Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Qualitative Research

Background: In the past decade, personality researchers have become increasingly interested in investigating dynamic aspects of personality. The main characteristics of existing studies are: 1) quantitative research methodology; and 2) the bias on research in the therapeutic context and the context of special types of objective life events. At the same time, in real life, we face global world changes, complex experiences of internal changes, and the majority of people experience them without any psychotherapeutic help. Thus, there is a need for qualitative research of personality changes in the context of various life events.
Objective: The purpose of the study was to create a grounded theory of personality changes in the context of crucial life events (CLE) memories. CLE are those events in which (and due to which) changes occur in a personality and in one’s perception of self and the world.
Methods: To build a grounded theory, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted on a sample of people with fully completed or incomplete higher education.
Results: According to the study, CLE-associated personality changes occur in three stages: 1) external changes caused by objective life events; 2) internal changes caused by the processes of experiencing and comprehension; 3) external changes caused by a conscious effort.
Conclusion: The results expand an existing view of the mechanisms of personality changes, which allows us to put fundamentally new empirical hypotheses. The resulting grounded theory can be used as a potential tool for correlating existing theories. Moreover, the results allow us to formulate recommendations for psychotherapy of clients who are faced with the experience of personality changes.