Do you see my growth? Two longitudinal studies on personality development from childhood to young adulthood from multiple perspectives

The Prospective Predictive Power of Parent-Reported Personality Traits and Facets in First-Onset Depression in Adolescent Girls

Certain personality traits and facets are well-known risk factors that predict first-onset depression during adolescence. However, prior research predominantly relied on self-reported data, which has limitations as a source of personality information. Reports from close informants have the potential to increase the predictive power of personality on first-onsets of depression in adolescents. With easy access to adolescents' behaviors across settings and time, parents may provide important additional information about their children's personality. The same personality trait(s) and facet(s) rated by selves (mean age 14.4 years old) and biological parents at baseline were used to prospectively predict depression onsets among 442 adolescent girls during a 72-month follow-up. First, bivariate logistic regression was used to examine whether parent-reported personality measures predicted adolescent girls' depression onsets; then multivariate logistic regression was used to test whether parent reports provided additional predictive power above and beyond self-reports of same trait or facet. Parent-reported personality traits and facets predicted adolescents' depression onsets, similar to findings using self-reported data. After controlling for the corresponding self-report measures, parent-reported higher openness (at the trait level) and higher depressivity (at the facet-level) incrementally predicted first-onset of depression in the sample. Findings demonstrated additional variance contributed by parent-reported personality measures and validated a multi-informant approach in using personality to prospectively predict onsets of depression in adolescent girls.

Routes to momentary self-esteem in adolescence: Links with interpersonal perceptions of liking and personality metaperceptions within social interactions

OBJECTIVE

This study provides insights into the perceptual processes contributing to positive social experiences and momentary self-esteem in adolescents' initial social interactions.

BACKGROUND

A person's self-esteem is shaped by their social experiences. However, little is known about which interpersonal perceptions are linked to momentary self-esteem within social interactions. Identifying two key interpersonal perceptions, we examined differential associations between an individual's meta-liking and other-perceptions of liking by interaction partners with momentary self-esteem. Further, we investigated how preceding personality metaperceptions (i.e., meta-accuracy and meta-positivity) extended these sociometer processes.

METHOD

The current study used round-robin data from N = 296 adolescents participating in a virtual group interaction. Social accuracy modeling was used to estimate meta-accuracy and meta-positivity of personality metaperceptions, and path models were used to test associations with interpersonal perceptions of liking and momentary self-esteem.

RESULTS

Two main findings emerged: First, meta-liking was consistently related to higher momentary self-esteem, whereas other-perceptions of liking were not. Second, meta-positivity of personality metaperceptions was linked to higher meta-liking and indirectly contributed to higher momentary self-esteem through meta-liking.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the importance of considering different interpersonal perceptions to understand social interaction experiences.

Perceiver Effects and Socioeconomic Background: Contrasting Parent-Reports against Teacher-Reports of Elementary School Students' Personality

Familial socioeconomic background can impact not only academic success, but also the personality of offspring. Yet, there is little evidence on whether it might influence how parents describe their children's personality. To fill this gap, we used latent multitrait-multimethod (CTCM-1) models to examine familial socioeconomic background as possible predictor of parental perceiver effects regarding their offspring's personality by contrasting parental assessments against teacher-reports. Study 1 (N = 5,798) investigated reports on elementary school students' Big Five and Study 2 (N = 3,771) focused on school-related personality facets. Socioeconomic status predicted the parental report in both studies. Participation in high-culture arts incrementally predicted parental report over and above socioeconomic status. Specifically, parents with higher participation in high-culture arts rated their children in a more positive light than class teachers. These background specific perceiver effects might reflect both varying personality judgments or actual differences in behavior.

Schoolwork effort and emotions predict self-control in a weekly diary study

OBJECTIVE

Self-control supports many positive life outcomes. However, the processes underlying the development of self-control are not well understood. Drawing on the TESSERA model of personality development, we examined whether weekly schoolwork effort predicts self-control (in the subsequent week). We also examined the role of schoolwork emotions and whether these emotions moderated the impact of schoolwork effort on self-control based on predictions from the TESSERA model.

