Traits in Transition: The Structure of Parent‐Reported Personality Traits from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood

The present research was conducted to map the hierarchical structure of youths' personality traits, to identify the foundational level of this structure, and to test whether the meanings of some youth personality dimensions shift with age. We addressed these issues by analyzing personality parent reports describing a cross‐sectional sample of 16,000 children, adolescents, and young adults (ages 3 to 20). These parent reports were made using a broadband measure of youths' personal characteristics, the common‐language California Child Q‐Set. Analyses of the full sample and comparisons of 16 age groups supported three main conclusions. First, the hierarchical structure of youths' personality traits both resembles and differs from the adult personality hierarchy in important ways. Second, a set of six dimensions—Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Activity—may constitute the foundational level of the youth personality hierarchy from middle childhood through adolescence. This “Little Six” structure represents a union of the most prominent personality and temperament dimensions. Third, the meanings of some youth personality dimensions (e.g., Activity, Conscientiousness) shift systematically with age. These findings advance our understanding of when and how personality structure develops during the first two decades of life.     

Estimating one's own personality and intelligence scores

One hundred and eighty‐seven university students completed the full NEO‐PI‐R assessing the five super‐traits and 30 primary traits, and the Wonderlic Personnel Test of general intelligence. Two months later (before receiving feedback on their psychometric scores), they estimated their own scores on these variables. Results at the super‐factor level indicated that participants could significantly predict/estimate their own Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness scores. The correlation between estimated and psychometrically measured IQ was r=.30, showing that participants could, to some extent, accurately estimate their intelligence. In addition, there were a number of significant correlations between estimated intelligence and psychometrically assessed personality (particularly Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Extraversion). Disagreeable people tended to award themselves higher self‐estimated intelligence scores. Similarly, stable people tended to award themselves higher estimates of intelligence (even when other variables were controlled). Regressing both estimated and psychometric IQ scores onto estimated and psychometric personality scores indicated that the strongest significant effect was the relationship between trait scores and self‐estimated intelligence.     

The Big Five personality factors as a model for the structure of children's peer nominations

The validity and usefulness of the five‐factor theory of personality as a model for children's peer nominations is assessed. Eighty‐nine groups of ten school children, attending the same class, aged 9 to 12 years, nominated the pupil that was the most or the least typical example for 25 bipolar trait pairs, covering the ‘Big Five’ personality factors. Factor analysis of summed and transformed peer nominations for the total sample shows that children's nominations can be represented by three factors: Agreeableness, a combined Extraversion–Emotional Instability component, and a combined Intellect–Conscientiousness factor. A second study with a smaller but independent sample confirms the factorial structure of the peer nomination scales. The reasons for the less differentiated peer nomination structure of children and the relevance of multidimensional assessment of peer perception are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Whose “Storm and Stress” Is It? Parent and Child Reports of Personality Development in the Transition to Early Adolescence

The present study investigated Big Five personality trait development in the transition to early adolescence (from the fifth to eighth grade). Personality traits were assessed in 2,761 (47% female) students over a 3‐year period of time. Youths’ self‐reports and parent ratings were used to test for cross‐informant agreement. Acquiescent responding and measurement invariance were established with latent variable modeling. Growth curve models revealed three main findings: (a) Normative mean‐level changes occurred for youths’ self‐report data and parent ratings with modest effects in both cases. (b) Agreeableness and Openness decreased for self‐reports and parent ratings, whereas data source differences were found for Conscientiousness (decreased for self‐reports and remained stable for parent ratings), Extraversion (increased for self‐reports and decreased for parent ratings), and Neuroticism (remained stable for self‐reports and decreased for parent ratings). (c) Girls showed a more mature personality overall (self‐reports and parent ratings revealed higher levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness) and became more extraverted in the middle of adolescence (self‐reports). Personality changes modestly during early adolescence whereby change does not occur in the direction of maturation, and substantial differences exist between parent ratings and self‐reports.     

Team effectiveness: beyond skills and cognitive ability.

On the basis of job analysis results, the validity of using measures of general cognitive ability, job-specific skills, and personality traits jointly at both the individual level and the group level to predict the performance of 79 four-person, human resource work teams was evaluated. Team member trait and job skill scores were aggregated with a conjunctive model of task performance. At the individual level of analysis, measures of personality (i.e., Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) predicted peer ratings of team member performance beyond measures of job-specific skills and general cognitive ability. Similarly, at the group level of analysis, both Agreeableness and Conscientiousness predicted supervisor ratings of work team performance, objective measures of work team accuracy, and work completed. At both the individual and group levels, the trait of Agreeableness predicted Interpersonal Skills.     

