Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:42:59.053Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Personality types in childhood and adolescence: main effects and person-relationship transactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

By
Marcel A. G. van Aken ,
Cornelis F. M. van Lieshout ,
Ron H. J. Scholte  and
Gerbert J. T. Haselager
Edited by
Lea Pulkkinen  and
Avshalom Caspi
Lea Pulkkinen
Affiliation:
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Avshalom Caspi
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Get access

Summary

Personality development and its consequences for the functioning of individuals over the life-span has recently received a lot of interest. A full chapter in the new edition of the Handbook of Child Psychology (Caspi, 1998) was devoted to the topic, as was a special issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Diener, 2000). In addition, attempts have been made to broaden the focus of personality research with developmental issues, for example by adapting the Big Five framework to fit the study of childhood and adolescence (Halverson, Kohnstamm, and Martin, 1994), and to connect this paradigm with the well-established tradition of research on children's temperament (Rothbart, Ahadi, and Evans, 2000). In this chapter, we will focus on a recent development in the study of personality in childhood and adolescence, namely the study of personality types. We will present data on the social relationships of these types, and the way type membership and relationships interact in determining psychosocial functioning in childhood and adolescence.

Ego-resiliency and ego-control

As recently noted in several reviews of the literature (Caspi, 1998; Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, and Reiser, 2000; Rothbart and Bates, 1998), there is increasing recognition that the constructs of temperament and personality overlap, and that early temperamental differences are the substrate of personality. This overlap becomes particularly clear when the definition of temperament from the work of Rothbart is followed (see also van Lieshout, 2000).