METHODS

Data are from a weekly diary study (N = 98) that measured children's schoolwork effort, schoolwork emotions, and self-control during five consecutive weeks. Data were analyzed at the between- and within-person levels using multilevel models.

RESULTS

Between-person results show that schoolwork effort is related to variations in children's self-control. Furthermore, some emotions moderated the influence of schoolwork effort on self-control at the between- and within-person levels.

CONCLUSION

In line with the TESSERA model of personality development, positive state expressions of effort during schoolwork (e.g., putting in effort) predicted higher self-control in the subsequent week. However, this finding was dependent on the reactions and reinforcement children felt about their effort (e.g., emotional responses to their remote schoolwork). The discussion examines how these findings extend to previous literature.

A comparative study of differences between parents and teachers in the evaluation of environmental sensitivity

Introduction

The inextricable bond between humans and the environment underscores the pivotal significance of environmental sensitivity. This innate trait encompasses a wide array of ways individuals perceive, process, and react to various internal and external stimuli. The evaluation of this trait in children is generally conducted by parents. However, little is known about the concordance of the parents reports with those conducted by others, such as teachers. Children's behavior assessment is a current and relevant issue and finding out more positive results could make improvements in different contexts, such as home, clinics and schools.

Objective

This study examines agreements and discrepancies between parents and teachers as raters of environmental sensitivity in Spanish children.

Methods

Participants were 124 parents and eight teachers of youngsters between 3 and 10 years, who completed a paper survey providing information about parental and school variables and environmental sensitivity.

Results

Parents and teachers mostly differ when rating environmental sensitivity, being parents the raters who score higher levels of this trait than teachers. Also, poor intra-class coefficients of reliability are found in both the items of HSCS, the dimensions and the general factor of environmental sensitivity among the informants.

Conclusion

The present investigation provides novel findings related to inter-rater assessment on environmental sensitivity and how these different informants could affect in the report. This study also highlights the need of making and validating new and specific tools to assess environmental sensitivity for teachers.

Beyond Big Five trait domains: Stability and change in personality facets across midlife and old age

OBJECTIVE

Accumulated evidence indicates both stable and malleable parts of inter-individual differences in the broad Big Five domains. Less is known, however, about stability and change at the more diversified facet level. With the current study, we fill this gap by investigating personality stability and change across midlife and old age.

METHOD

We apply local structural equation measurement models and second-order growth curve models to four waves of data obtained with the full NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) collected over 11 years from 1667 adults (Mage  = 62.69 years, SDage  = 15.62, 55% female) who participated in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

RESULTS

Measurement invariance analyses indicated that the psychometric properties of the NEO-PI-R facets are comparable across time and age. Results revealed substantial rank-order stabilities across all facets, yet the exact pattern varied strongly between facets of the same trait and across traits. Mean-level change of facets from midlife to old age largely mirrored the mean-level change observed for the broader traits.

CONCLUSION

We discuss conceptual implications and argue that in the face of overall stability across midlife and old age, changes in the rank-ordering of people reveals a much more complex and diverse pattern of development than analyses at the trait level suggest.

Self-control in adolescence predicts forgivingness in middle adulthood

INTRODUCTION

This 33-year study examined associations between self-control development in adolescence and forgivingness, i.e., the dispositional tendency to forgive others, in middle adulthood.

METHODS

Participants were 1350 adults aged 45 years (50.6% female). Self-control was measured yearly from age 12 to 16, while forgivingness was measured at age 45.

RESULTS

Results indicated significant individual differences in level and change of self-control across the adolescent years and an average mean-level increase. Individual differences in level and change in self-control were independently associated with forgivingness in middle adulthood. Individuals who either entered adolescence with higher self-control, and/or increased in self-control during the adolescent years, reported higher scores in forgivingness at age 45 compared to peers. This pattern held even after controlling for gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and conduct problems in adolescence.

CONCLUSION

The current findings demonstrate that developmental processes in adolescence are important for individual differences in the dispositional tendency to forgive others in adulthood.

