Short Paper: Aggression in Childhood
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A Developmental Perspective on Personality in Emerging Adulthood: Childhood Antecedents and Concurrent Adaptation
Rebecca L. Shiner Colgate University
Ann S. Masten and Auke Tellegen University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Personality and competence were examined in a community sample of 205 children ages 8–12 who were followed up 10 years later in emerging adulthood (ages 17–23). Adult Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON) were presaged by childhood personality. PEM was associated with current success in social and romantic relationships. Low CON was associated with childhood and current antisocial conduct. NEM was broadly linked to childhood and current maladap- tation, consistent with the possibility that failure in major developmental tasks increases NEM. Findings highlight the pervasive linkage of NEM to maladaptation and suggest that adult personality may develop from processes embedded in childhood adaptation as well as childhood personality.
Parents, policy makers, psychologists, and psychiatrists have all speculated about whether there are meaningful connections be- tween childhood functioning and adult personality or whether it is impossible to predict adult personality from earlier functioning. Freud (see Strachey, 1976) was one of the most influential propo- nents of the view that adult personality has its roots in early developmental processes. He argued that personality structure prior to approximately age 6 or 7 significantly determines person- ality and psychopathology in adulthood. Other developmental the- orists and researchers have contended that randomness and chance often characterize human personality development (e.g., Lewis, 1997, 2001). From this perspective, the prediction of adult person- ality from childhood behavior may prove to be a futile endeavor. In recent years, researchers in child development and personality have called for a developmental science of personality that ad- dresses questions of personality continuity and discontinuity across the life course (Caspi, 1998; Caspi & Roberts, 1999; Hal- verson, Kohnstamm, & Martin, 1994; John & Srivastava, 1999; Kohnstamm, Halverson, Mervielde, & Havill, 1998; Rothbart,
Ahadi, & Evans, 2000; Shiner, 1998; Shiner & Caspi, in press). There have been increasing attempts to correct an impoverished developmental understanding of adult personality through theoret- ical and empirical links between adult personality and childhood functioning.
This emerging developmental science of personality has begun to address the question of whether personality traits evince conti- nuity across time from childhood to adulthood. Rank-order con- sistency refers to the consistency of individuals’ relative standing within a group on personality traits across time (Caspi, 1998; Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000). Although many studies have ex- amined the rank-order consistency of personality traits within developmental periods (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000), far fewer studies have tracked individuals across childhood into adulthood. Nonetheless, a small number of both classic and more recent studies have examined the rank-order consistency of personality traits across childhood into adulthood (e.g., Block, 1971; Caspi, 2000; Caspi, Bem, & Elder, 1989; Caspi & Silva, 1995; Gest, 1997; Kagan & Moss, 1962; Moss & Susman, 1980). These studies have documented the modest to strong continuity of some person- ality traits across these developmental periods (Caspi & Roberts, 2001). However, methodological features of most of these studies may limit the studies’ capacity to answer the question of whether most adult personality traits can be predicted from childhood personality traits in a normative population. Some of these studies included participants only from a narrow range of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, primarily upper middle class and well educated. Many of these studies have provided useful infor- mation about the continuity of single, lower order personality traits (e.g., behavioral inhibition, aggression) but have not addressed the prediction of the broadband, higher order personality traits that are of interest to adult personality researchers, such as the Big Five. Thus, further examination of the links between childhood and adult personality traits in a normative population is warranted.
From a developmental perspective, childhood personality is, of course, one potentially important antecedent of adult personality. A second potentially informative childhood antecedent of adult
Rebecca L. Shiner, Department of Psychology, Colgate University; Ann S. Masten and Auke Tellegen, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Colgate Research Council. The results were based on data collected as part of the Project Competence longitudinal study, which has been supported through grants to Ann S. Masten, Auke Tellegen, and Norman Garmezy from the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH33222), the William T. Grant Foun- dation, the National Science Foundation (Grant SBR-9729111), and the University of Minnesota. Preliminary results were presented at the 108th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, August 2000, Washington, DC; the European Association of Personality Psychol- ogy Expert Workshop, November 2000, Ghent, Belgium; and the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Personality, January 2002, Savannah, Georgia.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rebecca L. Shiner, Department of Psychology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, New York 13346. E-mail: [email protected]
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2002, Vol. 83, No. 5, 1165–1177 0022-3514/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.83.5.1165
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personality is childhood history of adaptive functioning or mastery of developmental tasks (Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). In recent years, there has been a profusion of studies linking adult personality with important life outcomes; adult personality traits are clearly related to individuals’ relative success or failure at important life tasks. For example, adults high on the traits of Conscientiousness or Constraint exhibit greater educational attainment and stronger work performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Clark & Watson, 1999). Adults high on Extraversion or Positive Emotionality report more generally active, positive social relationships with peers and romantic partners (Clark & Watson, 1999) and attain higher social status in groups (Anderson, John, Keltner, & Kring, 2001). Al- though numerous studies have linked adult personality traits with concurrent adaptive functioning, it is not clear whether these adult personality traits are related to childhood histories of adaptive functioning. In other words, it is not known how early in devel- opment individuals’ adaptive functioning becomes predictive of their relative standing on adult personality traits.
Developmental theorists have argued that success or failure at crucial age-salient adaptive tasks also may have implications for personality development (Masten & Coatsworth, 1995; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). Competence in adaptive developmental tasks may reflect personality functioning in part. However, adaptive success or failure may also contribute to changes in personality over time. For example, children who are particularly well-liked and success- ful with their peers may show higher levels of positive emotions or Extraversion across development. In contrast, children who are prone to negative emotions or impulsive behavior may experience difficulty mastering important tasks, such as academic achieve- ment and peer relationships. Failure in these areas could then contribute to increasing levels of negative emotions or Neuroti- cism over time. In other words, there may be transactions between children’s personality dispositions and their performance in im- portant domains of adaptation, such that the two become increas- ingly intertwined over time (Ford & Lerner, 1992; Magnussen & Stattin, 1998; Shiner & Caspi, in press).
The Present Study
In the present study, we attempted to provide a more develop- mentally rich understanding of how personality traits in emerging adulthood are presaged by childhood functioning. The data for this study were drawn from a longitudinal study of competence, ad- versity, and resilience (Garmezy & Tellegen, 1984; Masten et al., 1988, 1995, 1999). The participants included a normative sample of elementary school students who were 8 to 12 years old when the study began. Their general adaptive functioning, personality, en- vironmental contexts, and experiences were measured through a variety of methods. Approximately 10 years later, when the cohort was 17 to 23 years old, these participants and their parents were interviewed and completed a variety of tests and questionnaires about the participants’ adaptive functioning, and the participants completed a personality questionnaire. This age period has come to be called emerging adulthood in recent years, reflecting an ex- tended period of transition from adolescence to adulthood in contemporary, industrialized societies (Arnett, 2000). The present study used a longitudinal design to relate participants’ self- described personality traits at the brink of adulthood to their personality and adaptive functioning assessed 10 years previously.
