Interview with Manon van Scheppingen

‘Your personality changes even when you are an adult’

For a long time, it was thought that our personalities are pretty much fixed from the age of 30. We now know that they can change throughout our lives. Manon van Scheppingen, a developmental psychologist at Tilburg University, studies what factors lead to personality change. She focuses particularly on young adults – people aged between 20 and 40.

‘Many young adults acquire a more mature personality over time, including more self-control and emotional stability,’ says Van Scheppingen. ‘But it is not yet clear what causes these changes. I therefore explore whether specific life transitions can explain this. For example, I expected the transition to parenthood to be one of the factors.’

Van Scheppingen had people who had their first child fill in a questionnaire about their personality at different times. She compared the results with a control group. ‘People who had a child did not, on average, appear to develop a more mature personality during that period than people who did not have a child.’ She did notice that some new parents, especially mothers, temporarily had lower self-confidence.

Although, on average, Van Scheppingen did not see a major personality change due to parenthood, some people do change significantly because of it. ‘For example, some people gain much more self-confidence, others much less,’ says Van Scheppingen. ‘In the near future, I will be studying what factors could explain these differences. In addition to the first child, I will also examine two other life events: the first job and cohabitation. Besides pre- and post-measurements of their personality, I will also explore how people experienced these events: did they perceive them as positive or negative? How was their stress level? That way, I hope to find out why some people change more than others.’

Van Scheppingen has also studied the role personalities play in romantic relationships. ‘We often hear that opposites attract. But our research found that people tend to select a partner who has similar personality traits, including a similar level of self-control.’

‘My research is quite fundamental,’ says Van Scheppingen. ‘But if we better understand how and why people change, this could help develop therapies in the field of personality change. However, I think we should also celebrate the fact that everyone has a different personality. I hope that my research can ensure that people get a better understanding of their personality and can organise their lives in the way that best suits it.’