Several studies have suggested that the rank-order stability of personality increases until midlife and declines later in old age. However, this inverted U-shaped pattern has not consistently emerged in previous research; in particular, a recent investigation implementing several methodological advances failed to support it. To resolve the matter, we analyzed data from two representative panel studies and investigated how certain methodological decisions affect conclusions regarding the age trajectories of stability. The data came from Australia (N = 15,465; Study 1) and Germany (N = 21,777; Study 2), and each study included four waves of personality assessment. We investigated the life span development of the rank-order stability of the Big Five for 4-, 8-, and 12-year intervals. Whereas Study 1 provided strong evidence for an inverted U-shape with rank-order stability declining past age 50, Study 2 provided more mixed results that nonetheless generally supported the inverted U-shape. This developmental trend held for single personality traits as well as for the overall pattern across traits; and it held for all three retest intervals-both descriptively and in formal tests. Additionally, we found evidence that health-related changes accounted for the decline in rank-order stability in older age. This suggests that if analyses are implicitly conditioned on health (e.g., by excluding participants with missing data on later waves), the decline in stability in old age will be underestimated or even missed. Our results provide further evidence for the inverted U-shaped age pattern in personality stability development but also extend knowledge about the underlying processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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五巨头在整个生命周期中排名稳定的发展。

几项研究表明，人格的等级顺序稳定性在中年之前会增加，而在老年之后会下降。然而，这种倒 U 形模式在之前的研究中并没有持续出现；特别是，最近一项实施若干方法进步的调查未能支持它。为了解决这个问题，我们分析了来自两个具有代表性的小组研究的数据，并调查了某些方法决策如何影响关于稳定性年龄轨迹的结论。数据来自澳大利亚（N = 15,465；研究 1）和德国（N = 21,777；研究 2），每项研究都包括四波人格评估。我们以 4 年、8 年和 12 年为间隔调查了五巨头的排名顺序稳定性的寿命发展。研究 1 为倒 U 形提供了强有力的证据，其等级顺序稳定性在 50 岁后下降，研究 2 提供了更多混合的结果，但总体上支持倒 U 形。这种发展趋势既适用于单一人格特质，也适用于跨特质的整体模式；它适用于所有三个重新测试间隔 - 无论是描述性测试还是正式测试。此外，我们发现有证据表明，与健康相关的变化是导致老年人排名稳定性下降的原因。这表明，如果分析隐含地以健康为条件（例如，通过排除后期数据缺失的参与者），老年稳定性的下降将被低估甚至错过。我们的研究结果为人格稳定性发展中倒 U 型年龄模式提供了进一步的证据，同时也扩展了对潜在过程的了解。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。