Motivation to change personality across adulthood: Preferences for human and digital assistance in representative Swiss samples

Despite growing interest in volitional personality change, evidence from representative, non-student samples remain scarce, limiting understanding of how motivation to change personality is distributed across adulthood and linked to preferences for support. The motivation to change personality varies across individuals and does not always translate into change attempts. Using two cross-sectional Swiss samples spanning adulthood (Sample 1: N = 1011; Sample 2: N = 1898) and a layperson-informed definition of personality, we examined the prevalence of motivational stages of personality change, demographic and psychological correlates, and preferences for human versus digital assistance. Most participants reported not considering personality change, whereas fewer reported planning or actively attempting change. Younger age and higher education were associated with greater motivation to change, particularly with active change attempts. Moreover, lower life satisfaction and higher adaptability were associated with being in planning or active stages. Most participants preferred human assistance or no assistance, whereas exclusively digital support was rare. Participants endorsing digital or combined approaches reported greater willingness to use and more frequent use of digital tools. Overall, the findings provide descriptive information on motivational stages of personality change, and suggest that, despite increasing technological availability, human support remains the dominant preference across adulthood.