A strength of this study is that separate reporters provided infor- mation on childhood functioning and young adult personality.
The self-report measure of personality completed by partici- pants around age 20 was the Multidimensional Personality Ques- tionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, in press; Tellegen & Waller, 1992), an omnibus measure assessing three higher order personality traits: Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON). The personality structure elaborated in this model is one of several adult personality taxonomies proposing a three-factor, higher order structure (e.g., Clark & Watson, 1999; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975; Gough, 1987; Tellegen, 1985; Watson & Clark, 1993). Each of the three higher order traits in the MPQ model incorporates several lower order traits. For example, NEM includes the lower order traits of Stress Reaction, Alienation, and Aggression. Thus, in the present study, when one of the higher order traits was related to some aspect of childhood functioning, it was possible to look at the component lower order traits for a more fine-grained analysis.
Individuals high on PEM are predisposed to be positively and actively engaged with their social and work environments and to experience activated positive emotions such as enthusiasm and zest. They also tend to have a strong sense of well-being. This higher order trait is most related to the Big Five Extraversion trait, but it includes the achievement strivings and persistence compo- nents of Conscientiousness (Clark & Watson, 1999). The frequent experience of positive emotions is a core component of both the PEM and the Extraversion traits (Watson & Clark, 1997). Individ- uals high on NEM tend to experience negative emotions such as anxiety, resentment, and anger in a wide variety of situations and to have negatively charged relationships. These individuals may be vulnerable to the adverse effects of stress. This higher order trait is most closely related to the Big Five Neuroticism trait, although it includes some components that overlap with Agreeableness (e.g., lack of trust of others, hostility toward others; Clark & Watson, 1999). Individuals endorsing high levels of CON tend to be cau- tious, planful, harm avoidant, and more traditional and conven- tional; those low on CON tend to acknowledge higher levels of impulsiveness and sensation seeking and to reject conventional values. This higher order trait is most related to the Big Five Conscientiousness trait (Clark & Watson, 1999).
In the present study, we related the participants’ self-report of personality on the MPQ to their relative standing on five person- ality traits assessed 10 years previously. The childhood personality traits—Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgent Engagement, Agreeableness, and Self-Assurance versus Anxious Insecurity—were derived through a process of data reduction using reports from a parent interview, an interview with the chil- dren themselves, and a teacher questionnaire (Shiner, 2000). These five traits provided reasonably comprehensive coverage of the four major temperament and personality trait domains often measured in childhood (Rothbart & Bates, 1998; Shiner, 1998; Shiner & Caspi, in press): (a) PEM/Extraversion, (b) NEM/Neuroticism, (c) Agreeableness, and (d) CON/Conscientiousness. Because the childhood personality traits were not measured through a self- report questionnaire format, any continuity from childhood to emerging adulthood is not attributable to shared method.
We also examined the links between participants’ personality in emerging adulthood and their concurrent and childhood adaptive functioning. Competent adaptive functioning has been defined as
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“reasonable success with major developmental tasks expected for a person of a given age and gender in the context of his or her culture, society, and time” (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998, p. 206). Several domains of adaptive functioning have been identified as central developmental tasks in childhood and throughout adoles- cence and emerging adulthood, though the nature of the tasks changes over periods of development (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Masten et al., 1995). Academic achievement is salient across the school years. Academic achievement in childhood includes the development of basic academic skills; later, success in this domain reflects secondary school completion and further education as needed for employment in contemporary society. Rule-abiding conduct versus antisocial behavior refers to the expectation that individuals will learn to control their behavior and abide by soci- etal rules for conduct. In childhood this domain reflects learning and following the rules for conduct at home, in school, and in the community. By adolescence, the conduct domain also reflects law-abiding behavior. In childhood, social competence with peers involves peer acceptance in structured settings such as school as well as friendships; in adolescence and early adulthood, peer social competence reflects expanding social networks and acceptance by a self-selected group of friends. In the present study, for the three domains of adaptive functioning that cut across childhood and emerging adulthood, it was possible to examine whether the pat- terns of relationships between adult personality and concurrent adaptation were comparable to those between adult personality and childhood adaptation. In adolescence and early adulthood, new tasks emerge, most notably concerning romantic relationships and work. Job competence was measured as effective performance at paid employment, and romantic competence by evidence of being able to start and maintain romantic relationships. Success in these emergent domains was evaluated on the basis of performance commensurate with the beginning phases of new competence domains; these domains become more salient as individuals estab- lish themselves in adulthood.
Finally, we examined whether childhood adaptation predicted adult personality after the continuity of personality from childhood to adulthood was controlled for. It is possible that personality in emerging adulthood could be linked with childhood adaptation merely because of the stability of personality from childhood to adulthood. It is also possible that good or poor adaptation promotes changes in personality traits over time. We examined these com- peting hypotheses regarding the links between adult personality and childhood adaptation.
Several sets of predictions were tested. First, we expected to find modest continuity of personality across the 10-year period. Second, we expected to find some distinctive links between the adult personality traits and concurrent adaptive functioning, in- cluding the following. First, we predicted that individuals high on PEM would have more positive relationships with friends and romantic partners, on the basis of the literature on adults (e.g., Asendorpf & Wilpers, 1998; Clark & Watson, 1999). Second, we predicted that individuals high on NEM would have a variety of adaptational difficulties. Individuals who describe themselves as hostile and alienated evidence higher levels of antisocial behavior (Krueger, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2000), and a history of antisocial behavior is known to predict academic and occupational failure (Masten et al., 1995; Moffitt, Caspi, Dickson, Silva, & Stanton, 1996). Thus, we expected that individuals high on these aspects of
NEM would exhibit higher levels of antisocial behavior, poorer academic achievement, and more difficulty establishing compe- tence in work settings. High levels of NEM are often associated with difficulties in romantic relationships (Caughlin, Huston, & Houts, 2000; Karney & Bradbury, 1995) and other social interac- tions (Furr & Funder, 1998); we expected to obtain similar find- ings for our measures of social and romantic competence. Third, we predicted that individuals high on CON would be more effec- tive in developmental tasks that require good self-regulation of behavior, including academic achievement, rule-abiding conduct, and job competence (see, e.g., Barrick & Mount, 1991; Clark & Watson, 1999; Krueger et al., 2000). Because the analyses exam- ining the relationship between childhood adaptation and adult personality were exploratory, we did not generate hypotheses about the capacity of childhood adaptation to predict personality over time.
