Online deception: prevalence, motivation, and emotion.

This research has three goals: first, to find out how prevalent online deception is within a sample of Israeli users, second, to explore the underlying motivations to deceive online, and third, to discover the emotions that accompany online deception. A web-based survey was distributed in 14 discussion groups, and the answers of 257 respondents were analyzed. It was found that, while most of the respondents believe that online deception is very widespread, only about one-third of them reported engaging in online deception. Frequent users deceive online more than infrequent users, young users more than old, and competent users more than non-competent. The most common motivations to deceive online were "play" on the one hand and privacy concerns on the other. Most people felt a sense of enjoyment while engaging in online deception. The results are discussed in light of a possible mechanism for changing personal moral standards.     

Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency

The present research explored the controversial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems. This relation held for measures of self-esteem and externalizing problems based on self-report, teachers' ratings, and parents' ratings, and for participants from different nationalities (United States and New Zealand) and age groups (adolescents and college students). Moreover, this relation held both cross-sectionally and longitudinally and after controlling for potential confounding variables such as supportive parenting, parent-child and peer relationships, achievement-test scores, socioeconomic status, and IQ. In addition, the effect of self-esteem on aggression was independent of narcissism, an important finding given recent claims that individuals who are narcissistic, not low in self-esteem, are aggressive. Discussion focuses on clarifying the relations among self-esteem, narcissism, and externalizing problems.     

Psychometric Evaluation of 5- and 7-Year-Old Children's Self-Reports of Conduct Problems

Past research suggests that young children are incapable of reporting information about their own behavior problems. To test this, we examined the validity and the usefulness of children's self-reports in the E-Risk Study, a nationally representative birth cohort of 2,232 children. We used the Berkeley Puppet Interview to obtain children's self-reports of conduct problems when they were 5-years old and the Dominic-R when they were 7-years old. We also collected information about the children and their families by interviewing mothers, sending questionnaires to teachers, and rating examiners' observations during home visits. Results indicate that when children's self-reports are gathered with structured and developmentally appropriate instruments, they are shown to be valid measures: conduct problems reported by the children themselves were associated with known correlates including individual characteristics (e.g., IQ), related behaviors (e.g., hyperactivity), and family variables (e.g., economic disadvantages). Observed correlations closely matched effect sizes reported in the literature using adults' reports of children's behavioral problems. In addition, children's self-reports can be useful: both measures distinguished children meeting DSM-IV criteria for research diagnoses of conduct disorder. Children's reports also contributed unique information not provided by adults. For research and clinical purposes, young children's self-reports can be viewed as a valuable complement to adults' ratings and observational measures of children's behavior problems.     

Evaluation of Coworker Turnover Outcomes and Its Impact on the Intention to Leave of the Remaining Employees

The study examined the effect of several personal and situational variables upon stayers' intention to leave, subsequent to the departure of a coworker. These effects were hypothesized to be mediated by the stayers' evaluation of outcomes of the departure. Police officers filled questionnaires prior to and within one month subsequent to turnover of a coworker. The theoretical model was tested via hierarchical multiple regression. Negative and positive evaluations were independent: They were differentially associated with the predictor variables and they varied in their effect upon the criterion measure. The mediation hypothesis was not supported; the negative evaluation of departure outcomes was indeed predicted by the independent variables but it was not associated with the intention to leave subsequent to a coworker's departure. Positive evaluation, on the other hand, was not predicted by the independent variables but was significantly and positively correlated with the criterion measure. Contrary to the hypothesis, stayers who perceive coworkers' departure as more positive show a stronger tendency to leave.     

