scholarly journals Age Differences in the Variance of Personality Characteristics

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Mõttus ◽  
Jüri Allik ◽  
Martina Hřebíčková ◽  
Liisi Kööts–Ausmees ◽  
Anu Realo
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Model Domain

In contrast to mean–level comparisons, age group differences in personality trait variance have received only passing research interest. This may seem surprising because individual differences in personality characteristics are exactly what most of personality psychology is about. Because different proposed mechanisms of personality development may entail either increases or decreases in variance over time, the current study is exploratory in nature. Age differences in variance were tested by comparing the standard deviations of the five–factor model domain and facet scales across two age groups (20 to 30 years old versus 50 to 60 years old). Samples from three cultures (Estonia, the Czech Republic and Russia) were employed, and two methods (self–reports and informant–reports) were used. The results showed modest convergence across samples and methods. Age group differences were significant for 11 of 150 facet–level comparisons but never consistently for the same facets. No significant age group differences were observed for the five–factor model domain variance. Therefore, there is little evidence for individual differences in personality characteristics being systematically smaller or larger in older as opposed to younger people. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding personality development. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Are All Kids Alike? The Magnitude of Individual Differences in Personality Characteristics Tends to Increase from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Mõttus ◽  
Christopher J. Soto ◽  
Helena R. Slobodskaya ◽  
Mitja Back
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
The Usa

Do individual differences in personality traits become more or less pronounced over childhood and adolescence? The present research examined age differences in the variance of a range of personality traits, using parent reports of two large samples of children from predominantly the USA and Russia, respectively. Results indicate (i) that individual differences in most traits tend to increase with age from early childhood into early adolescence and then plateau, (ii) that this general pattern of greater personality variance at older childhood age is consistent across the two countries, and (iii) that this pattern is not an artefact of age differences in means or floor/ceiling effects. These findings are consistent with several (noncontradictory) developmental mechanisms, including youths’ expanding behavioural capacities and person–environment transactions (corresponsive principle). However, these mechanisms may predominantly characterize periods before adolescence, or they may be offset by countervailing processes, such as socialization pressure towards a mature personality profile, in late adolescence and adulthood. Finally, the findings also suggest that interpreting age trajectories in mean trait scores as pertaining to age differences in a typical person may sometimes be misleading. Investigating variance should become an integral part of studying personality development. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Age Differences in Personality Traits and Social Desirability: A Multi-Rater Multi-Sample Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liisi Kööts-Ausmees ◽  
Christian Kandler ◽  
Anu Realo ◽  
Jüri Allik ◽  
Peter Borkenau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Socially Desirable Responding ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Total N ◽  
Self Reports

Age differences in personality traits can inform us on the magnitude and qualities of personality development and describing them accurately is therefore of utmost importance. Little research yet has examined age differences by combining more than one source of information, despite many psychologists knowing that any one assessment method is prone to artefacts. We compared age differences in a range of personality traits such as Five-Factor Model (FFM) facets and nuances in self-reports and ratings by knowledgeable informants. Relying on samples from three countries (total N = 5,624) allowed us to cross-validate and meta-analyze the findings. We hypothesized that age differences would be larger in self-reports, because socially desirable responding increases with age. Indeed, we found that age-differences were systematically smaller in informant-reported facets and nuances compared to their self-reported counterparts and that this trend was stronger for traits independently rated as socially desirable. These findings replicated across multiple samples. We also hypothesized that variance of self-reported traits would decrease with age for evaluative traits, but this hypothesis received inconsistent support. We conclude that age differences may be inflated in self-reports partly because of socially desirable responding. However, since we cannot definitively rule out that age differences are underestimated in informant-ratings, they may be best approximated by average trends of self- and informant-reports. We therefore provide meta-analytic age trends for multi-rater composite scores of the FFM traits, their facets, and items. This is among the most rigorous studies yet into cross-sectional age differences in personality traits.

