Personality in the Age of Industry: Structure, Heritability, and Correlates of Personality in Middle Childhood from the Perspective of Parents, Teachers, and Children

Personality and peer groups in adolescence: Reciprocal associations and shared genetic and environmental influences

OBJECTIVE

Peer groups represent a critical developmental context in adolescence, and there are many well-documented associations between personality and peer behavior at this age. However, the precise nature and direction of these associations are difficult to determine as youth both select into, and are influenced by, their peers.

METHOD

We thus examined the phenotypic, genetic, and environmental links between antisocial and prosocial peer characteristics and several personality traits from middle childhood to late adolescence (ages 11, 14, and 17 years) in a longitudinal twin sample (N = 3762) using teacher ratings of personality and self-reports of peer characteristics.

RESULTS

Less adaptive trait profiles (i.e., high negative emotionality, low conscientiousness, and low agreeableness) were associated with more antisocial and fewer prosocial peer characteristics across time. Associations between personality traits related to emotionality (negative emotionality and extraversion) and peer behavior were largely attributable to shared genetic influences, while associations between personality traits related to behavioral control (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and peer behavior were due to overlapping genetic and shared environmental influences.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, results suggest a set of environmental presses that push youth toward both behavioral undercontrol and antisocial peer affiliations, making the identification of such influences and their relative importance a critical avenue of future work.

Differentiated nomological networks of internalizing, externalizing, and the general factor of psychopathology ('p factor') in emerging adolescence in the ABCD study

BACKGROUND

Structural models of psychopathology consistently identify internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) specific factors as well as a superordinate factor that captures their shared variance, the p factor. Questions remain, however, about the meaning of these data-driven dimensions and the interpretability and distinguishability of the larger nomological networks in which they are embedded.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 10 645 youth aged 9-10 years participating in the multisite Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. p, INT, and EXT were modeled using the parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Patterns of associations were examined with variables drawn from diverse domains including demographics, psychopathology, temperament, family history of substance use and psychopathology, school and family environment, and cognitive ability, using instruments based on youth-, parent-, and teacher-report, and behavioral task performance.

RESULTS

p exhibited a broad pattern of statistically significant associations with risk variables across all domains assessed, including temperament, neurocognition, and social adversity. The specific factors exhibited more domain-specific patterns of associations, with INT exhibiting greater fear/distress and EXT exhibiting greater impulsivity.

CONCLUSIONS

In this largest study of hierarchical models of psychopathology to date, we found that p, INT, and EXT exhibit well-differentiated nomological networks that are interpretable in terms of neurocognition, impulsivity, fear/distress, and social adversity. These networks were, in contrast, obscured when relying on the a priori Internalizing and Externalizing dimensions of the CBCL scales. Our findings add to the evidence for the validity of p, INT, and EXT as theoretically and empirically meaningful broad psychopathology liabilities.

The General Factor of Psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study: A Comparison of Alternative Modeling Approaches

Many models of psychopathology include a single general factor of psychopathology (GFP) or "p factor" to account for covariation across symptoms. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study provides a rich opportunity to study the development of the GFP. However, a variety of approaches for modeling the GFP have emerged, raising questions about how modeling choices impact estimated GFP scores. We used the ABCD baseline assessment (ages 9-10 years-old; N=11,875) of the parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to examine the implications of modeling the GFP using items versus scales; using a priori CBCL scales versus data-driven dimensions; and using bifactor, higher-order, or single-factor models. Children's rank-ordering on the GFP was stable across models, with GFP scores similarly related to criterion variables. Results suggest that while theoretical debates about modeling the GFP continue, the practical implications of these choices for rank-ordering children and assessing external associations will often be modest.

Using item response theory to evaluate the Children's Behavior Questionnaire: Considerations of general functioning and assessment length

Although the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001) is the most popular assessment for childhood temperament, its psychometric qualities have yet to be examined using Item Response Theory (IRT) methods. These methods highlight in detail the specific contributions of individual items for measuring different facets of temperament. Importantly, with 16 scales for tapping distinct aspects of child functioning (195 items total), the CBQ's length can be prohibitive in many contexts. The detailed information about item functioning provided by IRT methods is therefore especially useful. The current study used IRT methods to analyze the CBQ's 16 temperament scales and identify potentially redundant items. An abbreviated "IRT form" was generated based on these results and evaluated across four independent validation samples. The IRT form was compared to the original and short CBQ forms (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Results provide fine-grained detail on the CBQ's psychometric functioning and suggest it is possible to remove up to 39% of the original form's items while largely preserving the measurement precision and content coverage of each scale. This study provides considerable psychometric information about the CBQ's items and scales and highlights future avenues for creating even more efficient high-quality temperament assessments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework

When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.