Method
Sample and Procedures
Participants were drawn from a normative cohort of 205 children (91 boys and 114 girls) whose families initially were recruited from students attending third to sixth grade in two urban elementary schools in Minne- apolis, Minnesota, to participate in a study of competence and resilience (Garmezy & Tellegen, 1984; Masten et al., 1988, 1995, 1999). The chil- dren ranged in age from 8 to 12 years of age (M � 9.96). A multimethod, multiple-informant approach was taken to assessment of child functioning. During this first phase of the project, numerous tests of individual differ- ences, including an individual achievement test, were administered to the children, and they also were interviewed during two sessions (for most, during the school day). Their parents or guardians (mothers, in most cases) were interviewed during three sessions at their home. Teachers completed the Devereux Elementary School Rating Scale (Spivack & Swift, 1967), and classroom peer nomination ratings and school records were also obtained.
The participants’ schools were located in a diverse but predominantly lower to middle class area of Minneapolis; socioeconomic status among the children’s families ranged from 7 to 92.3 on the 100-point Duncan Socio- economic Index (Hauser & Featherman, 1977), with a sample mean of 43 (the equivalent of skilled labor or clerical positions). Twenty-nine percent of the sample was of an ethnic/racial minority, including biracial children (18% African American, 7% American Indian, 3% Hispanic, 1% Asian). At the time, 27% of the school district was estimated to have ethnic/racial minority heritage, though sight counts of minority status for these two study schools suggested that these schools had somewhat higher minority enrollments in the grades sampled.
The sample was followed up initially after 7 years and then again after about 10 years, when the sample ranged in age from 17 to 23. The 7-year follow-up was conducted through mailings sent to the participants and parents or guardians. A more thorough assessment was undertaken for the 10-year follow-up, including completion of questionnaires and interviews. All but 1 of the original cohort were located, and information was obtained concerning 202 of the sample (98.5%), including self-report personality data from 187 of the young adults. During this 10-year follow-up, the participants filled out a Status Questionnaire, Competence Rating Scales, and a self-report personality questionnaire along with other measures, and they underwent a 3-hr semistructured interview (usually at the university). Their parents (mothers again, in most cases) filled out a Status Question- naire and Competence Rating Scales describing their young adult off- spring, and they completed a 2-hr interview in their home. The following analyses include data only from childhood and the 10-year follow-up, because these two assessment periods were far more comprehensive. In the
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following sections, we sometimes refer to these two data points as age 10 and age 20, the mean ages for the participants during those assessments.
Measures
Personality Childhood (age 10). Measures of four personality traits in childhood
were derived previously in this sample (Shiner, 2000): Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgent Engagement, and Agreeableness. Each of these higher order traits was measured through the combination of lower order scales from the parent interview, the Devereux teacher ques- tionnaire, and/or the child interview. Mastery Motivation incorporated the parent interview scale Zestful Engagement in Activities, the child interview scale Achievement Motivation, and the teacher questionnaire scale Perfor- mance Anxiety, which was scored negatively. A child high on this trait tended to work with enthusiasm, creativity, and persistence at schoolwork and other activities and to strive toward high standards, with relatively little concern about external measures of performance. Academic Conscientious- ness incorporated the parent interview scale Academic Conscientiousness and the teacher questionnaire scale School Carelessness, which was scored negatively. A child high on Academic Conscientiousness tended to ap- proach school in a serious, thorough, and responsible fashion. Surgent Engagement incorporated the parent interview scale Extraversion, the child interview scale Expressiveness, and the teacher questionnaire scale Poor Comprehension–Disattention, which was scored negatively. A child scor- ing high on this scale was engaged in an active, vigorous, surgent fashion in both social and nonsocial settings and in familiar and novel contexts. A child scoring low on this scale was socially withdrawn and inhibited, passive, inattentive at school, and reliant on others’ assistance and likely had difficulties expressing his or her experience of the world. Agreeable- ness incorporated the parent interview scale Friendly Compliance and the child interview scale Agreeableness. A child high on Agreeableness tended to be cooperative, kind, prosocial, and flexible in accepting limits rather than selfish, hurtful, egotistical, and cynical.
A fifth childhood personality trait was added to the present analyses to provide more comprehensive coverage of the potential realm of childhood personality traits. A child interview lower order scale called Self- Assurance versus Anxious Insecurity had been excluded from previous
analyses in this sample (Shiner, 2000) because of its heterogeneous con- tent. The items with the highest positive loadings on this scale were “has high level of self-esteem,” “involved in physical activities,” and “has easy time making friends,” and the items with the highest negative loadings were “fearful/worried/anxious,” “is picked on by other children,” and “self-critical.” This scale was included in the present analyses because it helped broaden the content of the childhood personality dimensions to include a child’s confidence, positive self-regard, lack of negative emo- tions, and lack of negative self-regard.
Emerging adulthood (age 20; 10-year follow-up). The participants completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Telle- gen, 1985; Tellegen, in press; Tellegen & Waller, 1992), a 300-item self-report inventory that measures individual differences on a broad array of personality traits. The MPQ yields scores on 11 lower order trait dimensions; the lower order trait of absorption is not used in the present study. These lower order dimensions were derived through an iterative process that involved both conceptual elaboration and empirical refinement through factor analysis. The item clusters making up the 10 lower order traits used in this study are described in Table 1. Previous studies of the MPQ with samples of late adolescents and adults have demonstrated that these lower order scales are internally consistent, stable over time, and relatively independent of one another (Caspi & Silva, 1995; McGue, Bacon, & Lykken, 1993; Patrick, Curtin, & Tellegen, 2002; Tellegen et al., 1988; Tellegen & Waller, 1992).
Factor analyses of the lower order scale scores have resulted in the three higher order factors described in the introduction (Patrick et al., 2002; Tellegen, 1985; Tellegen & Waller, 1992). PEM is measured by the Well-Being, Achievement, Social Potency, and Social Closeness scales. NEM is measured by the Stress Reaction, Alienation, and Aggression scales. CON is measured by the Control, Harm Avoidance, and Tradition- alism scales.
