The relevance of perceived work environment and work activities for personality trajectories in midlife

Objectives: Work is an important developmental context in adulthood, yet little is known about how it contributes to personality trajectories in midlife. The present study examines how subjectively perceived work environment (autonomy, innovation, social integration, stress) and objectively measured work activities (activities related to information and people, physical/manual activities) are related to levels of Big Five personality traits at age 44 and to change over 20 years.

Methods: We analyzed four-wave longitudinal data from N = 374 participants (born 1950-1952; M_age T1 = 44 years, SD = 1; 44% women) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging (ILSE) within the structural equation modeling framework.

Results: At baseline, subjective perceptions of work environments showed a higher number of significant associations with personality than objective work activities. Over time, small declines in neuroticism and extraversion and small increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness were observed, which were largely independent of work characteristics.

Conclusions: Our findings show slight changes in most Big Five traits from age 44 to 64, which were mostly unrelated to work characteristics. More research is needed to uncover the sources and dynamics of personality trait change in midlife and the role of work for personality trajectories.