Applied Implications of Understanding the Natural Development of Effortful Control

Effortful control (EC) is an important target for many interventions intended to facilitate positive psychosocial outcomes. The first wave of these efforts have emphasized adult-to-child instruction and individualized practice at target skills. Future tests of these ideas will be facilitated by efforts to critically evaluate and improve the construct validity of EC measures. New avenues for these applied approaches will also grow out of a more complete understanding of the processes that govern EC development. Specifically, I argue that the natural development of EC includes important roles for contextual and peer relationship factors that have yet to be capitalized on in efforts to increase EC in children.

Parent depressive symptomatology moderates the etiology of externalizing behavior in childhood: An examination of gene-environment interaction effects

Parent depressive symptomatology is robust risk factor for externalizing behavior in childhood (Goodman et al., 2011). Although the precise mechanisms underlying this association have yet to be fully illuminated, there is some evidence that parent depression can impact externalizing behavior via both genetic and environmental pathways. In the current study, we investigated the extent to which genetic and environmental influences on externalizing behavior are moderated by parent depressive symptoms (i.e., genotype-environment interaction) in a sample of 2,060, 6- to 11-year-old twins. Results suggest that genetic influences explain more variance in externalizing behavior as maternal depressive symptoms increase, whereas shared environmental effects decrease. These findings were specific to maternal depressive symptoms, however, and did not extend to not paternal depressive symptoms. Findings are critical for understanding the role of parental depression as a risk factor for problematic child behavior, and informing programs that seek to minimize the impact of this risk factor. (PsycINFO Database Record

Behavioral problems of school children: impact of social vulnerability, chronic adversity, and maternal depression

This study’s objective was to identify the predictive effect of indicators concerning social vulnerability, chronic adversity, and maternal depression on behavioral problems among school-aged children, according to the perceptions of mothers and teachers, considering the presence or absence of difficulties in the contexts of family and school. A total of 85 pairs of mothers and school children were distributed into three groups according to the behavioral problems identified. A General Questionnaire, the PHQ-9, the Chronic Adversity Scale, and the (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) SDQ were applied to the mothers; the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices were applied to the children; and the SDQ was applied to the teachers. Data were analyzed with descriptive, predictive, and comparative statistical procedures (p ≤ 0.05). The results reveal the presence of cumulative risks for children with behavioral problems; mothers more frequently identified behavioral problems than teachers; and maternal depression was a predictor for behavioral problems. Such findings are relevant for devising mental health programs.

Personality traits and parent-adolescent interactions: An observational study of Mexican origin families

Parent-child interactions are likely influenced by the personality characteristics of both the parent and the child. However, questions remain concerning the bidirectional nature of these effects (e.g., does a child's personality evoke changes in his or her parent's behavior?). Furthermore, the existing literature is based primarily on European American children and generally relies on questionnaire measures of parent-child interactions rather than assessing behavior during observed interactions. To address these gaps in the literature, the authors evaluated reciprocal associations between personality traits and observed interactions between Mexican origin adolescents (N = 674) and their parents in 5th- and 7th-grade using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). Adolescent effortful control and aggressiveness were associated with adolescent warmth and hostility (i.e., actor effects) and parent warmth and hostility (i.e., partner effects). Thus, adolescents with poor self-control seem to evoke more negative behaviors from their parents than adolescents with better self-control. Parental extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism predicted parent warmth (actor effects), but there was little evidence that parent personality was associated with specific adolescent behaviors (partner effects). These results help to clarify how personality attributes are associated with adolescent relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are there sex differences in the etiology of youth antisocial behavior?

