Research

personality development

to what extent is personality stable versus changing across the lifespan? how do people’s personalities change?

>> Atherton, O.E., Grijalva, E., Roberts, B.W. & Robins, R.W. (2021). Stability and change in personality traits and major life goals from college to midlife. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(5), 841-858.

>> Atherton, O.E., Sutin, A.R., Terracciano, A., & Robins, R.W. (in press). Stability and change in the Big Five personality traits: Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin adults. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

>> Atherton, O.E., Donnellan, M.B., & Robins, R.W. (2020). The development of personality across the lifespan. In P.J. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology, 2nd ed (pp. 169-182). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

self-regulation

what is self-regulation? how does it develop? how do we cultivate more of it? when and why is it beneficial versus costly, and in what contexts?

>> Atherton, O.E., Lawson, K.M., & Robins, R.W. (2020). The development of effortful control from late childhood to young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(2), 417-456.

>> Serrano, S., Atherton, O.E., Robins, R.W., & Damian, R.I. (in press). Whose self-control development suffers or benefits in the face of adversity? A longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth followed from age 10 to 16. European Journal of Personality.

>> Damian, R.I., Atherton, O.E., Lawson, K.M., & Robins, R.W. (2020). The co-development of chores and effortful control among Mexican-origin youth and prospective work outcomes. Journal of Research in Personality, 84, 1-13.

socio-structural contexts

which socio-structural factors predict personality and health across the lifespan? how, when, and why do socio-structural contexts interact with individual differences to impact health behavior and outcomes?

>> Atherton, O.E., Lawson, K.M., & Robins, R.W. (2020). The development of effortful control from late childhood to young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(2), 417-456.

>> Atherton, O.E., Graham, E.K., Luo, J., Dorame, A., Horgan, D.E., Nevarez, M.D., Spiro, A., Schulz, M., Waldinger, R.J., Mroczek, D.K., & Lee, L.O. (under review). Intergenerational patterns of early life adversity: Findings from two generations of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

>> Atherton, O.E., Willroth, E.C., Luo, J., Graham, E.K., Mroczek, D.K., & Lewis-Thames, M.W. (invited special issue). Rural-urban differences in personality traits and well-being in adulthood. Journal of Personality.

mental and physical health

to what extent is personality associated with mental and physical health across the life course? how, when, and why do these associations emerge? in what ways can we improve human health, wellbeing, and longevity?

>> Atherton, O.E., Lawson, K.M., Ferrer, E., & Robins, R.W. (2020). The role of effortful control in the development of ADHD, ODD, and CD symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(6), 1226-1246.

>> Atherton, O.E., Willroth, E.C., Schwaba, T., Goktan, A.J., Graham, E.K., Condon, D.M., Rao, M.B., & Mroczek, D.K. (2021). Personality predictors of emergency department post-discharge outcomes. Personality Science, 2(1), 1-20.

>> Atherton, O.E., Graham, E.K., Willroth, E.C., & Mroczek, D.K. (in prep). Personality predictors of risky health behaviors across the lifespan: A coordinated analysis of 13 longitudinal studies.

quantitative methods

how can we study personality and health to build a more replicable and generalizable science? what does it mean to study psychological phenomena in the longterm – across weeks, months, years, decades, periods, and generations?

>> Atherton, O.E., Chung, J.M., Harris, K., Rohrer, J.M., Condon, D.M., Cheung, F., Vazire, S., Lucas, R.E., Donnellan, M.B., Mroczek, D.K., Soto, C.J., Antonoplis, S., Damian, R.I., Funder, D.C., Srivastava, S., Fraley, R.C., Jach, H., Roberts, B.W., Smillie, L.D., Sun, J., Tackett, J.L., Weston, S.J., Harden, K.P., & Corker, K.S. (in press). Why has personality psychology played an outsized role in the credibility revolution? Personality Science.

>> Atherton, O.E., Yang, Y.C., & Mroczek, D.K. (in prep). It’s time to integrate age-period-cohort analysis into psychological research.

>> Personality Development Collaborative