Secularization Trends Obscure Developmental Changes in Religiosity

How do people’s religious beliefs and behaviors change over the course of adulthood? Previous research found rapid decreases in religiosity during young adulthood and rebounds in middle and late adulthood. However, secularization trends—if not accounted for—can bias or obscure age-graded changes in religiosity. Using longitudinal data from over 14,000 Dutch participants aged 16 to 101 years, we disentangled secularization trends from developmental changes in religiosity. Controlling for secularization, we found no evidence for age-graded declines in religiosity among young adults but lifelong increases in religiosity. These increases were most pronounced during middle to late adulthood, consistent with theories that emphasize the self-transcendent focus of this life stage. College-educated individuals were generally less religious and experienced less pronounced age-graded increases in their religious beliefs. These findings must be understood in the context of secularization trends as indicated by significant decreases in religiosity among people of all demographic groups

Toward a comprehensive dimensional model of sustainable behaviors

The goal of this study was to identify the underlying latent dimensions that account for variation in sustainable behaviors (SBs) among American adults. Our strategy was to assess all of the SBs sampled in existing measures, as well as a number of other variables relevant to individual differences in SBs, in a community sample (N = 1234). Variation in SBs could be accounted for by four broad dimensions: (1) goods, (2) food, (3) transportation, and (4) engagement. These dimensions were related to a range of criterion variables involving values, attitudes, personality traits, and demographic characteristics. Some potentially important and unique links with outcomes supported the importance of distinguishing the dimensions that underlie SBs. This work provides an evidence-based organizational scheme for SBs in future studies and points to important new directions in research on individual differences in proenvironmental behavior

Proenvironmental attitudes predict proenvironmental consumer behaviors over time

Proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors have been increasing over the past decade. In this study, we use longitudinal panel data from a nationally representative sample of the Swiss population (N = 9106) to replicate the finding that proenvironmental attitudes are linked with proenvironmental consumer behaviors, and present novel evidence that change in proenvironmental attitudes is associated with change in proenvironmental consumer behaviors. The links between proenvironmental attitudes and proenvironmental consumer behaviors were moderated by people's life stage but not by their perceived control. Together, these results provide important insights about the ways in which proenvironmental attitudes translate into proenvironmental consumer behaviors over time and across individuals with different demographic and psychological backgrounds

Self–other agreement in personality development in romantic couples

There is now compelling evidence that people’s typical patterns of thinking, feeling, striving, and behaving are both consistent and malleable. Therefore, researchers have begun to examine the distinct sources of personality stability and change. In this article, we discuss traditional classifications of sources, review key findings, and highlight limitations and open questions in research on personality stability and change. We conclude by describing an integrative model and by outlining important directions for future research

The prototypical parent personality

What personality traits characterize a typical parent? The purpose of this pre-registered study was to generate consensus-based Big Five personality prototypes of a typical father and mother through the eyes of 226 expecting parents and 281 nonparents (Total N = 507). We found that a prototypical father’s and mother’s personalities can be described with high levels of agreement as characterized by high levels of emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The prototypical mother profile is higher in extraversion, the agreeableness item: sympathy/warmth, and conscientiousness and lower in emotional stability compared to the prototypical father profile. Compared to nonparents, mothers’ self-rated levels of emotional stability and extraversion were more similar to the parent prototype. We found little evidence that parents’ self-reported personality aligns more with their beliefs about a prototypical parent’s personality after the transition to parenthood. Discussion focuses on personality prototypes and social role expectations during the transition to parenthood

Personality aspects and proenvironmental attitudes

Objective Climate change is a serious threat. Personality psychologists can help address this threat by understanding what kind of people tend to endorse proenvironmental attitudes and engage in sustainable behavior. Previous research supports reliable associations between proenvironmental attitudes and personality traits. However, this research has generally aggregated different kinds of attitudes into a single composite and has focused on the domain level of personality traits. Method This study explored how 10 lower-order aspects of the Big Five personality traits were related to eight different proenvironmental attitudes in three convenience samples from the United States (N = 1234; 1000) and the United Kingdom (N = 538). Results All five trait domains were related to at least one proenvironmental attitude across all three samples. Seven of eight proenvironmental attitudes could be predicted by one or more traits in all three samples. We also found evidence that the Openness aspect of Openness to Experience was a more consistent predictor of proenvironmental attitudes than the Intellect aspect. In contrast, there was little benefit in distinguishing between the aspects of other trait domains. We did not find evidence that age or political orientation moderated the associations between proenvironmental attitudes and personality. Conclusion Results point to the need for more fine-grained research on individual differences in proenvironmental attitudes and behavior