Competent Adaptive Functioning
In an earlier study from this project, three domains of competent adap- tive functioning in childhood and emerging adulthood were confirmed through structural equation modeling: academic achievement, rule-abiding versus antisocial conduct, and social competence with peers (Masten et al.,
Table 1 Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) Scales
Higher order and lower order MPQ scales Item clusters for lower order scales
Positive Emotionality Well-Being Optimistic, hopeful; has cheerful disposition; has interesting experiences; engages
in enjoyable activities Social Potency Forceful, decisive; persuasive; seeks leadership roles; enjoys visibility Achievement Works hard; enjoys effort; welcomes difficulties; persistent; ambitious;
perfectionistic Social Closeness Sociable; values close relationships; warm, affectionate; seeks support
Negative Emotionality Stress Reaction Tense, nervous; sensitive, vulnerable; worry-prone, anxious; easily upset;
unexplainable negative emotions; prone to feel guilty Alienation Target of malevolence; victim of false rumors; betrayed, deceived; exploited;
pushed around; unlucky Aggression Physically aggressive; enjoys distressing others; vengeful, vindictive; enjoys
witnessing violence; victimizes for own gain Constraint
Control Reflective; cautious, careful; level-headed, sensible; makes detailed plans Harm Avoidance Dislikes risky adventures; avoids disaster areas; dislikes emergencies; avoids injury Traditionalism Moralistic; endorses religion; positive regard for parents; condemns selfishness;
endorses strict rearing; values “proper” conduct; opposes rebelliousness
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1995). Two additional domains were confirmed in emerging adulthood: job competence and romantic competence. The participants’ relative standing on these dimensions was determined in the current study as well. The measures of adaptation and their reliabilities are described in Table 2. At each assessment period, a multiple-method, multiple-informant approach yielded multiple indicators for each domain of competence. The indicators of each competence domain were derived systematically through data
reduction processes described in detail elsewhere (see Masten et al., 1995, 1999). Strategies of data reduction included factor analysis and examina- tion of reliabilities and discriminant validity. Items that conceptually and empirically cohered were typically standardized and averaged to form composite scores within informant and method (thus, the scores were factor based but not weighted by factor loadings). The participants’ standardized scores on three to eight reliable indicators were averaged to create a
Table 2 Measures of Competent Adaptive Functioning in Childhood and Emerging Adulthood
Measure No. items Reliabilitya Description or sample item
Adaptation in childhood Academic achievement (� � .88)
Grade point average 1 Average in math, reading, language, spelling, science Achievement test 1 Total raw score Peabody Individual Achievement Test Teacher rating 1 “Knows material when called upon” Parent interview 3 .80 “How is X doing in school?”
Rule-abiding conduct (� � .77) Parent interview, home compliance 3 .66 “Does X respond to your rules at home?” Parent interview, school compliance 3 .78 “Does X get into fights and quarrels at school?” Teacher ratings 8 .93 “Breaks classroom rules” (reversed) Child interview 6 .89 Reported antisocial behavior
Social competence (� � .50) Positive peer nomination 7 .93 “Everyone likes to be with” Negative peer nominations 3 .80 “Has trouble making friends” (reversed) Child interview 6 .89 “Develops genuine, close, lasting relationships”
Adaptation in emerging adulthood Academic achievement (� � .90)
Participant questionnaire 1 .93 “How well is X doing in school?” Parent questionnaire 1 .85 “How well is X doing in school?” Participant interview 1 .85 Grades and attainment Parent interview 1 .84 “How well is X doing in school?”
Rule-abiding conduct (� � .79) Participant questionnaire 1 .92 Seriousness of trouble with law (reversed) Parent questionnaire 1 .77 Seriousness of trouble with law (reversed) Participant interview 5 .83 “Gets into trouble with authority” (reversed) Parent interview 3 .80 Aggression (reversed) CRS—parent 2 .54 “Some people rarely get into fights . . .”
Social competence (� � .86) Participant questionnaire 1 .83 “Has a positive/active social life” Parent questionnaire 1 .69 “Has a positive/active social life” Participant questionnaire 1 .69 “Has close, confiding relationships” Parent questionnaire 1 .66 “Has close, confiding relationships” Participant interview 8 .94 “Relationship with best friend is close and reciprocal” Parent interview 2 .85 Social acceptance CRS social acceptance—parent 2 .80 “Are popular with others their age . . .” CRS close friendships—parent 2 .88 “Don’t have a close friend . . .” (reversed)
Job competence (� � .73) Participant questionnaire 1 .68 “Is holding down a job successfully and reliably” Parent questionnaire 1 .69 “Is holding down a job successfully and reliably” Participant interview 4 .96 “Does quite well at paid jobs” Parent interview 2 .94 “Does quite well at paid jobs” CRS—participant 1 “Could do better at their paid jobs . . .” (reversed)
Romantic competence (� � .75) Participant interview—romantic relationships 2 .82 “Intimacy with the opposite sex” Participant interview—sexual responsibility 2 .67 “Responsible sexual behavior” CRS—participant 3 .75 “Are able to keep a romantic relationship going . . .” CRS—parent 3 .77 “Find it hard to start a romantic relationship . . .” (reversed)
Note. CRS items are from Manual for the Self-Perception Profile for College Students by J. Neemann and S. Harter, 1986, unpublished manuscript, University of Denver. Copyright 1986 by the authors. Reprinted with permission. Teacher rating items are from the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale Manual by G. Spivak and M. Swift, 1967, Devon, PA: Devereux Foundation. Copyright 1967 by the Devereux Foundation. Reprinted with permission. Portions of this table were published in “Linking childhood personality with adaptation: Evidence for continuity and change across time into late adolescence,” by R. L. Shiner, 2000, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, Table 1, p. 313. Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association. CRS � Competence Rating Scales. a Reliability coefficients are intraclass correlations for single-item indicators and coefficient alphas for multiitem indicators.
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composite competence score. More than one indicator was used for each domain of competence to increase reliability and validity.
Academic achievement. At age 10, academic achievement was mea- sured with the child’s grade point average in academic subjects reported on the school record from the end of the school year, the total score obtained on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Dunn & Markwardt, 1970), a teacher rating of how well participants knew academic material from the Devereux Elementary School Rating Scale (Spivack & Swift, 1967), and a composite of three parent interview items. At age 20, four indicators were used: parallel adolescent and parent questionnaire ratings of how well the adolescent was doing (or had done) in school, the adolescent interviewer’s overall rating of academic achievement, and a parent interview rating of how well the adolescent was doing in school.
Conduct. The childhood conduct composite provided an index of the extent to which a child exhibited compliance at home and at school as well as the extent to which a child did not evidence rule-breaking, aggressive, antisocial behavior in the home, school, and broader community. At age 20, the participants’ law-breaking behavior was also included. Al- though the conduct items tapped rule-breaking behaviors, the conduct composite was scored in the opposite direction (ranging from poor to good conduct) to be consistent with the other measures of positive competence. At age 10, four separately derived, factor-based conduct indicators were used, including composites from three parent interview ratings of compli- ance at home, three parent interview ratings of compliance versus rule- breaking behavior at school, six child interview ratings, and eight Dev- ereux teacher questionnaire items. For age 20, conduct was measured with five indicators: parallel participant and parent questionnaire ratings of the seriousness of the participant’s involvement with the law, a five-item factor-based scale from the participant interview, a three-item factor-based scale from the parent interview, and a two-item scale taken from a parent- report version of a set of Competence Rating Scales. The self-report and parent-report versions of the Competence Rating Scales were adapted in consultation with Harter (Harter, 1986; Neemann & Harter, 1986) from early versions of her self-perception scales for adolescents and young adults.
