Personality Trait Change in African Countries: Normative Change and Life Events

Personality traits are enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Allport, 1961). Although personality traits are relatively enduring, they also change over the life span (Bleidorn et al., 2020; Bleidorn et al., 2021). In particular, young adulthood is an important time for normative personality trait change. Meta-analytic evidence shows an increase in rank-order stability during young adulthood and significant mean-level changes in the direction of greater maturity (Bleidorn et al., 2022). For example, young adults on average become more agreeable, more conscientious, and more emotionally stable (Bleidorn et al., 2021; Roberts et al., 2006). As personality traits and changes in these traits are relevant for various important life outcomes such as job satisfaction or relationship satisfaction (Bleidorn et al., 2019; Hoff et al., 2021; Schwaba et al., 2019), it is important to understand the causes of personality trait change. As for example suggested in the Social Investment Principle, major life events are a possible environmental causes of personality trait changes (Bleidorn et al., 2018; Roberts et al., 2005). Although the effect sizes of single major life events on personality trait change are rather small, it is now widely acknowledged that major life events can cause trait changes (Bleidorn et al., 2020). At the same time, there is also convincing evidence that people differ in their reaction to major life events (Haehner, Bleidorn, & Hopwood, 2022). To better understand these individual differences in event-related personality trait changes, it has been suggested that we need to consider how people perceive major life events (Haehner, Rakhshani, et al., 2022; Luhmann et al., 2021). The same life event may be perceived very differently by different individuals and thus have different implications for personality trait change (Haehner, Rakhshani, et al., 2022; Kritzler et al., 2022). For example, the perceived valence of major life events seems to be associated with changes in neuroticism over time (Haehner, Rakhshani, et al., 2022; Schwaba et al., 2022). Thus, considering the perception of major life events may help to detangle the complex and nuanced associations between major life events and personality traits (Haehner, Rakhshani, et al., 2022). However, so far, research on normative and event-related personality trait change was almost exclusively conducted in Western countries (e.g., Denissen et al., 2019; Haehner, Rakhshani, et al., 2022; Lüdtke et al., 2011). For example, not a single study from Africa could be found for inclusion in a recent meta-analysis on personality trait changes (Bleidorn et al., 2022), although African countries comprise approximately 18% of the world population. Examining personality change in Africa is thus highly needed to internationalize personality psychology research and to improve representation of the majority world (van de Vijver, 2013). Just assuming that findings from Western countries generalize to all people ignores that many, if not most, psychological phenomena have been seen to be impacted by cultural context (Henrich et al., 2010; Henrich et al., 2022). Thus, testing psychological phenomena outside Western contexts allows for an assessment of which aspects are human universals, and which are culturally specific. By doing so, we can better understand Western results as well as increase knowledge of other areas (Henrich, 2021; van de Vijver, 2013). In the particular domain of personality trait change, there are good reasons to assume that established associations might not generalize to African counties. For example, the structure of personality traits and the normativity of life events seems to be different in African countries compared to Western societies (Church, 2016; Ngo & Le, 2007; Thalmayer et al., 2021; Thalmayer et al., 2022). Using data from the Africa Long Life Study, we will address five research questions concerning normative and event-related personality trait change in Africa: 1) How rank-order stable are personality traits in young adulthood? 2) How do mean-levels of personality traits change in young adulthood? 3) Which major life events are reported in African countries and how are they perceived? 4) Do major life events predict personality trait changes over 1 year? 5) Can the perception of major life events predict personality trait changes over 1 year?