Unraveling the Bidirectional Associations between Parental Knowledge and Children's Externalizing Behavior

Although within- and between-family bidirectional associations between parental knowledge and children's externalizing behavior have been theoretically proposed, studies that unravel these associations simultaneously remain scarce. This study examined these bidirectional associations within and between German families. 3611 families participated across one-year intervals between children ages 8 to 15 (50.6% boys, 34.5% fathers, 89.0% German-born, M_waves = 3.63, SD_waves = 2.00). Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) with linear slopes revealed negative between-family associations between parental knowledge and children's externalizing behavior, and a negative association between the random linear slopes. Generally, no within-family cross-lagged effects were found, but there were some correlated slopes across families. When teasing apart paternal and maternal knowledge, father-driven but not mother-driven lagged effects of increased knowledge predicting decreased externalizing behavior were found. The findings illustrate the importance of fathers' knowledge and new directions for within-family studies of parent-child interactions.

Adolescence as a peak period of borderline personality features? A meta-analytic approach

This meta-analysis of cross-sectional data aimed to shed light on the often assumed peak in mean-level of borderline personality features during middle to late adolescence (i.e. age 17–22). Borderline personality features were operationalized through the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Search terms were entered into PsycINFO and Scopus. A total of 168 samples were included in the analyses, comprising 25,053 participants. Mean age ranged from 14.35 to 51.47 years ( M = 29.01, SD = 8.52) and mean number of borderline personality features from 0 to 8.10 ( M = 4.59, SD = 2.34). The hypothesized peak between age 17 and 22 was not substantiated by the confirmatory ANOVA analysis. However, subsequent exploratory GAM analysis provided evidence for a peak at 29.4 years. Caution is needed in interpreting these findings given that different trends appeared when GAM models were constructed separately for community, patient and borderline personality disorder (BPD) samples. Age differences in community samples indicated a significant linear decline in mean-level of borderline personality features over time. A linear rising trend was found in BPD samples. As a between-person mean-level approach was used in the current study, future longitudinal studies are needed to substantiate if between-person age difference generalize to within-person changes.

Personality development in immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents: Disruption or maturation?

This study examined gender and immigrant status differences in stability and change in the Big Five traits in a sample of early adolescents in Greece from economically disadvantaged schools with a high immigrant composition (65% first- or second-generation immigrants). Youth in the sample ( N = 1252, 46% female, ages 12–13 at time 1) self-reported Big Five traits annually for 3 years. Mean-level and rank-order stability were examined separately by gender and immigration history. Growth modeling of mean-level scores showed declines in all five personality traits for both genders between ages 12 and 14, followed by increases in conscientiousness for girls and boys, and increases in agreeableness and openness to experience for boys only. In sensitivity analyses, boys showed disruption at all levels of perceived economic stress, but only girls with high levels of perceived economic stress showed disruption. Trajectories were similar for immigrant and non-immigrant youth, suggesting that immigrant youth did not show greater mean-level disruption. However, immigrant youth reported lower means on all traits except emotional stability. Rank-order stability was moderately strong over 3 years and comparable across both genders and immigration histories. Results in this high-risk sample supported the disruption hypothesis and suggest that immigration experiences are associated with personality development.

Personality Development Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood: The Role of Life Transitions and Self-Concept Clarity

Personality develops across the lifespan, but most development occurs in adolescence and young adulthood. Life transitions to new social roles may be important drivers of mean-level personality development. The present study examined mean-level personality development in adolescence and young adulthood, and the role of the transition to tertiary education and working life therein in a sample of Dutch young people that were followed across 14 years ( N = 497, AgeW1 = 13.03 years). We explored whether young people’s self-concept clarity moderated these associations. Our hypotheses and analytical plan were pre-registered. Findings from Latent Growth Models showed support for maturation in personality across adolescence and young adulthood, but not a maturity dip. Having the role of employee was associated with higher conscientiousness, but no associations were found of the transition to tertiary education and the transition to work with mean-level development of any of the personality traits. Self-concept clarity did not moderate the role of transitions in mean-level personality development. Our findings suggest that socialization effects may not explain associations between life transitions and personality development in adolescence and young adulthood.