Social competence. At age 10, the measure of social competence incorporated indicators of the children’s popularity and acceptance with peers and quality of friendships. Peer popularity and acceptance were assessed using two indicators from the Revised Class Play peer nomination measure (Masten, Morison, & Pellegrini, 1985; Morison & Masten, 1991): a seven-item scale of positive social functioning and a reverse keyed, three-item scale of social difficulties. Quality of close friendships was measured with a nine-item composite from the child interview. To capture the developmental changes in children’s peer functioning, the age 20 social competence measure primarily tapped the extent to which the participant had close friends and an active social life. The eight age 20 indicators were the following: parallel participant and parent questionnaire ratings of the extent to which the participant had a positive, active social life; parallel participant and parent questionnaire ratings of the extent to which the participant had close, confiding relationships; an eight-item composite from the young adult interview; a two-item composite from the parent interview; two items tapping general quality of social life, taken from the parent-report Competence Rating Scales; and two items tapping close friendships, taken from the parent-report Competence Rating Scales.
Job competence. The age 20 job competence measure tapped the participants’ history of carrying out paid work reliably and successfully and incorporated five indicators: parallel participant and parent question- naire ratings of the extent to which the young adult was holding a job reliably and successfully; a four-item composite from the young adult interview; a two-item composite from the parent interview; and an item taken from the self-report Competence Rating Scales tapping whether the participant was doing well at paid jobs.
Romantic competence. The age 20 romantic competence measure as- sessed the participants’ recent track record of starting and maintaining
intimate romantic relationships. The four indicators were the following: a two-item composite from the young adult interview tapping whether the participant reported responsible sexual behavior; a two-item composite from the young adult interview assessing a history of intimate romantic relationships; and parallel three-item composites from the parent- and self-report Competence Rating Scales.
Results
We examined three questions regarding personality in emerging adulthood, as measured by the MPQ. First, we addressed the question of whether age 20 personality was predictable from personality 10 years earlier by examining the correlations between the personality measures at both times. Second, we determined whether personality in emerging adulthood was linked with the same domains of adaptation in childhood and adulthood; we did this by examining the correlations between the MPQ and the indices of childhood and concurrent adaptation. Third, we exam- ined whether childhood adaptation predicted changes in personal- ity from childhood to emerging adulthood. We did this by carrying out a series of hierarchical multiple regressions predicting the higher order MPQ scores, first controlling for childhood person- ality and then adding the set of childhood adaptation variables as a predictor. For all three sets of questions, we carried out hierar- chical multiple regressions to determine whether the findings varied by sex.
Is There Continuity Between Personality in Childhood and Emerging Adulthood?
To examine continuity or rank-order consistency between the age 20 personality traits and personality traits measured 10 years previously, we obtained correlations between participants’ scores on the MPQ higher order traits and their scores on the five personality traits measured in childhood—Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgent Engagement, Agreeable- ness, and Self-Assurance versus Anxious Insecurity. These anal- yses were conducted with a subsample of 181 participants for whom both the MPQ scores and the childhood personality scores were available. The correlations between the higher order MPQ scores and the childhood personality scores are presented in Ta- ble 3. In all of the statistical analyses, only results that were significant at the p � .01 level were considered significant, be- cause of the moderately large number of analyses conducted.
PEM, NEM, and CON were each related to at least two of the childhood personality traits. PEM was modestly to moderately related to childhood Mastery Motivation, Surgent Engagement, and Self-Assurance. NEM was modestly negatively related to childhood Mastery Motivation and Surgent Engagement. CON was moderately related to childhood Academic Conscientiousness and modestly negatively related to childhood Self-Assurance.
It was possible that the patterns of personality continuity varied for men and women. We conducted a series of hierarchical mul- tiple regressions predicting the higher order personality traits at age 20 to determine whether the results differed by sex. In these regressions, we entered several variables in a series of steps to predict the three higher order traits. In Step 1, we entered sex to examine and control first for main effects of sex; in Step 2, we entered one of the five childhood personality traits; and in Step 3, we entered the interaction (the product) of sex and the childhood
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personality trait. Thus, in Step 3 we ascertained whether the interaction of sex and childhood personality added to the predic- tion of early adult personality, after controlling for the main effects of sex and childhood personality. Of the 15 regressions conducted, only one interaction between sex and childhood personality proved to be significant, which is close to the number expected by chance. These analyses suggest that the patterns of personality continuity did not vary substantially for men and women.
Is Personality in Emerging Adulthood Related to Childhood and Concurrent Adaptation?
To examine the differential relations between age 20 personality and history of external adaptation across time, we obtained the correlations between the participants’ adult self-report of person- ality and their concurrent competence as well as their compe- tence 10 years earlier. Except in cases of specific hypotheses pertaining to narrow-band dimensions of the MPQ, we proceeded by first examining the association of the higher order scales of the MPQ with earlier and concurrent competence. When we found a
significant relationship between a higher order personality trait and an aspect of adaptation, we then examined the corresponding lower order personality traits in relation to that aspect of adaptation; in this way, we were able to discern which lower order traits con- tributed to the significant relationship between the higher order trait and that domain of adaptation. These analyses were conducted with a subsample of 187 participants for whom the childhood adaptation data and the adult adaptation and personality data were complete. The correlations between the MPQ scores and childhood and concurrent adaptation are presented in Table 4. Correlations between the lower order traits and the domains of adaptation are shown only when a significant correlation was obtained for the higher order trait.
The participants’ PEM was not predicted by their childhood adaptation in any domain, but it was related to concurrent success in social and romantic relationships. Although PEM was not re- lated to academic achievement or job performance, for theoretical reasons we chose to examine the lower order trait of Achievement in relation to these domains of adaptation. The lower order
Table 3 Correlations of Personality Traits From Childhood to Emerging Adulthood
Adult personality trait
Childhood personality trait
Mastery Motivation
Academic Conscientiousness
Surgent Engagement Agreeableness
Self-Assurance Versus Anxious
Insecurity
Positive Emotionality .27*** �.14 .22** .07 .31*** Negative Emotionality �.23** �.11 �.24** �.09 �.11 Constraint �.06 .33*** �.10 .17 �.20**
Note. Adult personality traits were measured using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. ** p � .01. *** p � .001.
Table 4 Correlations of Personality Traits in Emerging Adulthood With Childhood and Concurrent Adaptation
Adult personality trait (higher and lower order)
Childhood adaptation Concurrent adaptation
Academic Conduct Social Academic Conduct Social Job Romantic
Positive Emotionality .14 �.07 .15 .04 �.09 .41*** .06 .24** Well-Being .34*** .16 Social Potency .38*** .33*** Achievement .14 .16 Social Closeness .42*** .23**
Negative Emotionality �.34*** �.21** �.22** �.29*** �.28*** �.28*** �.36*** .16 Stress Reaction �.25** �.03 �.18 �.20** �.09 �.36*** �.28*** Alienation �.42*** �.29*** �.26*** �.34*** �.33*** �.23** �.37*** Aggression �.12 �.29*** �.11 �.27*** �.36*** �.04 �.28***
Constraint �.11 .23** .08 .11 .28*** �.12 �.16 �.08 Control .21** .27*** Harm Avoidance .21** .21** Traditionalism .08 .13
Note. Adult personality traits were measured using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Correlations between adaptation and MPQ lower order traits are shown only when the corresponding MPQ higher order trait was significantly correlated with that domain of adaptation. Academic � academic achievement; Conduct � rule-abiding versus antisocial conduct; Social � social competence; Job � job competence; Romantic � romantic competence. ** p � .01. *** p � .001.
