Citation

Greischel H, Noack P, Neyer FJ. J. Youth Adolesc. 2016; 45(11): 2307-2320.

Affiliation

Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10964-016-0479-1

PMID

27083914

Abstract

How does spending a year abroad influence the personality and relationship development of adolescents? This question was studied using a prospective control group design comprising 457 sojourners (high school exchange students) and 284 control participants (German adolescents; 73.3 % female; mean age = 15.63, SD = 0.78), all of whom were assessed three times across one academic year. Sojourners demonstrated higher pre-departure levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness as well as lower levels of Neuroticism. Longitudinal results indicated a steeper increase in Openness and Agreeableness trajectories, as well as a buffered increase in Neuroticism for exchange students. As expected, sojourners' social relationships showed high fluctuation, which partially mediated sojourn effects on personality development. The role of international youth mobility for personal and social development in adolescence is discussed.

Language: en