these samples had virtually no formal education. When years of educa -
tion was statistically controlled in the Portuguese sample, the difference
between the two oldest samples was substantially reduced. (Educationwas not assessed in the Korean sample.)
The very modest relation of age to trait levels was confirmed in a
later study of German, British, Spanish, Czech, and T urkish samples,where the median correlations with age ranged from –.08 for Opennessto .23 for Conscientiousness (McCrae et al., 2000).
Longitudinal studies of FFM traits are currently in progress in Ger -
many and Russia, and include both self-reports and peer ratings. Those
studies should help resolve any remaining ambiguities in interpretingpossible cohort effects (like the effect of education on Openness in Por -
tugal). What is now unambiguously clear is that the traits of the FFM
are found throughout the world and show much the same pattern of agedifferences and stability from adolescence through adulthood. Whetherthese patterns reflect universal social structures or characteristics of thehuman species, they emphasize an important way in which all peopleare alike. However different our cultures and historical circumstances,our dispositions follow the same course.
***
In Chapter 4 we contrasted longitudinal with cross-sectional studies by
pointing out that the former traces development over time in the sameindividuals. We have now reported cross-sectional results from aroundthe world, but we have not yet presented data from a single individual,only from groups of individuals averaged at two points in time. Surelyout of a large group of people there must be some who change: a fewwho learn and grow from their experiences, a few who fall into despairor stagnation. Age does not bring much by way of universal decline orgrowth in personality traits, but perhaps it brings idiosyncratic changesthat mirror the unique life courses of aging men and women. Longitudi -
nal studies can address such questions, but only with a different kind of
analysis. We turn to these issues next.Cross-Cultural Views of Personality and Aging 97