Type
Chapter
Information
Paths to Successful Development
Personality in the Life Course
 , pp. 129 - 156
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aksan, N., Goldsmith, H. H., Smider, N. A., Essex, M. J., Clark, R., Hyde, J. S., Klein, M. H., and Vandell, D. L. (1999). Derivation and prediction of temperamental types among preschoolers. Developmental Psychology, 35, 958–71CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt
Arend, R., Gove, F. L., and Sroufe, A. L. (1979). Continuity of individual adaptation from infancy to kindergarten: a predictive study of ego-resiliency and curioisity in preschoolers. Child Development, 50, 950–9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Asendorpf, J. B. (1999). Replicable subtypes of three major prototypes of personality description. Paper presented at 10th European Conference on Personality, Krakow, Poland, July 2000
Asendorpf, J. B. (2000). A person-centered approach to personality and social relationships: findings from the Berlin Network Study. In L. Bergman, R. Cairns, L. Nilsson and L. Nystedt (eds.), Developmental science and the holistic approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 281–98
Asendorpf, J. B., and Aken, M. A. G. (1999). Resilient, overcontrolled and undercontrolled personality prototypes in childhood: replicability, predictive power, and the trait/type issue. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 815–32CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Asendorpf, J. B., and Wilpers, S. (1998). Personality effects on social relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1531–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., and Ridge, B. (1998). Interaction of temperamental resistance to control and restrictive parenting in the development of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 34, 982–95CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J. (1971). Lives through time. Berkeley: Bancroft Books
Block, J., and Block, J. H. (1980b). Rationale and procedure for developing indices for ego-control and ego-resiliency (preliminary draft). Berkely, CA University of California
Block, J., Block, J. H., and Keyes, S. (1988). Longitudinally foretelling drug usage in adolescence: Early childhood personality and environmental precursors. Child Development, 59, 336–55CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J., and Kremen, A. M. (1996). IQ and ego-resiliency: conceptual and empirical connections and separateness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 349–61CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J. H., and Block, J. (1980a). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (ed.), Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum vol. 13, 39–101
Caspi, A. (1998). Personality development across the life course. In W. Damon (Editor-in-Chief) and N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology, (5th edn.), vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development, 311–88. New York: Wiley
Caspi, A. (2000). The child is the father of the man: personality continuities from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 158–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., and Bem, D. J. (1990). Personality continuity and change across the life course. In L. A. Pervin (ed.), Handbook of personality: theory and research. New York: Guilford Press, 549–75
Caspi, A., and Moffitt, T. E. (1991). Individual differences are accentuated during periods of social change: the sample case of girls at puberty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 157–68CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, A., and Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperamental qualities at age three predict personality traits in young adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. Child Development, 66, 486–98CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cramer, P. (2000). Development of identity: gender makes a difference. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 42–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E. (2000). Introduction to the special section on personality development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 120–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., and Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 136-57CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Karbon, M., Murphy, B. C., Wosinski, M., Polazzi, L., Carlo, G., and Juhnke, C. (1996). The relations of children's dispositional prosocial behavior to emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Child Development, 67, 974–92CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Murphy, B. C., Guthrie, I. K., Jones, S., Friedman, J., Poulin, R., and Maszk, P. (1997). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children's social functioning from regulation and emotionality. Child Development, 68, 642–64CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Funder, D. C., and Block, J. (1989). The role of ego-control, ego-resiliency, and IQ in delay of gratification in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1041–50CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halverson, C. F. Jr., Kohnstamm, G. A., and Martin, R. P. (1994). The developing structutre of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Harrington, D. M., Chin, C. S., Rickey, A. D., and Mohr, J. J. (1999). Relationships between attachment styles and three increasingly replicable personality types. Paper presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, 17 April 1999, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Hart, D., Hofmann, V., Edelstein, W., and Keller, M. (1997). The relation of childhood personality types to adolescent behavior and development: a longitudinal study of Icelandic children. Developmental Psychology, 33, 195–205CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huey, S. J., and Weisz, J. R. (1997). Ego control, ego resiliency, and the five-factor model as predictors of behavioral and emotional problems in clinic-referred children and adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 404–15CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
John, O. P., Caspi, A., Robins, R. W., Moffitt, T. E., and Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1994). The “Little Five”: exploring the nomological network of the five-factor model of personality in adolescent boys. Child Development, 65, 160–78CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