Old Wine in New Bottles? The Case of Self–Compassion and Neuroticism

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Kandler ◽  
Stefan Pfattheicher ◽  
Mattis Geiger ◽  
Johanna Hartung ◽  
Selina Weiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Negative Factor ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Compassion Scale ◽  
Positive Factor

Research on self–compassion, which is defined as being understanding and kind to oneself when confronted with negative experiences, has produced an impressive number of articles in recent years. This research shows that individual differences in self–compassion, as measured by the Self–Compassion Scale (SCS), are positively related to life satisfaction, health and social functioning. However, a critical and systematic test of self–compassion from a personality perspective has not yet conducted so far. In the present study ( N = 576), we (i) tested the factor structure of the SCS, (ii) examined the distinctiveness of self–compassion with regard to the five–factor model of personality, focusing on neuroticism, and (iii) tested the incremental predictive power of self–compassion beyond the five–factor model in the context of life satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a two–factor plus six facets solution of self–compassion (a positive factor and a negative factor). Additional analyses revealed that the negative factor was redundant with facets of neuroticism ( rs ≥ .85), whereas the positive factor had some unique variance left. However, neither the negative factor nor the positive factor could explain substantial incremental variance in life satisfaction beyond neuroticism. Recommendations for how to use the SCS are provided, and the future of research on self–compassion is discussed. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

The “Right Stuff”: Personality Tests and the Five-Factor Model in Landing Craft Air Cushion Crew Training

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (13) ◽  
pp. 920-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Street ◽  
Kathleen T. Helton
Keyword(s):  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Personality Testing ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
Selection System ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Air Cushion ◽  
Training Success ◽  
Selection Of

The purpose of our investigation was to determine if personality testing and a five-factor model could improve the selection of Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle operators. Vehicle operators for the LCAC are currently selected on the basis of their performance on a computer-based psychomotor selection system. The various psychomotor tests in the selection system have demonstrated predictive validity in LCAC crew training. Certain personality characteristics may also be involved in the LCAC vehicle operator training success. In fact, various researchers have found that personality testing may improve the selection of Navy/Marine Corps aviators. There is increasing evidence that a five-factor model may be useful in describing the personality characteristics involved in training success. We believe that a five-factor model may improve the selection system used for LCAC vehicle operators. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was conducted to determine the underlying structure of the Adult Personality Inventory (API) with 168 LCAC crew candidates. The resulting factor scores were then entered into a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses to determine the relation of the personality factor scores and the performance-based test to an underway grade in training criterion. The results indicated that one personality factor, openness, significantly improved predictions of the criterion ( p < 0.05). Based on these results, we believe that personality testing may improve the selection of LCAC vehicle operators.

scholarly journals Using the 16PF to Test the Differentiation of Personality by Intelligence Hypothesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Aitken Schermer ◽  
Georg Krammer ◽  
Richard D. Goffin ◽  
Michael D. Biderman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Consistent Pattern ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Personality Measure ◽  
G Factor ◽  
Configural Invariance ◽  
Job Candidates

The differentiation of personality by intelligence hypothesis suggests that there will be greater individual differences in personality traits for those individuals who are more intelligent. Conversely, less intelligent individuals will be more similar to each other in their personality traits. The hypothesis was tested with a large sample of managerial job candidates who completed an omnibus personality measure with 16 scales and five intelligence measures (used to generate an intelligence g-factor). Based on the g-factor composite, the sample was split using the median to conduct factor analyses within each half. A five-factor model was tested for both the lower and higher intelligence halves and were found to have configural invariance but not metric or scalar invariance. In general, the results provide little support for the differentiation hypothesis as there was no clear and consistent pattern of lower inter-scale correlations for the more intelligent individuals.

scholarly journals Sexual offending hierarchies, personality attributions, and the clinical implications

