TY - JOUR

T1 - Who in the World Is Trying to Change Their Personality Traits? Volitional Personality Change Among College Students in Six Continents

AU - Baranski, Erica

AU - Gardiner, Gwendolyn

AU - Lee, Daniel

AU - Funder, David C.

AU - Beramendi, Maite

AU - Bastian, Brock

AU - Neubauer, Aljoscha

AU - Cortez, Diego

AU - Roth, Eric

AU - Torres, Ana

AU - Zanini, Daniela S.

AU - Petkova, Kristina

AU - Tracy, Jessica

AU - Amiot, Catherine E.

AU - Pelletier-Dumas, Mathieu

AU - González, Roberto

AU - Rosenbluth, Ana

AU - Salgado, Sergio

AU - Guan, Yanjun

AU - Yang, Yu

AU - Buchtel, Emma E.

AU - Yeung, Victoria Wai Lan

AU - Forero, Diego A.

AU - Camargo, Andrés

AU - Jerneić, Željko

AU - Hrõebíčková, Martina

AU - Graf, Sylvie

AU - Strøbæk, Pernille

AU - Realo, Anu

AU - Realo, Anu

AU - Maisonneuve, Christelle

AU - El-Astal, Sofian

AU - Gamsakhurdi, Vladimer Lado

AU - Ziegler, Matthias

AU - Penke, Lars

AU - Rauthmann, John

AU - Kun, Ágota

AU - Gadanecz, Peter

AU - Vass, Zoltan

AU - Smohai, Mate

AU - Das, Abhijit

AU - Lavalekar, Anagha

AU - Rechter, Eyal

AU - Gnisci, Augusto

AU - Sergi, Ida

AU - Senese, Vincenzo Paolo

AU - Perugini, Marco

AU - Costantini, Giulio

AU - Komiya, Asuka

AU - Sato, Tatsuya

AU - Nakata, Yuki

AU - Kawamoto, Shizuka

AU - Al-Zoubi, Marwan

AU - Owsley, Nicholas

AU - Jang, Chaning

AU - Mburu, Georgina

AU - Ngina, Irene

AU - Dimdins, Girts

AU - Barkauskiene, Rasa

AU - Laurinavicius, Alfredas

AU - Markovikj, Marijana

AU - Serafimovska, Eleonora

AU - Mastor, Khairul A.

AU - Kruse, Elliott

AU - Ramirez-Esparza, Nairan

AU - Denissen, Jaap

AU - Van Aken, Marcel

AU - Fischer, Ron

AU - Onyishi, Ike E.

AU - Ogba, Kalu T.

AU - Leknes, Siri

AU - Holen, Vera Waldal

AU - Hansen, Ingelin

AU - Tamnes, Christian K.

AU - Klava, Kaia

AU - Rizwan, Muhammad

AU - Kausar, Rukhsana

AU - Khan, Nashi

AU - Gastardo-Conaco, Maria Cecilia

AU - Quinones, Diwa Malaya A.

AU - Szarota, Piotr

AU - Izdebski, Paweł

AU - Kotyśko, Martyna

AU - Henriques-Calado, Joana

AU - Sava, Florin Alin

AU - Lvova, Olga

AU - Pogrebitskaya, Victoria

AU - Allakhverdov, Mikhail

AU - Manichev, Sergey

AU - Polović, Petar

AU - Mitrović, Dušanka

AU - Oljača, Milan

AU - Smederevac, Snezoana

AU - Hong, Ryan

AU - Barry, Oumar

AU - Halama, Peter

AU - Musek, Janek

AU - Han, Gyuseog

AU - Suh, Eunkook M.

AU - Choi, Soyeon

PY - 2021/11/1

Y1 - 2021/11/1

N2 - Recent research conducted largely in the United States suggests that most people would like to change one or more of their personality traits. Yet almost no research has investigated the degree to which and in what ways volitional personality change (VPC), or individuals’ active efforts toward personality change, might be common around the world. Through a custom-built website, 13,278 college student participants from 55 countries and one of a larger country (Hong Kong, S.A.R.) using 42 different languages reported whether they were currently trying to change their personality and, if so, what they were trying to change. Around the world, 60.40% of participants reported that they are currently trying to change their personalities, with the highest percentage in Thailand (81.91%) and the lowest in Kenya (21.41%). Among those who provide open-ended responses to the aspect of personality they are trying to change, the most common goals were to increase emotional stability (29.73%), conscientiousness (19.71%), extraversion (15.94%), and agreeableness (13.53%). In line with previous research, students who are trying to change any personality trait tend to have relatively low levels of emotional stability and happiness. Moreover, those with relatively low levels of socially desirable traits reported attempting to increase what they lacked. These principal findings were generalizable around the world

AB - Recent research conducted largely in the United States suggests that most people would like to change one or more of their personality traits. Yet almost no research has investigated the degree to which and in what ways volitional personality change (VPC), or individuals’ active efforts toward personality change, might be common around the world. Through a custom-built website, 13,278 college student participants from 55 countries and one of a larger country (Hong Kong, S.A.R.) using 42 different languages reported whether they were currently trying to change their personality and, if so, what they were trying to change. Around the world, 60.40% of participants reported that they are currently trying to change their personalities, with the highest percentage in Thailand (81.91%) and the lowest in Kenya (21.41%). Among those who provide open-ended responses to the aspect of personality they are trying to change, the most common goals were to increase emotional stability (29.73%), conscientiousness (19.71%), extraversion (15.94%), and agreeableness (13.53%). In line with previous research, students who are trying to change any personality trait tend to have relatively low levels of emotional stability and happiness. Moreover, those with relatively low levels of socially desirable traits reported attempting to increase what they lacked. These principal findings were generalizable around the world

KW - College students

KW - Cross-cultural

KW - Volitional personality change

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121856809&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/pspp0000389

DO - 10.1037/pspp0000389

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85121856809

VL - 121

SP - 1140

EP - 1156

JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

SN - 0022-3514

IS - 5

ER -