Not all Conscientiousness Scales Change Alike: A Multimethod, Multisample Study of Age Differences in the Facets of Conscientiousness

Authors

Joshua J. Jackson, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Tim Bogg, Indiana University
Kate E. Walton, St. John’s University
Dustin Wood, Wake Forest UniversityFollow
Peter D. Harms, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Jennifer Lodi-Smith, University of Texas at Dallas
Grant W. Edmonds, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Brent W. Roberts, University of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignFollow

Date of this Version

2009

Comments

Published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96:2 (2009), pp. 446–459; doi: 10.1037/a0014156 Copyright © 2009 American Psychological Association. Used by permission. “This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record."

Abstract

Previous research has shown that traits from the domain of conscientiousness tend to increase with age. However, previous research has not tested whether all aspects of conscientiousness change with age. The present research tests age differences in multiple facets of conscientiousness (industriousness, orderliness, impulse control, reliability, and conventionality) using multiple methods and multiple samples. In a community sample (N = 274) and a representative statewide sample (N = 613) of 18- to 94-year-olds, self-reported industriousness, impulse control, and reliability showed age differences from early adulthood to middle age, whereas orderliness did not. The transition into late adulthood was characterized by increases in impulse control, reliability, and conventionality. In contrast, age differences in observer-rated personality occurred mainly in older adulthood. Age differences held across both ethnicity and levels of socioeconomic status.