Personality change in later adulthood is predicted by defense mechanism use in early adulthood

Evidence for both stability and change in Big 5 personality traits was found for both men and women over a 24 year time period. The use of the defense mechanisms of denial, projection, and identification at early adulthood was found to be related to early adult personality traits, and to predict change in personality traits in middle adulthood and late middle age. Significantly, the importance of defense mechanisms for predicting personality change increased with age, while the importance of IQ decreased. The use of the immature defenses of denial and projection predicted increased Neuroticism, decreased Extraversion, and decreased Agreeableness. However, in interaction with IQ, defense mechanisms were found to have a compensatory effect, in that low IQ in combination with strong defense use predicted a more favorable personality outcome. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.