Emerging Late Adolescent Friendship Networks and Big Five Personality Traits: A Social Network Approach

ABSTRACT The current study focuses on the emergence of friendship networks among just‐acquainted individuals, investigating the effects of Big Five personality traits on friendship selection processes. Sociometric nominations and self‐ratings on personality traits were gathered from 205 late adolescents (mean age=19 years) at 5 time points during the first year of university. SIENA, a novel multilevel statistical procedure for social network analysis, was used to examine effects of Big Five traits on friendship selection. Results indicated that friendship networks between just‐acquainted individuals became increasingly more cohesive within the first 3 months and then stabilized. Whereas individuals high on Extraversion tended to select more friends than those low on this trait, individuals high on Agreeableness tended to be selected more as friends. In addition, individuals tended to select friends with similar levels of Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness.     

A factor analysis of the most frequently used Korean personality trait adjectives

We tested the cross‐cultural generalizability of personality structure by factor‐analysing self‐ratings of 435 Korean university students on the 406 most frequently used Korean personality trait adjectives. A plot of eigenvalues and a test of factor replicability both suggested a four‐factor solution. The four varimax‐rotated factors showed strong correlations with the first four factors of the Big Five (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability), as measured by markers selected a priori from the pool of 406 adjectives. We also investigated a five‐factor solution, in an attempt to recover an Intellect factor. The five varimax‐rotated factors corresponded closely to the classic Big Five, but with a minor difference in the rotation of the Conscientiousness and Intellect factors. Solutions involving six and seven factors were also investigated, and these solutions produced a Truthfulness factor similar to some previously discovered lexical factors. The results of the study were discussed in relation to the lexical hypothesis and to previous studies of personality structure in East Asian languages. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Similar to and/or Better than Oneself? Singles' Ideal Partner Personality Descriptions

Using the HEXACO Model of Personality, we explored two kinds of ideal partner preferences regarding personality traits, namely, to what extent people prefer partners similar to themselves (similarity preference) and to what extent people prefer partners with more desirable trait levels than themselves (aspirational assortative preference). We conducted five studies (overall N > 900) across four countries (China, Denmark, Germany, and the USA), looking at both HEXACO factors and facets, using both self‐report questionnaires and real‐life data (personal profiles from a dating website), and comprising both student and more heterogeneous samples. The results provided support for both kinds of ideal partner preferences, with important differences across traits. Specifically, similarity preference was supported by all studies concerning all HEXACO traits, and aspirational assortative preference was supported by all four self‐report studies (though not the dating website study) concerning all HEXACO traits except for Openness to Experience. Concerning differences in preferences among the HEXACO traits, similarity preference was particularly pronounced for Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience, moderate for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and less pronounced for Emotionality and Extraversion. Aspirational assortative preference, by contrast, was particularly pronounced for Emotionality, Extraversion, and Agreeableness, moderate for Honesty–Humility, and inconsistent for Conscientiousness. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The Little Six Personality Dimensions From Early Childhood to Early Adulthood: Mean‐Level Age and Gender Differences in Parents' Reports

The present research pursues three major goals. First, we develop scales to measure the Little Six youth personality dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Activity. Second, we examine mean‐level age and gender differences in the Little Six from early childhood into early adulthood. Third, we examine the development of more specific nuance traits. We analyze parent reports, made using the common‐language California Child Q‐Set (CCQ), for a cross‐sectional sample of 16,000 target children ranging from 3 to 20 years old. We construct CCQ–Little Six scales that reliably measure each Little Six dimension. Using these scales, we find (a) curvilinear, U‐shaped age trends for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness, with declines followed by subsequent inclines; (b) monotonic, negative age trends for Extraversion and Activity; (c) higher levels of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness among girls than boys, as well as higher levels of Activity among boys than girls; and (d) gender‐specific age trends for Neuroticism, with girls scoring higher than boys by mid‐adolescence. Finally, we find that several nuance traits show distinctive developmental trends that differ from their superordinate Little Six dimension. These results highlight childhood and adolescence as key periods of personality development.     

基于父母知觉的儿童人格结构及其发展的研究

该研究在家庭访谈的基础上编制了３,６,９,１２岁年龄组的人格问卷,并对北京和福州的７７７名３至１２岁儿童人格特点进行了调查。结果表明,这四份问卷均具有较好的信度和效度,对四份问卷在四个年龄组儿童的测查结果分析进行因素分析（主成分分析,ＰＣＡ）后发现,３至１２岁年龄组儿童的主要人格维度为：“智力”,“认真性”,“宜人性”,“外倾性”,“情绪”和“认真性”,“情绪稳定性”在我国儿童人格维度中不是一个比     

Attitudes Toward Immigration: The Role of Personal Predispositions

This article examines if deep‐seated psychological differences add to the explanation of attitudes toward immigration. We explore whether the Big Five personality traits matter for immigration attitudes beyond the traditional situational factors of economic and cultural threat and analyze how individuals with different personalities react when confronted with the same situational triggers. Using a Danish survey experiment, we show that different personality traits have different effects on opposition toward immigration. We find that Openness has an unconditional effect on attitudes toward immigration: scoring higher on this trait implies a greater willingness to admit immigrants. Moreover, individuals react differently to economic threat depending on their score on the traits Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Specifically, individuals scoring low on Agreeableness and individuals scoring high on Conscientiousness are more sensitive to the skill level of immigrants. The results imply that personality is important for attitudes toward immigration, and in the conclusion, we further discuss how the observed conditional and unconditional effects of personality make sense theoretically.     