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Achievement trait is different from the other lower order traits encompassed by PEM in that it taps individuals’ pleasure in agentic tasks; thus, we hypothesized that this trait would be linked with greater academic achievement and better job performance. These predictions were confirmed: Achievement was modestly related to childhood academic achievement (r � .21, p � .01), concurrent academic achievement (r � .19, p � .01), and concur- rent job competence (r � .21, p � .01).
The participants’ NEM was predicted by a history of relatively poorer childhood adaptation in all three domains examined. Sim- ilarly, NEM was related to poorer adaptation in all the domains of concurrent adaptation except romantic competence. The partici- pants’ early adult CON was modestly related to higher levels of childhood and concurrent rule-abiding conduct and lower levels of childhood and concurrent antisocial behavior. The findings for NEM and CON differed from those for PEM in that both NEM and CON were predicted by some domain of childhood adaptation, in particular the same domains to which they were concurrently related.
Control is a lower order component of CON that assesses an individual’s tendency to be planful, reflective, and careful rather than impulsive. This index of behavioral control is similar to the Big Five Conscientiousness dimension. Because Conscientious- ness has been linked with academic attainment and successful job performance in other samples (Shiner & Caspi, in press), we examined Control in relation to these same aspects of adaptation. Young adult control was not significantly predicted by childhood academic achievement (r � .15, ns) but was significantly corre- lated with concurrent academic achievement (r � .29, p � .001) and job competence (r � .29, p � .001).
To explore whether the relationships between early adult per- sonality and adaptation varied by sex, we again conducted a series of hierarchical multiple regressions predicting the three higher order early adult personality traits. In Step 1, sex was entered; in Step 2, one of the three childhood or one of the five early adult competence variables was entered; and in Step 3, the interaction (the product) of sex and the competence variable was entered. Of the 24 regressions conducted, none of the interactions of sex and the competence variables added significantly to the prediction of early adult personality, after we controlled for the main effects of sex and the competence variables. As was true for the analyses of personality continuity, the patterns of relationship between child- hood and concurrent adaptation and adult personality did not vary by sex.
Because the measures of age 20 adaptation included the reports of the participants themselves, it is possible that measures of age 20 personality and concurrent adaptation were related merely because the participants reported on both their personality and their adaptation. For example, individuals high on NEM might be prone to describe their adaptation in negative terms largely be- cause of a predisposition to provide a negative report on life functioning in general. To address this potential measurement problem, we obtained separate correlations of the MPQ scales with (a) self-report of adaptation and (b) mother report of adaptation. For all the domains of competence except romantic competence, the correlations between the personality traits and adaptation were remarkably similar for both self- and mother report of adaptation. This is consistent with the moderate to strong correlations between self- and mother reports of early adulthood adaptation (r � .76 for
academic achievement, r � .66 for rule-abiding conduct, r � .49 for social competence, and r � .56 for job competence). For romantic competence, however, the correlation of self- and mother reports was lower (r � .34), and self-reported personality was often related to self-reported romantic competence but not to mother-reported romantic competence. Overall, however, it ap- pears that the significant correlations between early adult person- ality and adaptation were not merely the result of having the participants report on both their personality and their adaptation.
Does Childhood Adaptation Predict Changes in Personality From Childhood to Emerging Adulthood?
The finding that many of the adult personality traits were related to childhood adaptation raises the following question: Once child- hood personality is controlled for, does childhood success or failure at developmental tasks add to the prediction of adult per- sonality? We addressed this question by conducting separate hier- archical multiple regressions predicting each of the three higher order MPQ traits from childhood adaptation, after first entering the set of childhood personality traits as predictors. In these three separate regressions, we entered gender as Step 1 and age as Step 2 to control for these variables. In Step 3, we entered the five childhood personality variables as a set. The five measures were entered as a set because they provided reasonably comprehensive coverage of the range of personality traits commonly measured in childhood. In Step 4, we entered the three childhood measures of adaptation as a set to examine whether childhood adaptation still predicted early adult personality once continuities in personality were taken into account. These regressions were completed using the same subsample of 181 participants included in the correlations relating childhood personality and age 20 personality.
The results of the three regressions predicting young adult PEM, NEM, and CON are shown in Table 5. Sex and age did not predict any of the early adult personality traits, with the exception that early adult CON was predicted by gender. Male participants re- ported lower CON than female participants did. All three of the
Table 5 Hierarchical Multiple Regressions Predicting Personality Traits in Emerging Adulthood From Childhood Functioning
Childhood variables
Adult personality trait
Positive Emotionality
Negative Emotionality Constraint
Gender .01 .00 .12*** Age .01 .00 .01 Childhood personality traitsa .16*** .11*** .08** Childhood adaptationb .00 .06** .01 Total R2 .18*** .17*** .22***
Note. Adult personality traits were measured using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire scales. �R2 and the significance of the increment are shown at each step. a In Step 3, five childhood personality traits (Mastery Motivation, Aca- demic Conscientiousness, Surgent Engagement, Agreeableness, and Self- Assurance) were entered simultaneously as a set. b In Step 4, three mea- sures of childhood adaptation (academic achievement, rule-abiding conduct, and social competence) were entered simultaneously as a set. ** p � .01. *** p � .001.
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early adult personality traits were significantly predicted by the set of childhood personality traits. Once childhood personality was controlled for, the set of childhood adaptation variables continued to predict NEM but no longer predicted early adult PEM or CON. Specifically, poor academic achievement and early conduct prob- lems predicted early adult NEM (� � .22, p � .05, for poor academic achievement; and � � .20, p � .05, for earlier conduct problems). These results suggest that participants with poorer academic achievement and more conduct problems in childhood tended to show increases in NEM over time.
Discussion
Are adult personality traits predicted by childhood functioning? In the present study, we used longitudinal data tracing the lives of a normative community sample of participants from approximately age 10 to age 20 to explore the childhood antecedents of person- ality in emerging adulthood. Specifically, using a longitudinal design, we examined relations between self-report of personality during emerging adulthood and two different aspects of childhood functioning: (a) childhood personality, and (b) competent adaptive functioning in academic achievement, rule-abiding versus antiso- cial conduct, and social competence with peers. We also examined early adult personality in relation to concurrent adaptive function- ing in these same three domains of adaptation, plus emerging competence in paid work and romantic relationships, two areas of adaptation that become increasingly important in the transition to adulthood. Because academic achievement, conduct, and social competence were measured in both childhood and early adulthood, it was possible to determine whether early adult personality was linked with the same domains of adaptation in childhood as in early adulthood.
