Hurricane exposure and personality development

Abstract

ObjectiveWe evaluated the role of natural disaster adversity on personality development in the wake of a hurricane, and the moderating role of previous hurricane exposure.MethodWe used a two‐wave longitudinal design and a diverse sample of emerging adults (n = 691; mean age = 22 years; 72% females, 27% European American, 29% Latino, 23% Asian American, 15% African American, 6% Multiracial/Other) who were exposed to one of the most damaging hurricanes on record, though to differing degrees. Immediately after the hurricane, we assessed objective individual‐level hurricane exposure, previous exposure to hurricanes, demographics, socioeconomic status, and Big Five personality traits. One year later, we re‐assessed Big Five personality traits.ResultsUsing latent change models, we found significant individual differences both in participants’ initial levels of personality traits at baseline, as well as in their developmental patterns of change in the year following the hurricane. However, there was no evidence of mean‐level change. Moreover, neither hurricane exposure level, nor its interaction with previous exposure showed statistically significant associations with the rates of change in any personality trait.ConclusionsThe present findings support a stability account, whereby individuals largely maintain their personality dispositions following an adverse life event, in this case a hurricane.

Toward a More Credible Understanding of Post‐Traumatic Growth

“…Chopik et al (in press) also found that the remaining soldiers were resilient in the wake of deployment; that is, their character strengths remained stable post‐deployment. This stability in personality characteristics echo the findings of Damian et al (in press) and Rakhshani and Furr (in press), who found evidence for stability in diverse community samples. Damian found that people's personality states remained resilient in the wake of a natural disaster, whereas Rakhshani and Furr found evidence for personality traits predicting the subsequent experience of adversity.…”

Personality trait stability and change

“…Natural experiments allow researchers to examine the effects of exogeneous shocks -defined as unexpected or unpredictable events that are outside of the participants' and researcher's control -on psychological variables while ruling out third-variable or reverse causality explanations (Akee et al, 2018). Major collective events such as natural disasters (e.g., Damian et al, 2021) create natural experiments because they meet the aforementioned criteria and affect many people at once. For example, recent studies have begun to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on changes in personality traits and well-being (e.g., Sutin et al, 2020).…”

Personality development in disruptive times: The impact of personal versus collective life events

“…The third study found no significant changes in the Big Five trait levels or their rates of change in Huston students a year after they were exposed to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 (Damian et al, 2021). Notably, none of these studies considered to what extend different individuals were personally affected by the respective disasters, which might explain the lack of notable changes.…”

“…For example, hurricanes can only occur in the Atlantic, they are about 300 miles wide and across its different parts-outflow, feeder bands, eyewall, eye, and the storm surge-its destructive powers can vary dramatically. Thus, location can be important to determine who has been more or less exposed to some collective life event like a hurricane (Damian et al, 2021;Mancini et al, 2021). Moreover, topographical features like mountains can attract and foster individuals of a specific personality profile (Götz et al, 2020).…”