Physical activity and personality development across adulthood and old age: Evidence from two longitudinal studies

• Physical activity is related to personality development in two longitudinal samples.
• Physical activity contributes to higher personality stability.
• An active lifestyle helps to maintain a resilient personality profile.
• Physical activity may prevent maladaptive personality changes.

Personality traits are associated with a number of health-related factors; less is known about how such factors contribute to adult personality development. Based on evidence for the protective role of physical activity for individual functioning, the present study tests whether physical activity contributes to personality stability and change. Using longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States study (N = 3758) and the Health and Retirement Study (N = 3774), we found that more physically active individuals declined less on conscientiousness, extraversion, openness and agreeableness, and had higher rank-order stability and profile consistency over time. These findings suggest that physical activity may help preserve personality stability and prevent maladaptive personality changes across adulthood and old age.