A Meta‐Analytic Multitrait Multirater Separation of Substance and Style in Social Desirability Scales

Though unlikely virtues scales have a long history in personality, clinical, and applied psychology for detecting socially desirable responding, using such social desirability (SD) scales has generally failed to improve the validity of personality measures. We examined whether this is because (a) response distortion itself has minimal impact on personality's validity, (b) SD scales are ineffective at assessing response distortion, or (c) SD scales are conflated with substantive trait variance. We compiled a meta‐analytic multitrait multimethod matrix consisting of multirater personality traits, SD scales, and performance outcomes. We examined the influence of trait factors and self‐report method factors on SD scales and performance. We found that self‐report method variance (a) was negatively related to performance, (b) would suppress personality‐performance relationships for self‐report measures, and (c) was (partially) assessed by SD scales. However, relative to the effects of self‐report method variance, SD scales are even more strongly influenced by Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Agreeableness. It is not the case that SD scales are insensitive to inflated responding but that their susceptibility to personality trait variance likely outweighs their benefits. We discuss the implications of these results for using SD scales in research and practice.     

Personality and the prediction of team performance

Although much is known about personality and individuals' job performance, only a few studies have considered the effects of team‐level personality on team performance. Existing research examining the effects of personality on team performance has found that, of the Big Five factors of personality, Conscientiousness is often the most important predictor. Accordingly, we investigated the criterion validity of lower‐level Conscientiousness traits to determine whether any one trait is particularly predictive of team performance. In addition to Conscientiousness, we examined the criterion validity of the other Big Five personality factors. We found that Conscientiousness and its facets predicted team performance. Agreeableness, Extraversion and Neuroticism were not predictive of team performance, whereas Openness had a modest negative relation with team performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reciprocal Associations between Parenting Challenges and Parents' Personality Development in Young and Middle Adulthood

Having children affects many aspects of people's lives. However, it remains unclear to what degree the challenges that come along with having children are associated with parents' personality development. We addressed this question in two studies by investigating the relationship between parenting challenges and personality development in mothers of newborns (Study 1, N = 556) and the reciprocal associations between (mastering) parenting challenges and personality development in parents of adolescents (Study 2, N = 548 mothers and 460 fathers). In Study 1, we found the stress of having a newborn baby to be associated with declines in maternal Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Parenting challenges were also related to personality development in parents of adolescent children in Study 2, with parent–child conflict being reciprocally associated with decreases in Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. Mastering parenting challenges in the form of high parenting self‐efficacy, on the other hand, was found to be associated with increases in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability, and vice versa. In sum, our results suggest that mastering the challenges associated with the social role of parenthood is one of the mechanisms underlying personality development in young and middle adulthood. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BEYOND PERSONALITY TRAITS: A STUDY OF PERSONALITY STATES AND SITUATIONAL CONTINGENCIES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE JOBS

Although the interactionist approach has been applied to understanding situational influences on the expression of personality at work, examination of within‐person variation in personality trait expression in the workplace is lacking. Using experience sampling methodology, this study examined the moment‐to‐moment influences of situational characteristics on personality states (i.e., situational contingencies) during social interactions on 56 customer service employees over 10 days at work. At the within‐individual level, state Conscientiousness was associated with the immediacy of the task, and state Extraversion and Agreeableness were associated with the friendliness of the other party in the interaction. At the between‐individual level, self‐monitoring did not moderate the associations between situational characteristics and personality states but predicted the mean level of state Conscientiousness at work over and above trait Conscientiousness. Contrary to expectations, the relationship between state Extraversion and friendliness was weaker in customized service jobs than in noncustomized ones.     

稳定性与可变性：西方儿童青少年“大五”人格发展研究概述

弄清儿童青少年人格发展特点,可为人格发展与教育工作提供参考。文章梳理了近30年西方儿童青少年“大五”人格发展的研究进展,区分了人格发展的两种主要表现形式,并分别从这两方面总结出儿童青少年“大五”人格结构的稳定性、人格特质平均水平的可变性。最后基于现有研究存在的问题,结合当前时代特点,提出未来研究方向。