Maturation or disruption? Conscientiousness development in the transition into adolescence

Research to date has shown longitudinal changes in conscientiousness during early and middle adolescence, but most studies have been conducted in Western countries. The present study aimed to examine the pattern of mean-level conscientiousness change at the transition into early adolescence among a Chinese sample using curve of factors (CUFFS) models. Four waves of data from 661 Chinese children aged 8 years old at baseline in the China Family Panel Studies were used. Parents were asked to rate their children’s level of conscientiousness every 2 years. On average, mean-level conscientiousness showed a decelerating increase. Girls had higher average conscientiousness levels than boys, but they did not differ in change patterns. The inconsistency between the current study and previous research indicates that conscientiousness development may depend, in part, on cultural factors.

Fluid Intelligence and Competence Development in Secondary Schooling: No Evidence for a Moderating Role of Conscientiousness

Fluid intelligence and conscientiousness are important predictors of students’ academic performance and competence gains. Although their individual contributions have been widely acknowledged, less is known about their potential interplay. Do students profit disproportionately from being both smart and conscientious? We addressed this question using longitudinal data from two large student samples of the German National Educational Panel Study. In the first sample, we analyzed reading and mathematics competencies of 3778 fourth graders (Mage = 9.29, 51% female) and gains therein until grade 7. In the second sample, we analyzed the same competencies in 4942 seventh graders (Mage = 12.49, 49% female) and gains therein until grade 9. The results of (moderated) latent change score models supported fluid intelligence as the most consistent predictor of competence levels and gains, whereas conscientiousness predicted initial competence levels in mathematics and reading as well as gains in mathematics (but not reading) only in the older sample. There was no evidence for interaction effects between fluid intelligence and conscientiousness. We found only one statistically significant synergistic interaction in the older sample for gains in reading competence, which disappeared when including covariates. Although our findings point to largely independent effects of fluid intelligence and conscientiousness on competence gains, we delineate avenues for future research to illuminate their potential interplay.

Do We Know Whether We're Happier? Corroborating Perceived Retrospective Assessments of Improvements in Well-Being

To what extent do our beliefs about how our well-being has improved over time correspond to observed changes? Participants (N = 1,247 from Qualtrics Panels) completed questionnaires measuring dispositional well-being and ill-being (depressive symptoms) at three time points over the course of one year, as well as 44 weekly assessments of state well-being and ill-being over 52 weeks. They additionally completed measures of perceived improvements in well-being and ill-being at Weeks 45 and 52 as well as a measure of broad personality traits. We estimated latent change scores and latent growth curves, which allowed us to obtain more accurate estimates of the convergence between retrospective improvements and veridical change compared to past methods utilized. Stability in both global and state well-being and ill-being were observed. People who agreed more strongly that their well-being had improved (or their ill-being had increased) tended to show greater increases in actual well-being (or ill-being) across the past year. Additionally, we observed meaningful relationships between personality traits and perceived improvements. On average, people have some insight in assessing whether they became happier (or unhappier) over one year.

Naturalistic development of trait mindfulness: A longitudinal examination of victimization and supportive relationships in early adolescence

Scholars have only just begun to examine elements of young adolescents' social ecologies that explain naturalistic variation in trait mindfulness and its development over time. We argue that trait mindfulness develops as a function of chronically encountered ecologies that are likely to foster or thwart the repeated enactment of mindful states over time. Using data from 4,593 fourth and seventh grade students (50% female; MageG4 = 9.02; 71% English first language) from 32 public school districts in British Columbia (BC), Canada, we examined links from peer belonging, connectedness with adults at home, and peer victimization to mindfulness over time. Variable-centered analyses indicated that young adolescents with lower victimization in fourth grade reported higher mindfulness in seventh grade, and that cross-sectionally within seventh grade victimization, peer belonging, and connectedness with adults at home were each associated with mindfulness. Contrary to our hypothesis, connectedness with adults at home moderated the longitudinal association between victimization and mindfulness such that the negative association was stronger among young adolescents with high (vs. low) levels of connectedness with adults at home. Person-centered analysis of the fourth graders' data confirmed our variable-centered findings, yielding four latent classes of social ecology whose mindfulness levels in seventh grade largely tracked with their victimization levels (from highest to lowest mindfulness): (1) flourishing relationships, (2) unvictimized but weak relationships with adults, (3) moderately victimized but strong relationships, and (4) victimized but strong relationships. Overall, our findings contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that trait mindfulness may develop as a function of ecologically normative experiences in young adolescents' everyday lives.

