Person-Specific Personality Network Dynamics as Predictors of Distal Outcomes

A primary goal of personality psychology is understanding the predictive power of personality in people’s lives. Much work has linked personality traits to life outcomes, but little has linked person-specific personality dynamics to life outcomes to provide a more nuanced approach that tracks with daily behavior. Yet, previous studies linking personality dynamics to outcomes only examined these associations cross-sectionally, making it unclear whether person-specific dynamics also predict more distal outcomes. In this exploratory study, we investigated prospective associations between individual differences in person-specific dynamics, conceptualized as personality network parameters, with 13 life outcomes over two years. Our findings indicated that node and edge properties in the network were the most robust predictors of distal outcomes, hinting that the accumulation of specific node dynamics over time may link personality traits to outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for personality theory and for policy and intervention.