Sex differences in the etiology of youth antisocial behavior are an intuitively appealing hypothesis given the consistently higher prevalence of antisocial behavior in boys versus girls. Although a few early studies supported this possibility, reporting stronger genetic influences in females and stronger environmental influences in males, subsequent meta-analyses found that antisocial behavior was equally heritable in males and females. Critically however, none of the meta-analyses evaluated whether sex differences in etiology might be enhanced in particular subpopulations or contexts. The current study sought to do just this. We examined 1,030 child twin pairs from the Michigan State University Twin Registry, half of whom were oversampled for neighborhood disadvantage, thereby allowing us to meaningfully evaluate whether sex differences in etiology were enhanced in disadvantaged contexts. We also directly evaluated the possibility of sex differences in the etiology of teacher- versus maternal-informant reports of antisocial behavior, evaluating each informant-report for possible sex differences. Results were not consistent with differential effects of sex on etiology in disadvantaged versus advantaged contexts, but did suggest moderation by informant-report. Namely, genetic influences were stronger in girls, and environmental influences were stronger in boys, when antisocial behavior was assessed using teacher informant-reports, but not when assessed using maternal informant-reports. Critically, these findings were confirmed when we reanalyzed meta-analytic data from Burt (2009a) separately by informant. Such findings suggest that, at least in school contexts, the etiology of antisocial behavior does indeed vary across sex. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Integrating developmental aspects in current thinking about personality pathology

The current review outlines some recent highlights from the developmental literature on personality pathology with regard to its conceptualization, development, assessment and clinical utility. Notable parallels with adult evidence are described, but also unique and age-specific issues are discussed. Finally, suggestions for future research that may stimulate a life-span and integrative perspective on personality pathology from childhood onwards are proposed.

Parental involvement as an etiological moderator of middle childhood oppositional defiant disorder

The goal of this study was to investigate parental involvement as an etiologic moderator of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) during middle childhood. Previous studies examining the influence of genetic and environmental factors on ODD have not considered whether and how these factors might vary by parental involvement. We thus conducted a series of "latent genetic by measured environmental" interaction analyses, in which measured parental involvement was allowed to moderate genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences on child ODD. Participants include 1,027 twin pairs (age ranged from 6 to 11 years old) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Results did indeed suggest that the etiology of ODD varies with maternal involvement, such that genetic influence on ODD became more prominent as maternal involvement decreased. However, these results were specific to children's perceptions of maternal involvement and did not extend to maternal perceptions of her involvement. There was no evidence that paternal involvement moderated the etiology of ODD, regardless of informant. The different results found in twins' and parents' data are consistent with those in previous research showing that children may have different perceptions from parents' about their family relationships and that this discrepancy needs to be taken into account in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Internalizing Symptoms and Personality Traits Color Parental Reports of Child Temperament

OBJECTIVE

Depressed parents have negatively distorted views of the personalities and behaviors of their children. Our goal was to evaluate how other internalizing symptoms and personality traits relate to perceptions of child temperament using data from mothers and fathers as well as a novel statistical method for modeling multi-informant data.

METHOD

We applied the trifactor model (Bauer et al., 2013) to data collected from the parents of 273 children (aged 3-5 years).

RESULTS

Internalizing symptoms and personality traits were related to both mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children. Effects varied somewhat across dimensions of child temperament.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support concerns that psychological characteristics influence parental perceptions of their children. This research also provides insights about psychological predictors of potential parental biases.

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective

Dispositional negativity-the propensity to experience and express more frequent, intense, or enduring negative affect-is a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality. Elevated levels of dispositional negativity can have profound consequences for health, wealth, and happiness, drawing the attention of clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of the psychological and neurobiological processes linking stable individual differences in dispositional negativity to momentary emotional states. Self-report data suggest that 3 key pathways-increased stressor reactivity, tonic increases in negative affect, and increased stressor exposure-explain most of the heightened negative affect that characterizes individuals with a more negative disposition. Of these 3 pathways, tonically elevated, indiscriminate negative affect appears to be most central to daily life and most relevant to the development of psychopathology. New behavioral and biological data provide insights into the neural systems underlying these 3 pathways and motivate the hypothesis that seemingly "tonic" increases in negative affect may actually reflect increased reactivity to stressors that are remote, uncertain, or diffuse. Research focused on humans, monkeys, and rodents suggests that this indiscriminate negative affect reflects trait-like variation in the activity and connectivity of several key brain regions, including the central extended amygdala and parts of the prefrontal cortex. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative psychobiological framework for understanding the dynamic cascade of processes that bind emotional traits to emotional states and, ultimately, to emotional disorders and other kinds of adverse outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record