Does Personality Moderate Reaction and Adaptation to Major Life Events? Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

Does personality moderate reaction and adaptation to major life events? Analysis of life satisfaction and affect in an Australian national sample

We used a nationally representative panel of Australian households to replicate a study by Yap et al. (2012) that evaluated how life satisfaction changed following major life events and the extent to which personality moderated those changes. We replicated the protective function of marriage but found that long-term declines that follow widowhood mostly reflect normative changes. In addition, we found that people reported slight decreases in positive affect following marriage and childbirth, an increase in positive affect following widowhood, and a slight increase in negative affect following childbirth, relative to normative trajectories. The Big Five did not moderate response to life events in a way that is consistent with past theory and research.

Studying Changes in Life Circumstances and Personality: It's about Time

Most theories of personality development posit that changes in life circumstances (e.g. due to major life events) can lead to changes in personality, but few studies have examined the exact time course of these changes. In this article, we argue that time needs to be considered explicitly in theories and empirical studies on personality development. We discuss six notions on the role of time in personality development. First, people can differ before the event. Second, change can be non–linear and discontinuous. Third, change can be reversible. Fourth, change can occur before the event. Fifth, control groups are needed to disentangle age–related and event–related changes. Sixth, we need to move beyond examining single major life events and study the effects of non–normative events, non–events, multiple events, and minor events on personality. We conclude by summarizing the methodological and theoretical implications of these notions. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology

Do social relationships buffer the effects of widowhood? A prospective study of adaptation to the loss of a spouse

The idea that strong social relationships can buffer the negative effects of stress on well-being has received much attention in existing literature. However, previous studies have used less than ideal research designs to test this hypothesis, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the buffering effects of social support. In this study, we examined the buffering hypothesis in the context of reaction and adaptation to widowhood in three large longitudinal datasets. We tested whether social relationships moderated reaction and adaptation to widowhood in samples of people who experienced loss of a spouse from three longitudinal datasets of nationally representative samples from Germany (N = 1,195), Great Britain (N = 562), and Australia (N = 298). We found no evidence that social relationships established before widowhood buffered either reaction or adaptation to the death of one's spouse. Similarly, social relationships that were in place during the first year of widowhood did not help widows and widowers recover from this difficult event. Social relationships acquired prior to widowhood, or those available in early stages of widowhood, do not appear to explain individual differences in adaptation to loss.