Results suggest that self-reported personality in the emerging adulthood years was significantly predicted by childhood person- ality, although most of the associations were modest to moderate in magnitude. In many cases, adult personality was also predicted by childhood histories of relative success versus failure in age- salient developmental tasks. Negative Emotionality (NEM) was associated with poorer adaptive functioning in virtually every domain examined, both in childhood and concurrently. In contrast, both Positive Emotionality (PEM) and Constraint (CON) were linked with more delimited domains of adaptation. Specifically, PEM was not predictable directly from childhood adaptive success or failure; however, it was related to concurrent positive peer friendships and romantic relationships, which do have roots in earlier social competence (see Masten et al., 1995). Low CON was singularly associated with childhood and concurrent antisocial behavior. It is remarkable that personality in emerging adulthood was often related as strongly to childhood adaptation as it was to concurrent adaptation in the same domain. The results did not differ for men and women; thus, we discuss the findings obtained for the sample as a whole. In the following sections, we describe and expand on the specific findings for each of the adult person- ality traits.
Positive Emotionality
PEM is a higher order trait that describes individuals’ propensity to experience positive emotions such as enthusiasm, zest, social
warmth, and well-being in a variety of situations. Caspi and Silva (1995) found that early adult PEM was not prefigured by temper- ament at age 3; these earlier findings raised the question of whether adult PEM can be predicted by childhood personality functioning. However, the present results indicate that the young adult participants who described themselves as high on PEM were more likely to be characterized by relatively higher levels of Mastery Motivation, Surgent Engagement, and Self-Assurance by the end of childhood. These results suggest that, indeed, adult PEM is predictable, albeit modestly to moderately, from childhood traits tapping tendencies to be engaged in the social and nonsocial worlds with zest, vigor, confidence, and enthusiasm.
PEM was not directly related to the participants’ childhood history of success or failure at mastering developmental tasks, though it showed the expected links to current social competence with peers, in terms of success in both peer friendships and romantic relationships. This latter finding is not surprising, given that PEM encompasses the tendencies to be socially potent and to strive toward close connections with others. Although PEM was related to concurrent social adaptation, it was not directly predict- able from childhood popularity and capacity for friendships with peers. This selective lack of predictability of PEM from earlier adaptation is noteworthy in light of the finding that NEM was predictable by several domains of childhood adaptation. PEM may be more closely tied to present adaptation and less directly linked with adaptation at other times than is the case for NEM. Alterna- tively, given that social competence in emerging adulthood is related to earlier social competence (Masten et al., 1995), there may be complex, indirect routes through which social success in childhood influences subsequent PEM.
Several researchers have suggested that positive emotions con- fer a variety of benefits in daily life. Specifically, the experience of positive emotions may serve to “broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertoires and build their enduring personal re- sources” (Fredrickson, 2001, p. 219). Positive emotions may also be associated with a greater willingness to approach and explore the environment (Watson, Wiese, Vaidya, & Tellegen, 1999). The present findings suggest that the beneficial effects of individual differences in PEM may manifest themselves most clearly in current relationships with peers and romantic partners. PEM was unrelated to academic achievement, job competence, or rule- abiding conduct. However, results for the lower order PEM trait of Achievement suggest that young adults’ tendencies to experience delight and pleasure in hard work are modestly associated with greater academic achievement and work effectiveness; thus, indi- vidual differences in the experience of positive emotions may be important for several life domains.
Negative Emotionality
NEM is a higher order trait that describes individuals’ propen- sity to experience negative emotions such as anxiety, resentment, anger, and hostility in a wide variety of social and nonsocial situations. The young adult participants who described themselves as high on NEM were more likely to be characterized by relatively lower levels of Mastery Motivation and Surgent Engagement in childhood. Specifically, NEM was modestly negatively related to childhood measures of extraversion, leadership, enthusiasm, self- reliance, focus, persistence, and achievement strivings. These re-
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sults complement those obtained by Caspi and Silva (1995), who found that preschool-age children who were irritable, distractible, labile, and uncontrolled were characterized by higher levels of NEM at age 18 than were children not described by these temper- amental traits. Taken together, the present findings and those from Caspi and Silva (1995) suggest that adult NEM is predicted by a childhood history of both higher levels of negative emotional traits and lower levels of positive emotional traits.
The results relating NEM to concurrent and childhood adapta- tion are striking: NEM was related to poorer childhood and con- current academic achievement, rule-abiding conduct, and social competence and to lower levels of concurrent competence at paid work. In other words, NEM was related to nearly across-the-board poorer adaptation in childhood and adulthood. Further, the corre- lations between poor adaptation and NEM were generally as strong across the 10-year span as concurrently. Some of the lower order components of NEM showed slightly different patterns of relation- ship with adaptation. For example, individuals who described themselves as highly stress reactive and neurotic were no more likely to have past or present conduct problems, and individuals who described themselves as aggressive were no more likely to have past or present difficulties in social relationships. Despite these instances, the overriding pattern of NEM being linked with past and present poor adaptation was robust.
These findings for NEM are important because this trait has been identified as both a vulnerability factor for and a core feature of many types of adult psychopathology (Mineka, Watson, & Clark, 1998; Watson & Clark, 1994). Clearly, the poor adaptive functioning often associated with high levels of NEM may be longstanding in nature. It is easy to imagine that some individuals high on NEM may have a negative bias in their self-reports of adaptation. But in this study the links found between NEM and poor adaptation were not merely the result of self-reports clouded by a negative bias. We obtained the reports of poor childhood functioning by examining descriptions provided by parents, teach- ers, and child interviewers 10 years previously, and the reports of concurrent functioning include the perspectives of both the partic- ipants and their mothers.
We further explored the links between poor childhood adapta- tion and NEM in emerging adulthood by examining whether poor childhood adaptation added to the prediction of later NEM after we first accounted for the continuity of personality from childhood to adulthood. After we controlled for gender, age, and the compre- hensive set of childhood personality traits, the set of childhood adaptation variables continued to predict NEM negatively. These results suggest that, even after one takes the continuity of child- hood personality into account, poor childhood academic achieve- ment and conduct problems predicted higher levels of NEM across the 10-year span. These findings were unique to NEM; early adult PEM and CON were not predictable from childhood adaptation after childhood personality was controlled for. Poor childhood adaptation may lead to higher levels of negative emotions such as alienation and hostility over time, perhaps as individuals become increasingly aware of their failures to meet social expectations. It is also possible that failure in developmental tasks could result in stressful situations (e.g., punishment for antisocial behavior) that exacerbate the experience of negative emotions for those already predisposed to experience them. Another possibility is that a third variable could be generating both poor adaptation and higher
levels of NEM over time. For example, adverse life experiences, particularly among younger individuals or unprotected children with inadequate care, could lead to poor outcomes and also in- crease stress reactivity (Gunnar, 2000).
