Stability of adult personality traits: fact or fable?

Theoretical positions for and against a stability model for adult personality traits are examined. Results of a sequential study of 19 personality factors over a 7-year period and with participants ranging in age from 22 to 84 years suggest that stability within generations appears to be the rule, albeit combined with many differences between successive population cohorts and subject to transient secular trends. A typology of 13 possible models is offered to account for the different developmental trends observed for the various personality factors.