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We report the development of a self-report questionnaire of the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of personality for use with children. Focus groups were held with children to sample their experiences of situations modelled on components of three RST systems: fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS, related to fear), behavioural inhibition system (BIS, related to anxiety), and behavioural approach system (BAS, related to approach). The thematic responses formed the conceptual anchors to the development of test items that were examined using exploratory factor analysis in a sample of 288 9–13 year olds. After eliminating items that did not load on their designated factor, or substantially cross-loaded over factors, the original 48 items were reduced to 21 items: 7 items for each of the BIS, FFFS and BAS factors. The separation of the BIS and FFFS items across two factors is consistent with the revised model of RST. We offer this new questionnaire as a RST measure of fundamental motivation and emotion traits in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined whether autobiographical memories from parents' own childhoods, prebirth expectations, and personality traits contributed to their perceptions of their infants' temperament. It also investigated whether mothers and fathers differed in the extent to which these three sources of subjectivity predicted their perceptions. During the third trimester of pregnancy, expectant mothers and fathers in 96 families completed assessments of their personality traits and expectations for their children's temperament, as well as provided characteristic memories of their relationships with their own caregivers as children. Memories were then coded for themes of growth versus safety and compared to parents' ratings of perceived child temperament 15 months later. Analyses revealed that, for both parents, prebirth expectations predicted perceptions of positive temperament behaviors. Moreover, fathers who described childhoods characterized by exploration and opportunities for growth also perceived their children as displaying more positive temperamental behaviors, whereas those who described greater safety focus in memories and who had higher levels of negative affectivity reported more negative temperamental behaviors. These findings suggest that mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children are differently related to psychological variables, including autobiographical memories. In turn, it is possible that these subjective perceptions may affect the parenting environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between childhood trauma and personality traits has been poorly characterized and reported. Our aim was to evaluate whether distinct types of childhood abuse and neglect are associated with various personality dimensions using data from a large web-based survey. A total of 12,225 volunteers responded anonymously to the Internet versions of the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) via our research website, but only 8,114 subjects (75.7% women, mean age 34.8 ± 11.3 yrs) who met the criteria for validity were included in the analysis. Childhood trauma was positively associated with harm avoidance and was negatively associated with self-directedness and, to a lesser extent, with cooperativeness. The associations were robust with emotional abuse and neglect but were non-significant or mild with physical trauma. Emotional neglect was associated with reduced reward dependence and persistence. All types of abuse, but not neglect, were associated with increased novelty seeking scores. Reporting of childhood trauma, especially of an emotional nature, was associated with maladaptive personality traits. Further investigation of the effects of different types of childhood trauma on psychological and neurobiological parameters is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Among adults fear of blushing is best predicted by Structure. [•] Among children fear of blushing is best predicted by Neuroticism. [•] Children report more fear of blushing than adults. [•] Females report more fear of blushing than males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether, and if so, to what extent, education and coping strategies may reduce the detrimental effects of childhood maltreatment on personality functioning. Methods: We assessed dimensional trait-scores of all 10 DSM-IV personality disorders (PDs), childhood maltreatment, education and three coping styles in 511 subjects of the general population of Zurich, Switzerland, using data from the ZInEP Epidemiology Survey. Results: Childhood maltreatment was associated with all 10 PDs. Low education was related to antisocial, borderline and histrionic PD. Low emotion-focused coping was associated with paranoid, schizoid, borderline, avoidant, and obsessive–compulsive PD. Low problem-focused coping was related to schizoid PD and high problem-focused coping to histrionic PD. High dysfunctional coping was significantly related to all 10 PD dimensions. Obsessive–compulsive trait scores were significantly lower in maltreated subjects with high emotion-focused coping. Antisocial, borderline and narcissistic trait scores were significantly higher in maltreated subjects with high dysfunctional coping. Conclusion: Education and adaptive coping may have a protective effect on PD symptomatology. Promotion of adaptive coping and suppression of dysfunctional coping may additionally reduce PD symptoms specifically in maltreated subjects. Those findings have important clinical implications. Longitudinal research is needed to address questions of causality and to evaluate potential effects of treatment and intervention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The main objective of the current study was to examine the impact of two child risk factors, i.e. personality and inhibition, and two proximal family risk factors, i.e. parenting and attachment, and the impact of their cumulative effect on later externalizing behavior among young children incurring no distal family risk. Data were collected in a longitudinal two-wave design from 161 non-referred and referred children aged three to five years at the onset of the study. All of the children were raised in families of middle to high socio-economic status, i.e. their parents were educated to a middle to high level, had access to the job market and lived together as couples. The four risk domains were assessed at the onset of the study, while EB was rated both at the onset of the study and in the 24-month follow-up. Results confirmed that the four risk domains were each both correlates of EB and efficient at discriminating non-referred from referred children; that their combination regardless of their content (cumulative risk) provided a strong prediction of both later EB and non-referred vs referred sample membership. The results are discussed both for research and clinical purposes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although well studied in adulthood, the genetic and environmental influences on personality in middle childhood has not yet been fully explored. Particularly little is known about the development of children‘s self-perceptions of personality. This is the first behavior genetic study to assess the Five Factor dimensions of personality in eight to ten and eleven to fourteen year-old children. Longitudinal data from 202 mono- and dizygotic twin pairs were collected in the CoSMoS twin study (). A phenotypic confirmatory factor analysis supported the personality measure’s five-factor structure identifying Neuroticism, Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Univariate genetic analyses revealed additive genetic effects as well as shared and non-shared environmental effects for Neuroticism and Agreeableness. Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion showed additive as well as non-additive genetic and non-shared environmental influences. Longitudinal results across four years indicated that genetic influences mainly contributed to stability whereas environmental effects primarily accounted for change. Results are discussed within the context of a developmental perspective on the transition from early to middle childhood, and with respect to behavior genetic results from adult samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Little is known about slow-to-warm-up temperament in infancy. This study examined the trajectory of shyness in children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy in comparison to children with other temperament profiles in infancy. Participants were 996 mothers and children in the NICHD SECC studied from 6months to first grade. Latent growth curve modeling showed that children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy tended to be shy in early childhood, but with increasing age these children became indistinguishable from children who were easy or intermediate. In comparison, children who were difficult in infancy remained more shy than children with other temperament profiles. Maternal sensitive and stimulating/supportive parenting was associated with less shyness in early childhood for boys who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy. Findings support the distinctiveness of the slow-to-warm-up temperament in comparison to other temperament profiles as well as its potential usefulness for predicting later child outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Research on mother–child reminiscing as a socializing practice for autobiographical memory is extended from early childhood and the narrating of single events to adolescence and the narrating of an entire life story. To explore whether the development of the life story in adolescence depends on qualities of the narrator or on the brevity of the narrated life, and whether mothers adapt their scaffolding strategies in co-narrations of the child''s life to the child''s zone of proximal development, 16 mother–child pairs (child''s ages 8, 12, 16, and 20 years) both co-narrated and individually narrated the child''s life. As expected, only the coherence of the children''s, but not the mothers’, narratives varied with the child''s age. Also, mothers supported temporal structuring more in younger children and arguments about personality and its development more in adolescents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Sensation seeking is a personality attribute associated with injury in school-age children, adolescents, and adults. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire measure of sensation seeking for young children 2–5 years of age. Methods: Items tapping aspects of sensation seeking (Novelty Seeking, Behavioral Intensity, Thrill Seeking) were developed, content validation was completed by child development experts, and 72 parents then completed the Sensation Seeking Scale for Young Children (SSSYC) twice (3 months intervening) to establish internal and test–retest reliabilities. To assess criterion validity, scores were related to children''s preferences for high versus low sensation seeking activities, their free play behavior in an indoor playroom, and to children''s history of unintentional injuries. Results: Indices of internal reliability and test–retest reliability were good and questionnaire scores positively correlated with sensation seeking behaviors during free play, preferences for high versus low sensation seeking activities, and injury measures, providing support for criterion validity. Conclusion: This initial evaluation of the SSSYC suggests that it is a psychometrically sound measure of sensation seeking. This scale may be useful for identifying high sensation seekers at young ages, providing the opportunity for early intervention to prevent unintentional injuries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigated how Korean (N =397) and U.S. (N =333) children and adolescents (10 and 13 years of age) evaluated personality (aggression, shyness) and group (gender, nationality) characteristics as a basis for peer rejection in three contexts (friendship rejection, group exclusion, victimization). Overall, peer rejection based on group membership was viewed as more unfair than peer rejection based on personality traits. Children viewed friendship rejection as more legitimate than group exclusion or victimization and used more personal choice reasoning for friendship rejection than for rejection in any other context. Although there were a few cultural differences, overall, the findings provided support for the cultural generalizability of social reasoning about peer rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: What is the significance of this? Is it related to the view that justice and society presently have of children and adolescents? When a judge in a children''s court has to be able to understand the personality of a parent and the subsequent repercussion on a child in danger, the pluridisciplinary investigation order, which is inherent to the educational assistance procedure, competes with the valuation. Conversely, the rare use of the valuation takes on a completely different meaning when a delinquent adolescent has to be judged; in a context of increased repression, it shows the interest that society and justice pay to the delinquent act itself, to the detriment of the personality of the adolescent. Furthermore, magistrates rarely order valuations to determine whether the adolescent acted with “discernment” and whether he/she should be penalised for his/her acts; thus reflecting the little attention that society pays on the status of the delinquent youth. Paradoxically, the systematic recourse of penal justice in the valuation of the credibility of a child, victim of sexual abuse, stems from the same procedure: judges prefer to ignore the extreme difficulty of judging a child''s word, as though a valuation would be able to dispense them from arbitrating in the domain of what is “unthinkable” that constitutes the sexuality and traumatism experienced within the family sphere. Nevertheless, valuations allow one to understand what has built up between the child and his/her parents, not from the angle of the actual penal offence that is rape or physical violence but by striving to understand how the child''s physical, sexual and mental integrity was denied. Such valuations would certainly contribute to the fact that process of judging, itself, would be able to give a new sense to life and teach the respect of others. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on a study which examines the phenotypic and etiologic relations between internalizing symptoms and autistic-like traits in a population-based sample of twin born children of 8-9 years old. The study uses the access among twin born children to represent the phenotypic overlap between such traits in the general population and the first quantitative genetic investigation of their etiologic overlap. Results show that there were substantially heritable and independent with regard to their genetic influences.

