Junk science or junk science journalism or both? It has been well known for ages that personality traits change over lifetime of an adult (not every adult) e.g. due to life experiences.
Are people so ignorant as claimed by this study (based on only 887 individuals)? I seriously doubt it. I bet the use of the "nationally representative US-sample" is seriously flawed when it comes to lifetime changes in Big Five personality traits.
"... the Big Five personality traits—extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness—as some of the most stable characteristics of a person's life. ...
A follow-up analysis of data from eight large-scale longitudinal data sets involving 166,971 individuals across the United States, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands told a different story. It revealed that the Big Five traits changed just as much as other life factors, both year to year and over a lifetime. For instance, conscientiousness, which is the tendency to be careful, diligent and responsible, doesn't remain the same when someone is a teenager compared with when they are 90 [???]. ..."
From the abstract:
"Historically, personality traits have been viewed as highly stable and “set like plaster” once people reach adulthood. Although decades of research have refuted this claim, it remains unclear how much personality traits actually change compared to other aspects of life and whether these relative change patterns align with public beliefs.
Across two studies, we investigated these questions using a multimethod, comparative approach with the Big Five traits and more than 20 variables from several life domains.
First, using a nationally representative US-sample (n = 887), we found that lay people [???] rated the Big Five traits as having less change across the lifespan than nearly all other characteristics.
Second, analyses using eight large-scale longitudinal datasets from the US, Germany, Australia, and Netherlands (n = 166,971) revealed that standardized yearly and lifespan mean-level changes in the Big Five were comparable to, and often greater than, changes in variables like life satisfaction, subjective health, income, and self-esteem.
Together, these results uncover widespread misconceptions of stability that diverge from empirical evidence [???] and are seemingly unique to personality traits. We discuss potential implications of these findings for how people view human potential for change, improvement, and adaptation."
Personality traits are less stable than people think (open access, but in press)
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