In fact, our personalities are intrinsically linked to our wellbeing as we age. For example, those with higher self-control are more likely to be healthy in later life, women with higher levels of neuroticism are more likely to experience symptoms during the menopause, and a degree of narcissism has been associated with lower rates of loneliness, which itself is a risk factor for an earlier death.
In the future, understanding how certain traits are linked to our health – and how we can expect our personalities to evolve throughout our lifespan – might help to predict who is most at risk of certain health problems, and intervene.
But there’s another benefit to the research. “I was just giving a talk in a prison yesterday,” says Mõttus. “There was one question they were really interested in: do people change at all? Well the big-picture finding is that yes, they do.” This means that, as far as he is concerned, there isn’t any strong evidence to suggest that people can use their personality as an excuse for their behaviour.
The knowledge that our personalities change throughout our lives, whether we want them to or not, is useful evidence of how malleable they are. “It’s important that we know this,” says Damian. “For a long time, people thought they didn’t. Now we’re seeing that our personalities can adapt, and this helps us to cope with the challenges that life throws at us.”
If nothing else, it gives us all something to look forward to as we get older, and find out who we will become.
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