The Infant Behavior Record (IBR) assessed the temperament of 95 nonadoptive and 80 adoptive sibling pairs at 1 and 2 years of age. Data from this and an earlier similar study of identical and fraternal twins yielded evidence for genetic influence for IBR factors of extraversion, activity, and task orientation. (BC)

Reviews research on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator's (MBTI's) use in personalizing the basic writing curriculum. Describes an MBTI-based study of personality and writing performance in a basic writing class. Identifies ways MBTI results can inform teacher feedback and the use of prewriting, small groups, computers, and essay tests. (DMM)

The compulsive perfectionist is compared with "stress seekers" who pursue challenges without judging themselves as harshly. Examples of these types from the literature in terms of economic life, fiction, interpersonal relationships, and sexuality are discussed. Risk-taking and social pressure are seen as key factors in the balanced…

An attempt to replicate a previous study suggesting the dimension of intimacy-isolation predicts medical student speciality choice by using a new generation of medical students (N=203) and a new generation of well-validated personality measures failed to find support for the hypothesis. (MLW)

Examined associations between the activity level and adaptability of same-sex siblings and qualitative aspects of their relationship. Found high levels of conflict when both siblings were high in activity and the older sibling was rated more active than the younger. Conflict was lowest when siblings were low in activity. Warmth was greatest when…

Study used 103 bilingual college freshmen to evaluate psychometric characteristics of the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY) translated into Spanish. Scales and subscales of the Spanish PIY demonstrated internal consistency and temporal stability comparable to English counterparts, and multivariate analysis did not identify a language effect…

The usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (J. Butcher and others, 1989) for diagnosis and assessment of depression and psychoses was studied with 264 psychiatric inpatients. MMPI-2 profiles were sensitive to group differences, and the derived regression equations were stable and fairly good at classification.…

This study examined levels of techophobia, described as negative psychological reactions toward technology, in a sample of South African university students. Describes use of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and reports results that show techophobia was inversely correlated with computer experience, weakly correlated with age, but not associated with…

Reports on the psychometric properties of a new semistructured interview, the Structured Interview for the Five-Factor Model of Personality (T. Trull and T. Widiger, 1997). Data from clinical and nonclinical samples (187 undergraduates and 46 mental health outpatients) support the reliability and validity of the measure's scores. (SLD)

Summarizes data concerning personality measurements as predictors of job performance, and offers responses to frequently raised questions about these measurements in the employment process. It is suggested that measures of personality are valid predictors of performance in all occupations, that they do not adversely impact minority group job…

Details an exercise for social, personality, and introductory psychology classes in which students form implicit personality theories based on information provided by social psychologists on their Internet pages, and then create a personal home page presenting the information and their analyses. Reports students' reactions to the project are…

Temperament development was studied in 39 full-term small-for-gestational-age infants and 30 full-term appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. Temperament was measured at 4, 8, and 12 months of age using a behavioral assessment procedure and questionnaire ratings. Findings indicated that restricted fetal growth negatively affects infant…

Gifted students and youth possess a set of personality characteristics that make them uniquely vulnerable. School personnel and parents need to be aware of these risk factors so that they can provide coordinated educational and social opportunities to foster resilience. They must also be ready to offer preventive and therapeutic mental health…

Chernyshenko, Stark, Chan, Drasgow, and Williams (2001) investigated the fit of Samejima's logistic graded model and Levine's non-parametric MFS model to the scales of two personality questionnaires and found that the graded model did not fit well. We attribute the poor fit of the graded model to small amounts of multidimensionality present in…

A 2-wave longitudinal study of personality in adolescence was conducted with data obtained at ages 12 and 17 years from approximately 60 European American and 60 second-generation Chinese American youth. At Time 1 they completed the Children's Personality Questionnaire and at Time 2 they completed the High School Personality Questionnaire and…