Personality and psychosocial functioning in early adolescence: Age-differential associations from the self- and parent perspective

Although psychosocial functioning and personality are indisputably interrelated in adulthood, much less is known about these associations in early adolescence. Accordingly, the goal of the current study was twofold. First, we investigated associations between adolescents’ personality and three broad indicators of psychosocial functioning: academic achievement, social relationships, and psychosocial adjustment. Second, we tested differential effects by comparing these associations across three different cohorts (Grades 5, 7, and 9) and across two raters of adolescents’ personality: self- and parent reports. Our sample consisted of N = 2667 students and their parents. According to latent regression models, adolescents’ personality traits showed significant associations with all psychosocial functioning variables: Achievement was most consistently associated with emotional stability, openness, and conscientiousness; social relationships were most consistently associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness; and psychosocial adjustment was related to all of the Big Five traits. Most associations did not vary across grades, whereas self-reported extraversion showed lower associations in later grades. Looking at rater-specific effects, we found fewer and usually smaller associations with parent- than with self-rated personality, again with the most significant differences with extraversion. We discuss the consistent interrelatedness between adolescents’ personality and psychosocial functioning but also highlight important exceptions in grade- and rater-specificities.

The joint power of personality and motivation dynamics for occupational success: Bridging two largely separated fields

When establishing a career in adulthood, two major socioemotional ingredients are expected to affect people’s success: how people act (personality) and what motivates them to act this way (motivation). However, little is known about whether and how personality and motivation change together and how their possible dynamic interplay predicts success. We investigated the roles that changes in personality and expectancy beliefs played in explaining occupational success in 4121 participants assessed after high school ( Mage = 22.80, SDage = 0.70; 63% female) and about 20 years later. We used latent change models and moderated structural equation modeling to investigate correlated change and latent change interactions of personality and expectancy beliefs in predicting success. Results illustrated that besides being related in a nomological net, personality and expectancy beliefs also illustrated a strong interrelatedness in change across time. We found the clearest joint change dynamics between emotional stability, conscientiousness, self-concept, and self-efficacy. Changes in personality and expectancy beliefs were furthermore associated with objective and subjective occupational success. The results call for a more integrative view on personality-motivation dynamics across time for understanding the long-term adaptive ingredients of occupational success stories in adulthood.

Age and gender differences in personality traits from early childhood through adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Most research on personality development has employed self-report questionnaires and concerned individuals older than 10 years. This is the first study to examine mean-level age differences in personality traits from early childhood to late adolescence in the non-Western cultural context.

METHOD

Personality was measured in two community samples of parent reports of 2-18-year-old children (N = 4,330) and self-reports of 10-19-year-old adolescents (N = 4,663) from Russia by the Inventory of Child Individual Differences-Short version (ICID-S) at the three levels of the hierarchy, the two higher order traits, the Big Five, and lower order traits.

RESULTS

Across childhood, the Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism traits increased, and the Extraversion and Openness traits decreased. In adolescence, parent-reported Conscientiousness traits increased and Neuroticism traits decreased, whereas youth-rated Alpha and Agreeableness decreased in middle adolescence. There were small gender differences in trait levels and age trends. Parents and youths did not agree on gender differences in age trends for Neuroticism and Extraversion.

CONCLUSION

The findings support personality maturation from early childhood to late adolescence, with the exception of increasing Neuroticism across childhood, and provide some evidence for the disruption in personality maturation in adolescence. Parents and adolescents may have different perspectives on personality development.