Male Mental Health Problems, Psychopathy, and Personality Traits: Key Findings from the First 14 Years of the Pittsburgh Youth Study

This paper reviews key findings on juvenile mental health problems in boys, psychopathy, and personality traits, obtained in the first 14 years of studies using data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. This is a study of 3 samples, each of about 500 boys initially randomly drawn from boys in the 1st, 4th, and 7th grades of public schools in Pittsburgh. The boys have been followed regularly, initially each half year, and later at yearly intervals. Currently, the oldest boys are about 25 years old, whereas the youngest boys are about 19. Findings are presented on the prevalence and interrelation of disruptive behaviors, ADHD, and depressed mood. Results concerning risk factors for these outcomes are reviewed. Psychological factors such as psychopathy, impulsivity, and personality are described. The paper closes with findings on service delivery of boys with mental health problems.     

The Power of Personality: The Comparative Validity of Personality Traits, Socioeconomic Status, and Cognitive Ability for Predicting Important Life Outcomes

ABSTRACT— The ability of personality traits to predict important life outcomes has traditionally been questioned because of the putative small effects of personality. In this article, we compare the predictive validity of personality traits with that of socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive ability to test the relative contribution of personality traits to predictions of three critical outcomes: mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment. Only evidence from prospective longitudinal studies was considered. In addition, an attempt was made to limit the review to studies that controlled for important background factors. Results showed that the magnitude of the effects of personality traits on mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment was indistinguishable from the effects of SES and cognitive ability on these outcomes. These results demonstrate the influence of personality traits on important life outcomes, highlight the need to more routinely incorporate measures of personality into quality of life surveys, and encourage further research about the developmental origins of personality traits and the processes by which these traits influence diverse life outcomes.     

Longitudinal evidence that psychopathy scores in early adolescence predict adult psychopathy

This study examined the relation between psychopathy assessed at age 13 by using the mother-reported Childhood Psychopathy Scale (D. R. Lynam, 1997) and psychopathy assessed at age 24 by using the interviewer-rated Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995). Data from over 250 participants of the middle sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study were used to examine this relation; approximately 9% of the sample met criteria for a possible PCL:SV diagnosis. Despite the long time lag, different sources, and different methods, psychopathy from early adolescence into young adulthood was moderately stable (r=.31). The relation was present for the PCL:SV total and facet scores, was not moderated by initial risk status or initial psychopathy level, and held even after controlling for other age 13 variables. Diagnostic stability was somewhat lower. Both specificity and negative predictive power were good, and sensitivity was adequate, but positive predictive power was poor. This constitutes the first demonstration of the relative stability of psychopathy from adolescence into adulthood and provides evidence for the incremental utility of the adolescent psychopathy construct. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Individual differences are accentuated during periods of social change: the sample case of girls at puberty

The emergence of new behaviors and the reorganization of psychological structures are often attributed to critical events and crises in the life course. A fundamentally different perspective is offered: Potentially disruptive transitions produce personality continuity, not change. The behavioral responses of adolescent girls to the onset of menarche was studied in a longitudinal study of an unselected birth cohort. Predictions from 3 rival hypotheses about the relation between pubertal change and social psychological change were first tested: the stressful change, off time, and early-timing hypotheses. The results supported the early-timing hypothesis. Whether stressful, early menarche generated new behavioral problems or accentuated premenarcheal dispositions was then tested. The results supported an accentuation model: Stressful transitions accentuated behavioral problems among girls who were predisposed to behavioral problems earlier in childhood. Speculations are offered for a broader theory about the role of individual differences in the life course.     

Personality in the life course

Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality--ways of approaching and responding to the world--across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life--temporal and situational--to which personality research should attend.     

When parents have a history of conduct disorder: how is the caregiving environment affected?

Individuals with early-emerging conduct problems are likely to become parents who expose their children to considerable adversity. The current study tested the specificity of and alternative explanations for this trajectory. The sample included 246 members of a prospective, 30-year cohort study and their 3-year-old children. Parents who had a history of conduct disorder were specifically at elevated risk for socioeconomic disadvantage and relationship violence, but suboptimal parenting and offspring temperament problems were common to parents with any history of disorder. Recurrent disorder, comorbidity, and adversity in the family of origin did not fully account for these findings. The cumulative consequences of early-onset conduct disorder and assortative mating for antisocial behavior may explain the long-term effects of conduct disorder on young adult functioning.