Life events sometimes alter the trajectory of personality development: Effect sizes for 25 life events estimated using a large, frequently assessed sample.

OBJECTIVE: Personality changes across the life span. Life events, such as marriage, becoming a parent, and retirement, have been proposed as facilitating personality growth via the adoption of novel social roles. However, empirical evidence linking life events with personality development is sparse. Most studies have relied on few assessments separated by long time intervals and have focused on a single life event. In contrast, the content of life is composed of small, recurrent experiences (e.g., getting sick or practicing a hobby), with relatively few major events (e.g., childbirth). Small, frequently experienced life events may play an important and overlooked role in personality development. METHOD: The present study examined the extent to which 25 major and minor life events alter the trajectory of personality development in a large, frequently assessed sample (Nsample = 4904, Nassessments = 47,814, median retest interval = 35 days). RESULTS: Using a flexible analytic strategy to accommodate the repeated occurrence of life events, we found that the trajectory of personality development shifted in response to a single occurrence of some major life events (e.g., divorce), and recurrent, "minor" life experiences (e.g., one's partner doing something special). CONCLUSION: Both stark role changes and frequently reinforced minor experiences can lead to personality change.

Testing the canalization hypothesis of attachment theory: Examining within-subject variation in attachment security.

According to the canalization hypothesis of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973), people's trajectories of attachment security should become increasingly stable and buffered against external pressures as their relationships progress. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis within the context of romantic relationships. We analyzed longitudinal data collected from 1,741 adults who completed between three and 24 survey assessments (average number of waves analyzed = 6.79, SD = 5.31; median test-retest interval = 35 days). We modeled participants' within-person fluctuations in partner-specific security as a function of their romantic relationship length. Additionally, we examined whether attachment-related events (e.g., conflict with one's partner) predict greater within-person fluctuations in security among people involved in newer versus more established romantic relationships. Our results suggest that people in newer romantic relationships demonstrated greater fluctuations in partner-specific attachment anxiety-both generally and in reaction to attachment-related events-compared to those in well-established romantic relationships. However, neither of these trends was observed for partner-specific attachment avoidance. These results provide partial support for the canalization hypothesis but also suggest that canalization processes may be more nuanced than previously assumed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Dismissing Attachment and Global and Daily Indicators of Subjective Well-Being: An Experience Sampling Approach.

The present research examined whether a dismissing attachment style (i.e., being high in attachment avoidance and low in attachment anxiety) is a risk factor for low subjective well-being (SWB). Specifically, we examined the associations between dismissing attachment and two indicators of SWB: global life satisfaction and daily affect. Self-reports of attachment and overall life satisfaction were collected from 257 adults at an initial lab session. Afterward, experience sampling methodology was used to gather repeated measures of positive and negative affect, as well as social context, from the sample for 8 days. Our findings indicate that, on average, dismissing people reported fairly modest levels of overall life satisfaction. Moreover, they experienced relatively low levels of both negative affect and positive affect across the 8-day study period. Overall, our results suggest that dismissing people have a "muted" or dull emotional life.