Exploring the dynamics of volitional personality change: A psychoeducational intervention study with young adults transitioning to the workforce

Abstract

College graduates transitioning to the workforce completed a 13-week, light, psychoeducation intervention designed to increase volitional personality change motivation via weekly email newsletters. Contrary to expectations, the intervention did not significantly enhance overall change motivation or consistently inspire desired trait change goals following the study period or after 6 or 10 months. However, participants in the intervention group did report increased desire to change emotional stability at specific points during the study. These findings underscore the limitations of this particular psychoeducational intervention approach and help to fill in the boundary conditions of when and how personality change is possible. Additionally, using pre-registered analyses, we successfully replicated key findings in volitional personality change literature, effectively laying a foundation for future research.