Personality changes in the aged: A longitudinal study with the MNT‐scale

Abstract

The three personality dimensions validity, solidity and stability according to Sjöbring were measured by means of the MNT scales in representative samples of 70-year-old men and women in Gothenburg, Sweden. They were followed up when 75 and 79. A longitudinal study was performed with regard to changes in means, standard deviations and sex differences. The means at 70 of the surviving subjects were compared with those of subjects who had died before the age of 79. The personality dimensions were, on the whole, unchanged between 70 and 79 except for a small increase in stability in men, implying a decrease in personal involvement, and a small decrease in validity in women implying lower levels of mental energy. There was also a decrease in solidity in men between 75 and 79 implying an increased tendency to dissociation. Variability and sex differences did not change. Men with low validity at 70 had an increased mortality. Cross-sectional studies would have given misleading results of the personality development in these age groups.

Change and stability of needs from middle adolescence to young adulthood in Swedish females

“…The CMPS has been used in several Swedish and Scandinavian studies, for instance, in an investigation on patients with affective disorders (Bech, Shapiro, Sihm, Nielsen, Sorensen and Rafaelsen, 1980;Bech, Jorgensen, Jeppesen, Loldrup Poulsen and Vangaard, 1986;Strandman, 1978), fertile women (Jacobsson, Perris and Espvall, 1979, and in elderly persons (Nilsson and Persson, 1984;Persson, 1980). and practically; difficulties in managing solely.…”

“…For instance, culturally approved sex roles in males change with age (Costa et al, 1980). Furthermore, the need for order has been found to increase in women as they get older (Nilsson and Persson, 1984).…”

Do conscientious individuals live longer? A quantitative review.

“…To investigate the overall association between conscientiousness and longevity and to explore possible moderators, calculations were performed using Fisher's Z-to-r transformation of the effect sizes, and the resulting values were transformed back to r for presentation purposes. Two studies (Nilsson & Persson, 1984;Persson, 1981) reported multiple facets of conscientiousness; for these studies, effect sizes were calculated separately for each facet and then aggregated to derive a single effect for the main analysis (Rosenthal, 1991). Overall weighted and unweighted means, medians, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated following a random-effects approach.…”

Personality as a Predictor of Depression Among the Elderly

“…Scales such as the Maudsley Personality Inventory (Sugiyama, 1984), the Marke Temperament Schedule (Nilsson & Persson, 1984), the Hand Test (Panek et al, 1976) and the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (Douglas & Arenberg, 1978) provide profiles of personality on the basis of univariate conceptualizations or theories with limited ranges of factors or scales. However, the design of the present study was derived from the incomplete and piecemeal nature of these studies in an effort to relate depressive symptom complexes to multivariate measures of personality.…”