John, O. P., Pals, J. L., and Westenberg, P. M. (1998). Personality prototypes and ego development: conceptual similarities and relations in adult women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1093–108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klohnen, E. C. (1996). Conceptual analysis and measurement of the construct of Ego-resiliency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1067–79CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klohnen, E. C., Vandewater, E. A., and Young, A. (1996). Negotiating the middle years: ego-resiliency and successful midlife adjustment in women. Psychology and Aging, 11, 431–42CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kobak, R. R., and Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59, 135–46CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kochanska, G. (1993). Toward a synthesis of parental socialization and child temperament in the early development of conscience. Child Development, 64, 325–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kochanska, G., Murray, K., Jacques, T. Y., Koening, A. L., and Vandegeest, K. A. (1996). Inhibitory control in young children and its role in emerging internalization. Child Development, 67, 490–509CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kremen, A. M., and Block, J. (1998). The roots of ego-control in young adulthood: links with parenting in early childhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1062–75CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loeber, R., Wung, P., Keenan, K., Giroux, B., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Kammen, W. B., and Maughan, B. (1993). Developmental pathways in disruptive child behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 103–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magnusson, D., and Stattin, H. (1998). Person-context interaction theories. In W. Damon (Series Editor) and R. M. Lerner (Volume Editor), Handbook of child psychology, vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development. New York: Wiley, 685–760
Newcomb, A. F., and Bukowski, W. M. (1983). Social impact and social preference as determinants of children's peer group status. Developmental Psychology, 19, 856–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, D. L., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., and Silva, P. A. (1997). Antecedents of adult interpersonal functioning: effects of individual differences in age 3 temperament. Developmental Psychology, 33, 206–17CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olweus, D. (1991). Bully/victim problems among school children: basic facts and effects of a school bases intervention program. In D. J. Pepler and K. H. Rubin (eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 411–48
Pals, J. (1999). Identity consolidation in early adulthood: relations with ego-resiliency, the context of marriage, and personality change.Journal of Personality, 67, 295–329CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R., DeBaryshe, B. D., and Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. American Psychologist, 44, 329–35CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulkkinen, L. (1996). Female and male personality styles: a typological and developmental analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1288–306CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riksen-Walraven J. M. A. and van Aken, M. A. G. (1997). Effects of two mother-infant intervention programs upon children's development at 7, 10, and 12 years. In W. Koops, J. B. Hoeksma, and D. van den Boom (eds.), Development of interaction and attachment: traditional and non-traditional approaches. Amsterdam: North Holland, 79–91
Roberts, W. L. (1999). The socialization of emotion expression: relations with prosocial behaviour and competence in five samples. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 31, 72–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, R. W., John, O. P., and Caspi, A. (1998). The typological approach to studying personality. In R. B. Cairns, L. R. Bergman, and J. Kagan (eds.), Methods and models for studying the individual. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 135–60
Robins, R. W., John, O. P., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., and Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1996). Resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled boys: three replicable personality types. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 157–71CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., and Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122–35CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., and Bates, J. E. (1998). Temperament. In W. Damon (Editor-in-Chief) and N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology (5th edn.), vol. 3: Social, emotional and personality development, 105–76. New York: Wiley
Rothbart, M. K., and Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In M. E. Lamb and A. L. Brown (eds.), Advances in developmental psychology, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, vol. 1, 37–86
Scholte, R. H. J., Aken, M. A. G. and Lieshout, C. F. M. (1997). Adolescent's personality factors in self-ratings and peer nominations and their prediction of peer acceptance and rejection. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69, 534–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholte, R. H. J., Lieshout, C. F. M., and Aken, M. A. G. (2001). Relational support in adolescence: factors, types, and adjustment. Journal of Research in Adolescence, 11, 71–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shedler, J., and Block, J. (1990). Adolescent drug use and psychological health: a longitudinal inquiry. American Psychologist, 45, 612–30CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, J. W. (1991). Assessment of parent-adolescent relationships: implications for adolescent development. Journal of Family Psychology, 5, 21–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stattin, H., and Magnusson, D. (1990). Pubertal Maturation in Female Development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Aken, M. A. G. (1992). The development of general competence and domain-specific competencies. European Journal of Personality, 6, 267–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aken, M. A. G., and Riksen-Walraven, J. M. A. (1992). Parental support and the development of competence in children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 15, 101–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Aken, M. A. G., van Lieshout, C. F. M., and Scholte, R. H. J. (1998). The social relationships and adjustment of various personality types and subtypes. Ⅶth Biennial Conference of the Society for Research in Adolescence, 26 February–1 March, San Diego, USA
Lieshout, C. F. M. (2000). Personality development: dimensions, types, and developmental outcomes. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 276–88Google Scholar
van Lieshout, C. F. M., and Haselager, G. J. T. (1994). The big five personality factors in Q-sort descriptions of children and adolescents. In C. F. Halverson, G. A. Kohnstamm, and R. P. Martin (eds), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 293–318
van Lieshout, C. F. M., Haselager, G. J. T., Riksen-Walraven, J. M. A. and van Aken, M. A. G. (1995). Personality development and formation of identities in middle childhood. Biennial Meetings of SRCD, 30 March–2 April, 1995
van Lieshout, C. F. M., Haselager, G. J. T., and van Aken, M. A. G. (1998). Generalizibility of personality types and subtypes across age, gender, and methods of assessment. Paper presented at the ⅩⅤth Biennial ISSBD Conference, 1–4 July, 1998, Berne (CH)
van Lieshout, C. F. M., Scholte, R. H. J., van Aken, M. A. G., Haselager, G. J. T., and Riksen-Walraven, J. M. A. (2000). The development of resilient personality, competent relationships, popular group status, and adjustment. In C. F. M. van Lieshout and P. G. Heymans (eds.). Developing talent across the life-span, Hove, UK: Psychology Press, 103–23
Westenberg, P. M., and Block, J. (1993). Ego development and individual differences in personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 792–800CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
York, K. L., and John, O. P. (1992). The four faces of eve: a typological analysis of women's personality at midlife. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 494–508CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×