What teachers and parents can add to personality ratings of children: Unique associations with academic performance in elementary school

Adults’ ratings of children’s personality have been found to be more closely associated with academic performance than children’s self-reports. However, less is known about the relevance of the unique perspectives held by specific adult observers such as teachers and parents for explaining variance in academic performance. In this study, we applied bifactor (S–1) models for 1411 elementary school children to investigate the relative merits of teacher and parent ratings of children’s personalities for academic performance above and beyond the children’s self-reports. We examined these associations using standardized achievement test scores in addition to grades. We found that teachers’ unique views on children’s openness and conscientiousness had the strongest associations with academic performance. Parents’ unique views on children’s neuroticism showed incremental associations above teacher ratings or self-reports. For extraversion and agreeableness, however, children’s self-reports were more strongly associated with academic performance than teacher or parent ratings. These results highlight the differential value of using multiple informants when explaining academic performance with personality traits.

Self–other agreement in personality development in romantic couples

A large body of evidence indicates that personality traits show high rank-order stability and substantial mean-level changes across the lifespan. However, the majority of longitudinal research on personality development has relied on repeated assessments of self-reports, providing a narrow empirical base from which to draw conclusions and develop theory. Here, we (1) tested whether self- and informant-reports provided by couples show similar patterns of rank-order stability and mean-level change and (2) assessed self–other agreement in personality development. We charted the Big Five personality trajectories of 255 couples ( N = 510; M age = 27.01 years) who provided both self- and partner-reports at four assessments across 1.5 years. Results indicated similar rank-order stabilities in self- and partner-report data. Latent growth curve models indicated no significant differences between self- and partner-reported personality trajectories, with exceptions to extraversion and agreeableness. We further found strong cross-sectional agreement across all Big Five traits and assessment waves as well as moderate self–other agreement in personality change in emotional stability and agreeableness. These findings highlight the relevance of multi-method assessments in personality development, while providing information about personality stability and change. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications and future directions for multi-method assessments in longitudinal personality research.

Age differences in Machiavellianism across the life span: Evidence from a large-scale cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

Lifespan perspectives on personality development have gained much momentum in recent years, mostly focusing on benevolent and neutral traits such as the Big Five. Despite their strong associations with critical personal outcomes, surprisingly little research has investigated the development of malevolent traits. Addressing this gap, we examined age trends in Machiavellianism across the lifespan.

METHODS

Using data from a large-scale cross-sectional sample (n = 1,118,643), we analyzed mean-level changes from age 10 to 67.

RESULTS

Age differences in Machiavellianism were most pronounced as a strong upward trend during the transition from late childhood to adolescence, when it peaked. Throughout adulthood it exhibited a steady downward trend, reaching an overall minimum at age 65. Across the lifespan, Machiavellianism tended to be higher in men and high-income participants. Compared to Machiavellianism, the age trends in Agreeableness and-to a lesser extent-Conscientiousness showed almost perfectly polar opposite patterns.

CONCLUSIONS

Age trends in malevolent personality conform to established patterns of normative change, indicating temporary disruption in adolescence and social maturation across adulthood. The results advance theory and research on personality trait development across the lifespan and highlight crucial developmental windows that can inform targeted interventions to keep socially aversive traits in check.

Personality functioning in adults with refractory epilepsy and community adults: Implications for health-related quality of life

INTRODUCTION

Prior research has shown that people with epilepsy are at risk for a poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, patients differ greatly in how well they adjust to their epilepsy. To better understand these differences, the present study examined the role of personality. More specifically, we examined mean-level differences in Big Five personality traits between adults with refractory epilepsy and a community sample and related these traits to patients' HRQOL.

METHODS

A total of 121 adults with refractory epilepsy (18-40 years old, 56% women) completed questionnaires on the Big Five personality traits, HRQOL, and seizure frequency and severity. Patients' Big Five scores were compared to those of a community sample matched on sex and age using paired samples t-tests. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to examine associations between personality and HRQOL, while controlling for the effects of sex, age, age at diagnosis, seizure frequency, and seizure severity.

RESULTS

Patients reported higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of openness as compared to controls. In patients, seizure severity was positively related to neuroticism and negatively related to agreeableness. Finally, patients high in neuroticism and low in conscientiousness generally reported a poorer HRQOL.

