predictions 1 and 3, Study 1 showed evidence for significant heritability of two broad moral factors corresponding to individualising and binding domains. In Study 2, we added the second dataset, testing replication of the Study 1 model in a joint approach. This further corroborated evidence for heritable influence, showed strong influences on the individualising and binding domains (h² = 49% and 66%, respectively) and, partially supporting prediction 2, showed foundation-specific, heritable influences on Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity and Purity/Sanctity foundations. A general morality factor was required, also showing substantial genetic effects (40%). These findings indicate that moral foundations have significant genetic bases. These influenced the individual foundations themselves as well as a general concern for the individual, for the group, and overall moral concern.