The proposed research aims to continue the Mills Longitudinal Study and obtain new kinds of data on adult development, attachment, emotion, and work from the 120 women in their early 60s. This time of life is of great interest because although women can now expect many more years of vigor and good health and have many new possibilities open to them, they also have less guidance from societal norms than in previous stages of life. Thus, one major goal is to study successful adaptation in the areas of relationships, work, and retirement during this period. Another goal is to obtain videotaped interviews with the participants and a diary of daily experience to augment our database which so far has consisted primarily of mail-out inventories and questionnaires. This new information will afford measures of attachment patterns, emotional experience, expression, and control, and attainment of socially important qualities of generativity and integrity, and it will also provide the basis for another observer-based Q-sort. Because the women have been studied previously at ages 21, 27, 43, and 52, new inventory data will make it possible to trace their personality change over 40 years, test ideas about change over middle age, and study the antecedents of a variety of outcomes, including health, well-being, attachment, and emotion. Self-reported physical health data and measures of cognitive functioning will be obtained for present and prospective use. In planning collaborations, comparisons with other longitudinal samples will be conducted, particularly on factors associated with life satisfaction and adult development throughout middle age.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH043948-13
Application #
6363641
Study Section
Social and Group Processes Review Committee (SGP)
Program Officer
Morf, Carolyn
Project Start
1989-02-01
Project End
2003-12-31
Budget Start
2001-03-01
Budget End
2003-12-31
Support Year
13
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$186,710
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Berkeley
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
094878337
City
Berkeley
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94704
Newton, Nicky J; Stewart, Abigail J (2013) The road not taken: Women's life paths and gender-linked personality traits. J Res Pers 47:306-316
Lilgendahl, Jennifer Pals; Helson, Ravenna; John, Oliver P (2013) Does ego development increase during midlife? The effects of openness and accommodative processing of difficult events. J Pers 81:403-16
Edelstein, Robin S; Newton, Nicola J; Stewart, Abigail J (2012) Narcissism in midlife: longitudinal changes in and correlates of women's narcissistic personality traits. J Pers 80:1179-204
George, Linda G; Helson, Ravenna; John, Oliver P (2011) The ""CEO"" of women's work lives: how Big Five Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness predict 50 years of work experiences in a changing sociocultural context. J Pers Soc Psychol 101:812-30
Soto, Christopher J; John, Oliver P; Gosling, Samuel D et al. (2008) The developmental psychometrics of big five self-reports: acquiescence, factor structure, coherence, and differentiation from ages 10 to 20. J Pers Soc Psychol 94:718-37
Jay, Meg (2007) Individual differences in melancholy gender among women: does ambivalence matter? J Am Psychoanal Assoc 55:1279-320
Cate, Rebecca A; John, Oliver P (2007) Testing models of the structure and development of future time perspective: maintaining a focus on opportunities in middle age. Psychol Aging 22:186-201
Pals, Jennifer L (2006) Narrative identity processing of difficult life experiences: pathways of personality development and positive self-transformation in adulthood. J Pers 74:1079-109
Helson, Ravenna; Soto, Christopher J (2005) Up and down in middle age: monotonic and nonmonotonic changes in roles, status, and personality. J Pers Soc Psychol 89:194-204
Jay, Meg; John, Oliver P (2004) A depressive symptom scale for the California Psychological Inventory: construct validation of the CPI-D. Psychol Assess 16:299-309

Showing the most recent 10 out of 45 publications