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Based on the social investment principle and theories of social relationship differentiation, the present study was conducted to investigate whether personality differences in high school predict young adults' living arrangements (with roommates or a romantic partner, alone, or staying with parents) 2 years later (selection) and whether these different social contexts provoke long-term personality changes (socialization). Using data from a 3-wave longitudinal study of 8,052 high school graduates in Germany, multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed substantial selection effects of the Big Five traits on living arrangements. Propensity score matching was applied to provide a strong test of the socialization effects of these living arrangements. Young adults who lived with roommates showed increases in Openness but the smallest increases in Conscientiousness. Living with a romantic partner was the most beneficial arrangement for the development of Conscientiousness. These results highlight the importance of social contexts for personality development in young adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent studies have illustrated a general increase in self-esteem from after adolescence until midlife. However, the specific pattern and possible conditions of self-esteem development from the important transition out of high school into young adulthood are still not well understood. In a longitudinal study (Transformation of the Secondary School System and Academic Careers; TOSCA), German students were interviewed 4 times beginning with their senior high school year (at Time 1 [T1]: N = 4,532; age: M = 19.6 years, SD = 0.9; 55% female). Conditional latent change models were applied and established 3 main findings. First, self-esteem showed a gradual increase across the transition, with both the self-esteem intercept and slope indicating substantial interindividual variability in the transition to young adulthood. Second, structural (having a partnership) as well as personality (Big Five) characteristics were substantially related to self-esteem development in emerging adulthood. Third, there were gender-specific associations between self-esteem and partnership status as well as between self-esteem and neuroticism and agreeableness. Findings point to a general upward development of self-esteem yet show interdependencies with the accomplishment of age-specific challenges in the transition to young adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modem expectancy-value theory (EVT) in educational psychology, expectancy and value beliefs additively predict performance, persistence, and task choice. In contrast to earlier formulations of EVT, the multiplicative term Expectancy X Value in regression-type models typically plays no major role in educational psychology. The present study used latent moderated structural equation modeling to explore whether there is empirical support for a multiplicative effect in a sample of 2,508 students at the end of secondary education. Expectancy and four facets of value beliefs (attainment, intrinsic, and utility value as well as cost) predicted achievement when entered separately into a regression equation. Moreover, in models with both expectancy and value beliefs as predictor variables, the expectancy components as well as the multiplicative term Expectancy X Value were consistently found to predict achievement positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]