Constance J. Jones - US grants

The purpose of the proposed investigation is to explore the development of psychological health from age 14 to 62 as seen in a longitudinally-studied sample of 148 individuals. These 148 individuals -- 70 men and 78 women - - from 2 distinct cohorts --are participants of the Berkeley Guidance Study (BGS) and the Oakland Growth Study (OGS), with data housed at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Participants have been extensively interviewed twice in adolescence and three times in adulthood; BGS members at ages 14, 18, 30, 42, and 54, and OGS members at ages 14, 18, 38, 50, and 62. Based on clinicians' ratings of these interviews, a clinically-relevant index of psychological health, applicable across the lifespan, has been derived. Through latent curve analysis, a novel statistical technique, the development of psychological health from early adolescence to later adulthood will be explored. For greater specificity and contextual understanding, gender and cohort differences in the development of psychological health will also be assessed. Finally, additional BGS and OGS data will be employed to begin to explain differential paths of psychological health.

The proposed study falls under "14. Personality in adulthood and old age; studies of stability and change in personality with age." The purpose of the proposed investigation is to explore stability and change in 20 aspects of adult personality as measured, at its widest interval, from age 34 to 74, in a longitudinally-studied sample of approximately 390 individuals. These individuals are original study members, or spouses or children of original study members, of the Berkeley Growth Study (BGS), the Guidance Study (GS), or the Oakland Growth Study (OGS). Responses to the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), a self-report measure of personality, provide the primary data to be analyzed. Since 1954, original study members have provided CPI data three (BGS) or four times (GS and OGS); members' spouses twice (BGS), three (OGS), or four times (GS); and members' children once (BGS) or twice (GS and OGS). Using hierarchical linear modeling, a statistical technique designed to accurately assess individual-level change and individual differences in individual-level change, the stability and change in personality from early to later adulthood will be explored. Three general research questions are posed: (1) which personality characteristics change and which do not?, (2) when does personality change and when does it not?, and (3) who shows personality change and who does not? For greater specificity and contextual understanding, gender and cohort differences in personality change will be examined. In addition, demographic and other personality data will be employed to begin to explain why aspects of personality may or may not change, when personality may or may not change, and who may or may not change.