While personality is relatively stable over time, it is also subject to change across the entire lifespan. On a macro-analytical level, empirical research has identified patterns of normative and differential development that are affected by biological and environmental factors, specific life events, and social role investments. On a…

Dabrowski's ideas about personality development are not only a source of practical recommendations for assisting the development of persons of varied age but can also be an inspiration for research. The theory is exceptionally helpful in describing developmental phenomena. Cases of multilevel development were studied in autobiographies of 7…

Describes features and benefits of the person-centered approach to studying personality, identifies unanswered questions, and suggests research directions. Benefits noted include focus on intraindividual structure, descriptive efficiency, use of types as moderator variables, predictive validity, and conceptual clarity and intuitive appeal.…

This article provides a review and synthesis of concepts, research programs, and measures in the infant and child temperament area. First, the authors present an overview of five classical approaches to the study of child temperament that continue to stimulate research today. Subsequently, the authors carve out key definitional criteria for…

Explored genetic and environmental underpinnings of temperamental differences in 3- to 16-month-old twins and their parents. Found that additive genetic and shared environmental effects best represented smiling, laughter, and duration of orienting. Shared environmental effects fully accounted for co-twin similarity for soothability. Additive…

Applied a person-centered approach to childhood personality development in 28 diverse samples of 3- to 6-year-olds studied over 6 years. Identified resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled personality types. Found that the undercontrolled personality type related to intellectual decline over 6 years. The number of family risks predicted…

Assessed temperament of newborn twins using comprehensive neonatal exam that focused on irritability, resistance to soothing activity, and reinforcement value. Some infants were later assessed at 9 months. Emotional activity appeared to be core dimension stretching over ages and is discussed in relation to formulations of infant temperament.…

Reviews evidence on reliability and validity of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ); presents CBQ data on structure of temperament in childhood. Factor analyses indicate three broad dimensions of temperament: extroversion/surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control. This factor structure also appears in ratings of children in…

This study represents further work into the area of what specific processes determine whether a sibling relationship will be positive or negative. Specifically addressed was the influence of each child's personality or temperament in shaping the quality and type of sibling relationship. Significant attention was paid to analyzing sibling…

In this study, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of exposer (n=36), rapist (n=47), and assaulter (n=46) groups were investigated and compared. The most disturbed group, the rapists, had MMPI K-corrected mean raw scale scores that were significantly greater than those of the exposer group on many scales. (Author)

Fourth through eleventh grade students evaluated single personality trait descriptions of hypothetical persons of their own sex. Results are discussed in terms of person-perception and social desirability theories of personality. (ST)

We conceptualize personality and individual variation from the perspective of dynamical systems. People's thoughts, feelings, and predispositions for action are inherently dynamic, displaying constant change due to internal mechanisms and external forces, but over time the flow of thought and action converges on a narrow range of states--a…

This longitudinal study examined consistency and change in human personality. Rather than studying the consistency of individual differences over time, an approach which considers only the stability of a variable at the group level and ignores differences in stability at an individual level, this study used a person-centered approach to study…

Before adults can recognize and value diversity in children they must perceive the strengths and weaknesses of their own personalities and the "childness" within themselves. Presents an outline for an annual mental health exam. (ST)