CONCLUSION

In the present study, small personality differences were observed between adults with refractory epilepsy and a community sample. Patients' personality was found to play an important role in adjusting to epilepsy, even after controlling for seizure frequency and severity. Personality assessment may help healthcare professionals in identifying patients at risk for poor HRQOL later in life.

A Longitudinal Field Investigation of Narcissism and Popularity Over Time: How Agentic and Antagonistic Aspects of Narcissism Shape the Development of Peer Relationships

Grandiose narcissism has been linked to initial popularity but to later unpopularity in peer groups and laboratory contexts. Do these effects on peer relationships also emerge in larger real-life contexts and what are the underlying behavioral processes (i.e., behavioral expressions, interpersonal perceptions)? Using data from the longitudinal CONNECT field study ( N = 126), we investigated effects of agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism on emerging popularity in a complete peer network. A cohort of psychology first-year students was assessed with a quasiexperimental, experience-sampling methodology involving online surveys, diaries, and behavioral observations. In contrast to previous laboratory research, narcissism was unrelated to popularity at the level of zero-order correlations. However, results indicated that (a) an agentic behavioral pathway fostered popularity across time, and an antagonistic behavioral pathway drove the long-term decline in popularity, and (b) the two pathways were differentially related to agentic (admiration) and antagonistic (rivalry) aspects of narcissism.

Self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems in adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Achieving a clear self-view is a lifelong task that is particularly salient during adolescence. Theory and research suggest that close others' perceptions of individuals' personality may influence the formation and maintenance of coherent self-views. The degree to which adolescents develop a stable and coherent self-view, in turn, may have perennial influences on their mental health and well-being. This 1-year longitudinal study investigated the associations between the agreement of self- and other-rated Big Five personality traits and internalizing problems in adolescence.

METHOD

Participants were 570 Dutch adolescents (51% girls), their mothers, friends, and siblings. We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems using polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses.

RESULTS

Results indicated strong main effects of self- and other-rated personality traits on internalizing problems but provided little evidence for longitudinal associations between self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems.

CONCLUSION

Our results cast doubt on the generalizability of the beneficial effects of self-other agreement documented in the adult literature to adolescents but highlight the importance of self- and other-rated personality in youth's mental health development. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications and recommendations for future investigations of self-other agreement.

Adolescent indirect reciprocity: Evidence from incentivized economic paradigms

INTRODUCTION

Indirect reciprocity serves as a crucial component of how we interact with strangers. Two types of indirect reciprocity can be distinguished: pay-it-forward reciprocity and third party reciprocity. Pay-it-forward reciprocity refers to behaviors where people who have been treated well by others (either fairly or generously), extend that fairness or generosity to a stranger. Third-party reciprocity refers to behaviors where third-party bystanders altruistically punish those who transgress against others or kindly help the victims. The expansion of adolescents' social world increases opportunities to exercise indirect reciprocity yet very little research has focused on this topic in this age group. The current research addresses this lacuna and investigates how younger adolescents differ from older adolescents in pay-it-forward and third party reciprocity.

METHODS

With incentivized economic paradigms, we investigated both types of indirect reciprocity in younger (n = 50) and older adolescents (n = 46).

RESULTS

The pay-it-forward task revealed that receiving an equal (vs. unequal) distribution led both younger and older adolescents to become fairer to a third person. In the third-party task, older adolescents were more likely to devote their own resources to enforce fairness norms than younger adolescents.

CONCLUSION

Our results shed light on how adolescents perceive and act in complex social settings where direct reciprocity is unrealistic. Both younger and older adolescents are capable of engaging in both forms of indirect reciprocity with older adolescents being more discriminative in their norm-enforcing behaviors.

Big Five personality traits among Polish students facing the transformations of the education system

Background

The aim of the present study was to analyze personality traits in the Big Five Model among Polish students in early adolescence, who were on the verge of introduction of a new reform in the Polish education system. The article presents a summary of the results of the first of the planned three stages of the longitudinal study.

Participants and procedure

The participants of the study were 910 people at the sixth grade of primary schools, aged from 11 to 13 (M = 12.40, SD = 0.58), and at the first grade of junior high schools, aged from 12 to 14 (M = 13.40, SD = 0.53) in the school year 2016/2017. The analysis of personality traits was carried out using the Picture Based Personality Survey for Children (PBPS-C v1).

