Dynamic Transaction
(funded by the German Research Foundation since 1999)
Franz J. Neyer , Jens B. Asendorpf, Judith Lehnart
This project investigates transactions between personality and relationships in
young adulthood across a period of 8 years (mean ages at the 3 assessments
were 24, 28, and 32 years). A representative subsample of the Family Survey of
the Deutsches Jugendinstitut (DJI) was studied three times: The 1. assessment
was conducted in 1995 with support from the DJI and the Max-Planck-Institute for
Psychological Research. The 2. and 3. assessment (conducted 1999 and 2003)
were granted by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (NE 633-1,2; NE 633-2).
The cross-sectional results of the 1. assessment revealed that the life patterns
and social relationships of the respondents were highly dependent on their
personality (Neyer, 1999). The longitudinal results showed that personality
predicted whether and when young adults entered into their first serious partner
relationship, and that the subsequent maturation of personality (i.e., decreases
in Neuroticism, increases in Conscientiousness) was moderated by this transition.
Although in general personality traits influenced change in social relationships much
more than vice versa, personality traits were not immune against relationship
experiences (Lehnart & Neyer, 2006; Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001; Neyer & Lehnart,
2007). Our findings support the transactional view of personality development in
adulthood.