Does personality change with age?

Does your place among others stay the same?

Largely, yes. Where you stand compared with others becomes more stable as you get older. Researchers measure this as the correlation between two measurements of the same people: 0 means the order at the first measurement tells you nothing about the second, 1 means everyone stays in exactly the same place.

A classic review found a correlation of about 0.31 in childhood, 0.54 in the college years and 0.64 around age 30, rising to about 0.74 between 50 and 70 ^[5]. The more recent review found that stability rises mainly in the early years and levels off in young adulthood; it found little evidence of a further rise after 25 ^[2].

In plain terms: someone with Extraversion at 80 at age 30 will probably still score above the middle of their peers ten years later. But a correlation of 0.7 is not 1. There is still room for large shifts in individual people.

Why does your place become more settled over the years? Researchers name, among other things, two reasons ^[4]. People seek out and build surroundings that fit their traits, and those surroundings then keep the traits in place. And people with a clearer sense of who they are make choices that fit it, and others come to treat them that way too. Think of someone who likes to work alone with full focus and therefore picks a job with lots of independent work: that job then gives little reason to become different.

Can personality still change later in life?

Yes. Change is possible at any age, including middle and old age ^[6]. And people do not all change in the same way. Everyone follows their own path, and that path seems linked to what a person goes through in a particular stage of life ^[6].

Think of a first permanent job, a move to another country or a new role in your family. Experiences like these can nudge you in a direction. Whether and how much that happens differs from person to person.

That also means your score is a picture of how you describe yourself now. Ten years from now, that picture may look a little different.

What does a group average tell you about yourself?

Little with any certainty. An average describes a group, not a person. If people between 20 and 40 become somewhat more conscientious on average, there are still many who stay the same, and some who move the other way.

On top of that, people of the same age vary widely. Among 30-year-olds you find every score from very low to very high, and that remains true at every age.

It also helps to check what kind of study you are reading. A study that compares people of different ages at one moment is comparing different people, who also grew up in different times. A study that follows the same people for years sees real change. Both are useful, but they do not say the same thing.

Why do age-based norms make sense, then?

Precisely because averages differ by age, comparing yourself with people your own age adds something. A Conscientiousness score of 60 means something different against everyone than against people of your own age and gender.

That is why DepthFive shows two comparisons: one with the full reference group of more than 100,000 people and one with people like you. Age and gender are optional; without them you see only the comparison with the full group. What such a number means exactly is explained under percentiles and norm groups.

You can see it for yourself with the free test of 20 questions: five percentiles, two comparisons and a Depth Pattern, with no email address or account. For a one-off €25 ($25, or £22 in the UK) you answer the remaining 100 questions and get a personal report based on all 120.