The contribution of adult personality and recalled parent–child relations to friendships in middle and old age

Abstract

In this study we examined personality traits, in particular openness to experience and agreeableness, and–in an exploratory step – recalled parent–child relations as antecedents of friendship involvement in adulthood. Data from 392 middle-aged (43–46 years) and 345 older participants (61–64 years) in the first wave of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE) support the hypothesis that openness contributes to friendship involvement in middle age, while agreeableness contributes to friendship involvement in old age. Further, structural equation models showed that the relation between recalled mother–child relationship and friendship involvement in older adults was mediated by agreeableness. Recalled father–child relationship was directly associated with friendships in both age groups, independent of personality traits.