Positive Emotionality Versus Negative Emotionality: A Study in Contrasts
PEM and NEM were asymmetrical in their ties with childhood and concurrent adaptation, at least for those domains of adaptation measured here. Young adult PEM was not directly predictable from childhood adaptation, whereas NEM was predicted by a childhood history of adaptive difficulties. Similarly, in emerging adulthood, PEM was largely related to only social aspects of adaptation, whereas NEM was related to many domains of adap- tive failure. Digman (1997) argued that PEM is part of an over- arching personality system representing proclivities for personal growth and an “active, zestful, and venturesome approach to life and to interpersonal relations” (p. 1250) and that NEM is part of an overarching personality system “representing the different degrees of success achieved by the socialization process” (p. 1250). The present findings support these interpretations of PEM and NEM: PEM is most distinctively linked with concurrent positive relation- ships, whereas NEM is linked with early and concurrent failed socialization in many domains of adaptation.
The finding of such diffuse childhood antecedents for NEM is consistent with the developmental literature on NEM. Children’s individual differences in NEM have been an important focus of temperament research for decades (Rothbart et al., 2000; Rothbart & Bates, 1998; Shiner, 1998; Shiner & Caspi, in press). Like adults, children vary widely in their propensities to experience fear, sadness, anger, and general distress. Children who are higher on NEM are more likely to experience both externalizing and internalizing difficulties (Rothbart & Bates, 1998), and they expe- rience higher levels of social difficulties across development, particularly when they lack good emotional and behavioral control (Caspi, 2000; Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000). In short, NEM is coupled with adaptational difficulties concurrently and across time, in both childhood and adulthood.
The present findings suggest that the systems underlying NEM are likely to be more reactive to threats, frustrations, and stressful life experiences in general than are those underlying PEM. Early emotionally aversive adaptational failures may activate the NEM system and lead individuals to experience increasingly high levels of NEM over time. Thus, NEM itself may be more vulnerable to changes incurred by chronic threat. Although the current emphasis on positive adaptation and on positive psychology is an important corrective to psychology’s historical emphasis on disorder and maladaptation, it is essential not to lose sight of the apparent widespread implication of NEM or Neuroticism for adaptation. One of the challenges for contemporary developmentalists and personality psychologists is to chart and understand the coevolu- tion of positive and negative emotional processes and to under- stand their adaptive interplay.
Constraint
CON is a higher order trait that describes individuals’ tenden- cies to be cautious, planful, harm avoidant, and more traditional
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and conventional. Individuals describing themselves as low on CON tend to acknowledge higher levels of impulsiveness and sensation seeking and to reject conventional values. In this study, the young adult participants who described themselves as high on CON were more likely to be characterized by relatively higher levels of Academic Conscientiousness and lower levels of Self- Assurance in childhood. Specifically, CON was moderately posi- tively related to childhood seriousness, conscientiousness, and carefulness about schoolwork and modestly negatively related to childhood self-confidence versus anxious insecurity. These find- ings are consistent with the results of the Caspi and Silva (1995) study documenting that preschool-age children who were under- controlled reported low levels of young adult CON, whereas those who were inhibited reported high levels of young adult CON, relative to well-adjusted children.
In the present study, CON in emerging adulthood was also modestly related to rule-abiding versus antisocial conduct, both concurrently and in childhood; the lower order component of Control (similar to Big Five Conscientiousness) was also associ- ated with concurrent academic achievement and emerging job competence. The concurrent relationship between low CON and antisocial behavior has been demonstrated in both children and young adults (Caspi et al., 1994; White et al., 1994). The present results extend these findings by demonstrating that low CON in early adulthood has longstanding ties with antisocial behavior in childhood. A recent twin study demonstrated that low levels of CON and antisocial behavior are linked by virtue of shared genetic origins (Krueger et al., 2002). These authors argued that low CON and antisocial behavior may be best viewed as varying manifes- tations of a latent externalizing dimension that also includes sub- stance dependence. The present results lend support to the idea of close connections between antisocial conduct and an impulsive personality style across time, in that low levels of CON in early adulthood were nearly as related to childhood antisocial behavior as to concurrent antisocial behavior.
Directions for Future Research
The present results demonstrate that personality in emerging adulthood is to some extent prefigured by childhood personality 10 years previously, even when childhood personality is measured by outside sources such as parents, child interviewers, and teachers and adult personality is measured by self-report. Although links were observed between personality at age 10 and age 20, the correlations obtained were generally modest in size. In a recent meta-analysis of studies examining rank-order consistency for personality traits, Roberts and DelVecchio (2000) reported esti- mated population cross-time correlations for personality traits of .45 for ages 6–11.9 and .47 for ages 12–17.9. These estimates of rank-order consistency are higher than those obtained in the present study, which may in part be attributable to (a) the longer time interval between assessments, (b) the spanning of more de- velopmental periods and school transitions, and (c) the greater differences in instruments used at different assessments.
Although the childhood personality measures used in the present study were reasonably comprehensive and covered major domains tapped by the adult personality questionnaire, the individual child- hood traits did not map neatly onto the content of the individual adult traits. For example, there was no clear trait measuring PEM
in childhood, although several childhood traits measured disposi- tions tapping aspects of PEM. This lack of isomorphism between the childhood and early adult traits may also have led to lower measured continuity (Shiner, Tellegen, & Masten, 2001). It is important for future studies to examine whether it is possible to measure more comparable traits. The same measures may not have the same meaning across development, and traits may transform or differentiate over time such that there is still modest continuity over time, even with better measurement (Shiner et al., 2001). As developmental psychologists begin to examine structural models of childhood personality that map onto the structures uncovered in adult personality, such research may become more feasible (Kohnstamm et al., 1998; Shiner, 1998; Shiner & Caspi, in press).
Another important direction for future developmental research on personality is the detailed exploration of day-to-day processes through which personality and adaptation become linked. On the basis of the present findings and previous results from the same Project Competence data set (Shiner, 2000), personality shows significant concurrent links with adaptation in both childhood and adulthood. Personality in emerging adulthood also is predictable from earlier adaptation. Yet the reasons for the links between personality and adaptation are not yet clear. Research with adults has begun to explore the processes through which personality may influence day-to-day adaptation. For example, adults who are high on Neuroticism or Stress Reaction are particularly distressed when confronting daily problems (Suls, Martin, & David, 1998), which may lead to the types of adaptive failure documented in the present study. Other research has begun to document the processes through which sad and angry moods lead individuals to lose self-control (Bushman, Baumeister, & Phillips, 2001; Leith & Baumeister, 1996; Tice, Bratslavsky, & Baumeister, 2001). The use of process- oriented research methods (e.g., short-term longitudinal studies, experimental studies, and experience sampling studies) may be very helpful in elucidating how children’s personalities and adap- tation become intertwined over time. On the basis of the present findings, it will be important to use these methods to explore not only the ways that personality shapes adaptation but also the ways that adaptation shapes personality. Such research should help to advance the renaissance of developmental personality research and theory.
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Received September 12, 2001 Revision received April 1, 2002
Accepted April 10, 2002 �
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