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Nothing going on? Exploring the role of missed events in changes in subjective well‐being and the Big Five personality traits
Author(s) -
Luhmann Maike,
Buecker Susanne,
Kaiser Till,
Beermann Mira
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12539
Subject(s) - personality , psychology , big five personality traits , german , socioeconomic status , social psychology , subjective well being , rank (graph theory) , event (particle physics) , developmental psychology , demography , mathematics , sociology , population , archaeology , history , physics , combinatorics , quantum mechanics , happiness
Objective Missed events are defined as the nonoccurrence of expected major life events within a specified time frame. We examined whether missed events should be studied in research on growth by exploring the role of missed events for changes in subjective well‐being (SWB) and the Big Five personality traits. Method The samples were selected from two nationally representative panel studies, the German Socioeconomic Panel Innovation Sample (SOEP‐IS, total N = 6,638) and the Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences panel (LISS, N s between 4,262 and 5,749). Rank‐order stability and mean‐level change were analyzed using regression and mixed models. Type I error probability was reduced by using conservative thresholds for level of significance and minimal effect size. Results Expected but missed events were more frequent than actually experienced events. For SWB, rank‐order stability tended to be lower among those who experienced a missed event than among those who did not. For the Big Five personality traits, significant differences between those who did and those who did not experience a missed event were rare and unsystematic. Conclusion Missed events merit more attention in future research on growth and personality change, but the effects are probably weak.