ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2021
Within-Couple Personality Concordance Over Time: The Importance of Personality Synchrony for Perceived Spousal Support.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Forgivingness Across Social Relationships and Family Generations Over Time.Journal of personality · 2026Article
- Do Mindful Partners Make a Difference? A Meta-Analytic Test of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model in Romantic Couples.Clinical psychology : a publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Perplexing patterns of personality codevelopment: Findings from a 17-year longitudinal study of Mexican-origin families.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2025Article
- Aging and perceiving aging together: couple synchrony in self-perceptions of aging and health.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Perceived spousal similarity in outlook on life: implications for later-life well-being.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Impact of spousal congruence on emotional perception on solitude in older couples: a response surface analysis.Innovation in aging · 2025Article
- Rubbing off on each other: Applying a developmental science perspective to variance in primal world beliefs by family and culture.Applied developmental science · 2025Article
- Spousal Concordance in Overweight and Obesity among Indian Couples: A Nationwide Analysis of Socioeconomic and Dietary Determinants.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- In it Together: Relationship Transitions and Couple Concordance in Health and Well-Being.Personality & social psychology bulletin · 2025Article
- Between- and Within-Couple Concordance for Health Behaviors Among Japanese Older Married Couples: Examining the Moderating Role of Working Time.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- Marital Satisfaction and Perceived Family Support in Families of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Dyadic Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesWithin-couple similarities in personality traits tend to be positively associated with relationship well-being. However, research in this area is typically based on cross-sectional designs, thereby limiting examination of longitudinal personality concordance. Given that life experiences shape within-person change in personality, and that partners within a couple often experience similar life events, investigation of within-couple personality synchrony and associations with marital outcomes is warranted.
methodsUsing data from 3,988 couples (mean age at baseline = 67.0 years, SD = 9.6), multilevel dyadic growth models estimated within-couple similarity in baseline levels, change, and occasion-to-occasion variability for each of the Big Five personality traits over an 8-year follow-up. Bivariate growth models examined the effect of within-couple similarity on perceived spousal support, accounting for dependency within couples.
resultsAdjusting for baseline age, education, functional ability, and relationship length, analyses revealed within-couple concordance between baseline levels of all 5 personality traits, as well as correlated within-couple fluctuations in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness over time. Similarity in openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism trajectories predicted spousal support. Couples were most similar in openness, showing correlated intercepts, change, and variability, and this longitudinal synchrony was particularly important for perceived spousal support in women. DISCUSSION: These findings provide evidence for longitudinal personality synchrony over time within older adult couples. Further, concordance in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness predicted perceived spousal support, though there may be some gender differences in personality dynamics and relationship well-being. Effects of similarity were relatively small compared to actor and partner effects of these traits.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.