How Personal Growth is Related To the Big 5 Personality Traits

The Big 5 personality types represent the framework of personality research. Two of the 5, agreeableness and neuroticism, are very polar. Agreeableness has been studied to describe how warm, friendly, and tactful a person is. Neuroticism is the tendency toward anxiety, self-doubt, and negative feelings. One person can be described by either of these personality types at any given time. Personal growth is one of the 6 features that define successful aging. Having higher levels of neuroticism and/or agreeableness has the most influence on a person’s future time perspective (FTP). Future time perspective (FTP) describes the way people consider the future. FTP is negatively associated with higher levels of neuroticism, and positively associated with higher levels of agreeableness. The higher levels of personal growth indicate better FTP. Better FTP represents future-oriented goals and outlooks. Personal growth can be promoted in later adulthood, under the appreciation of positive developmental changes and healthy boundaries with others. In the past, this was often overlooked and thought of as being something defined in early to mid-adulthood, but research finds that personal growth can be increased at any point in life, even in later adulthood. It is important to look into agreeableness and neuroticism because much of a person's personal growth outlook can be defined by their personality.