Results

The results showed that young people from primary schools are more conscientious and open to experience than their older schoolmates. Girls from primary schools are more conscientious and open to new experience than their older peers; and boys from primary schools are more conscientious than their older schoolmates. Gender and level of education turned out to be sig-nificant predictors of some personality traits. Extraversion is associated with boys while neuroticism and agreeableness are as-sociated with girls. Level of education is associated with openness to experience and conscientiousness.

Conclusions

The results are discussed in the context of possible practical rearing influence aimed at supporting young people’s development in the context of educational changes that they are about to face.

Personality Functioning in Adolescents and Emerging Adults With Type 1 Diabetes

PURPOSE

Although prior research has stressed the role of personality in adjusting to type 1 diabetes, longitudinal research is lacking. The objectives of the present study were twofold: (1) to chart the development of patients' personality over a 2-year period; and (2) to examine prospective associations among personality, treatment adherence, glycemic control, and diabetes-specific distress.

METHODS

Adolescents and emerging adults with type 1 diabetes, aged 14-25 years (M_age = 18.86 years, 54% female), participated in a three-wave longitudinal study spanning 2 years (n = 560 at Time 1). Patients filled out questionnaires on Big Five personality traits, treatment adherence, and diabetes-specific distress. HbA_1c values were obtained from treating physicians. We used latent growth curve modeling to examine the development of patients' personality. Cross-lagged path analysis was performed to examine prospective associations among the study variables.

RESULTS

First, we observed mean-level increases in extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness over the course of the study. Second, we uncovered bidirectional associations between personality and several important indicators of adjustment. Lower conscientiousness and higher extraversion predicted a relative decrease in treatment adherence 1 year later. Poorer treatment adherence, in turn, predicted relative decreases in conscientiousness and agreeableness over time. Furthermore, lower emotional stability predicted a relative increase in distress 1 year later. Higher distress, in turn, predicted a relative decrease in agreeableness over time. Finally, lower conscientiousness predicted poorer glycemic control 1 year later.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found young patients to move toward a more mature personality and stressed the importance of personality in adjusting to type 1 diabetes.

Personality Across the Life Span

Trait stability and maturation are fundamental principles of contemporary personality psychology and have been shown to hold across many cultures. However, it has proven difficult to move beyond these general findings to a detailed account of trait development. There are pervasive and unexplained inconsistencies across studies that may be due to ( a) insufficient attention to measurement error, ( b) subtle but age-sensitive differences in alternative measures of the same trait, or ( c) different perspectives reflected in self-reports and observer ratings. Multiscale, multimethod-and ideally multinational-studies are needed. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for trait stability and change, but supporting evidence is currently weak or indirect; trait development is a fertile if sometimes frustrating field for theory and research. Beyond traits, there are approaches to personality development that are of interest to students of adult development, and these may be fruitfully addressed from a trait perspective.

Unique predictive power of other-rated personality: An 18-year longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE

What is gained by having others report on one's personality? Research on adult samples has suggested that informant reports are especially informative regarding traits that are highly visible and evaluative (i.e., socially desirable/undesirable instead of neutral), such as Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. This 18-year longitudinal study aims to demonstrate the unique predictive power of other-rated personality in adolescence, using life outcomes and personality in adulthood as trait criteria.

METHOD

We examined the unique predictive power of self- and other-rated Big Five personality traits at age 12 and 17 on self-rated life outcomes and personality at age 29 (e.g., educational achievement, work income, depression, moral transgressions, and relationship satisfaction). Participants were 186 German adolescents (53% boys), their parents and friends at age 12, and their mothers and fathers at age 17.

RESULTS

Other-ratings showed unique predictive power beyond self-ratings for all Big Five traits, with the most consistent results for Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness.

CONCLUSIONS

Results demonstrate the added value of including other-reports on adolescent personality when predicting future life outcomes and personality, especially for highly visible and evaluative traits. The present study sheds light on the predictive power of self- versus other-rated personality and personality-outcome associations.