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Elizabeth Challinor ◽  
Simon Duff
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Severity ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine sexual offending hierarchies constructed by the general public and forensic staff based on personal attitudes and perceived severity of offence. In addition, six sexual offence perpetrators are differentiated using the Five Factor Model of personality. Design/methodology/approach Vignettes represented six sexual offence perpetrators. Participants built a hierarchy based on perceived severity of offence, before attributing personality characteristics to each offender using a Likert-type scale. Findings Contact offenders were perceived as more dangerous than non-contact offenders. Rapists were perceived as the most dangerous, and voyeurs the least dangerous. Offenders were attributed significantly different personality traits. Generally, men who sexually offend are perceived to be low in agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness and high in impulsivity, manipulativeness and neuroticism. Practical implications The research highlights the importance of individual risk assessment in determining best practice treatment for men who have sexually offended (MSO). The Five Factor Model has been proven to be a useful tool to explore the impact staff attitudes have on risk assessment and treatment. Low-risk and high-risk MSO would benefit from divergent treatment. Consideration should be given to personality characteristics in addition to level of risk. Originality/value The research determines a hierarchy of men who sexually offend, and goes beyond the “label” of sexual offenders to explore how personality impacts on formation of attitudes.

Tracing the Big Five in parents' free descriptions of their children

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geldolph A. Kohnstamm ◽  
Ivan Mervielde ◽  
Elias Besevegis ◽  
Charles F. Halverson
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scales ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Adult Personality ◽  
Interesting Culture ◽  
The Usa

Because of the impressive replicability of the Five‐Factor Model (FFM) in adult personality psychology, developmental psychologists have recently begun a search for the antecedents of these five adult dimensions in childhood. The FFM originates in rating scales applied to ‘personality words’, notably adjectives, selected from dictionaries. To test the explanatory power of the FFM as a model for individual differences in childhood, we used a different source for the lexicon of personality. Parents of children aged 3, 6, 9, and 12 years were asked simply ‘to describe your child’. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed literally and then coded using an elaborate coding scheme. We here describe data from three of the countries involved in this cross‐cultural project (Holland, Belgium, and Greece). The data are the results of coding free descriptions for a total of 186 3‐year‐olds and 229 9‐year‐olds. These data represent the first phase of a four‐phase project that includes researchers from The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Germany, the USA, and China. Results from this first phase were very similar over the participating countries although there were some interesting culture‐specific differences. In the second phase, questionnaire items based on the free descriptors in each category of the coding scheme will be written by the research teams. Such items will be rated by new samples of parents. Factor analyses will reduce the item pool to about one hundred items. These will then be given to new samples of parents of children of the ages indicated above. In the last phase, the factor structures will be compared across cultures and be analysed for their resemblance to the FFM, as well as other models of the structure of temperament and personality in childhood.

Personality Correlates Related to Tobacco Abstinence following Treatment

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Michael Hooten ◽  
Troy D. Wolter ◽  
Steven C. Ames ◽  
Richard D. Hurt ◽  
Kristin S. Vickers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Nicotine Dependence ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Smoking Abstinence ◽  
Treatment Matching ◽  
Personality Correlates ◽  
Clinical Trails

Objective: The five-factor model of personality was used to describe the correlates of smoking abstinence. Methods: Following treatment in the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center, the six month abstinence status was determined by self-report. Sixteen months to 2.4 years following the initial treatment evaluation, and 10 months to 1.9 years after the abstinence status was determined, 475 patients were mailed a Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Five-Factor Inventory questionnaire. Ninety-nine abstinent and 151 smoking patients returned a completed questionnaire. Results: Multivariate analysis showed that low scores on neuroticism and openness were associated with tobacco abstinence. In addition, high scores on neuroticism and low scores on agreeableness and conscientiousness were associated with predictors of poor outcome including greater number of cigarettes smoked per day, initiation of smoking prior to age 18, and a Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence score of ≥ 6. Conclusions: Personality characteristics as predictors of smoking abstinence following treatment warrant further investigation in prospective clinical trails. Treatment matching using personality profiling as a guide may be a valuable tool for improving abstinence rates following treatment for nicotine dependence.

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