Abstract: This 3-year longitudinal study provides a comprehensive analysis of continuity and change in teacher ratings of personality characteristics of 475 children (6–9 years old). Personality was measured with the 144-item Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. Data were analyzed using four different methods: differential continuity, mean-level continuity, individual differences in continuity, and ipsative continuity. Convergent evidence pointing toward personality continuity, as opposed to change, was found. Analyses indicated small normative (i.e. mean-level) changes, moderate rank-order stability correlations, high individual-level continuity and moderate levels of ipsative (i.e. profile) stability. The only gender difference that was found is that more girls than expected decreased on self-confidence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Impairments in either “cool” or “hot” processes may represent two pathways to deficient decision-making. Whereas cool processes are associated with cognitive and rational decisions, hot processes are associated with emotional, affective, and visceral processes. In this study, 168 boys were administered a card-playing task at ages 13 and 14 years to assess response perseveration. This task was designed to initially reward playing and gradually associate playing with punishment. Measures of subjective ordering (cool processes) and neuroticism (hot processes) at age 13 years were used to examine how these individual characteristics relate to perseveration over time. A decrease in perseveration from age 13 to 14 was associated with cool processes whereas hot processes were associated with response perseveration only over time. A complementary but simultaneous assessment of cool and hot processes, such as neuropsychological and personality tests, could facilitate treatment planning of children with behavioral problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: General intelligence and personality traits from the Five-Factor model were studied as predictors of academic achievement in a large sample of Estonian schoolchildren from elementary to secondary school. A total of 3618 students (1746 boys and 1872 girls) from all over Estonia attending Grades 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 participated in this study. Intelligence, as measured by the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, was found to be the best predictor of students’ grade point average (GPA) in all grades. Among personality traits (measured by self-reports on the Estonian Big Five Questionnaire for Children in Grades 2 to 4 and by the NEO Five Factor Inventory in Grades 6 to 12), Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness correlated positively and Neuroticism correlated negatively with GPA in almost every grade. When all measured variables were entered together into a regression model, intelligence was still the strongest predictor of GPA, being followed by Agreeableness in Grades 2 to 4 and Conscientiousness in Grades 6 to 12. Interactions between predictor variables and age accounted for only a small percentage of variance in GPA, suggesting that academic achievement relies basically on the same mechanisms through the school years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Phenotypic, genetic, and environmental correlations between measured intelligence and caregiver-provided ratings of personality were examined in a sample of 4- to 6-year-old twin children (N =680 individuals). Personality ratings were factor analyzed. Five factors were extracted and labelled: agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and psychoticism. Univariate genetic analyses conducted on the same-sex pairs (101 MZ pairs and 132 same-sex DZ pairs) demonstrated that all of the personality factors had heritable components (range=31–86%). Performance and full-scale intelligence were also found to have heritable components, but verbal intelligence was better explained by environmental factors. At the phenotypic level, agreeableness and conscientiousness correlated positively with intelligence and neuroticism and psychoticism correlated negatively with intelligence. Multivariate genetic analyses revealed that some of the observed phenotypic correlations could be explained by common genetic factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although relations between children’s personality and health behaviors have been identified, previous research has relied primarily on survey assessments. The present study used behavioral observations to examine children’s (n =94, mean age=10.07years) behavioral patterns in relation to their participation in risk behaviors 1year later. Results contribute to previous reports linking specific personality traits to children’s likelihood of participation in risky behaviors. Specifically, girls’ participation in risky behavior was related to the expression of behavioral patterns associated with neuroticism, introversion, and disagreeableness, while boys participation in risk behaviors was related to behavioral patterns associated with extraversion and disagreeableness. Findings are discussed in terms of their potential for contributing to health promotion efforts aimed at identifying children most at risk for adopting unhealthy behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of the current study was to elaborate the nomological net surrounding the constructs of reactive (RA) and proactive aggression (PA). Typically examined in the context of children, the current study utilized a sample of 211 young adults to examine the relations between reactive and proactive aggression and measures of general personality and social information processing, as well as maladaptive behavioral correlates such as crime, substance use, and riskier sex. Both raw and residualized scores were examined. Using raw scores, the primary differences between RA and PA were related to Neuroticism (i.e., RA more strongly related) and externalizing behaviors (i.e., PA more strongly). The authors comment on the similarity of findings when using raw scores and the divergence of findings using residualized scores and argue for a cautious interpretation of differences based on residualized scores. The authors conclude that the role of Neuroticism warrants further exploration as a means for understanding the heterogeneity of aggressive behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of the current investigation was to examine both social behaviors (i.e., aggression, shyness-withdrawal, and prosocial tendencies) and social understanding (i.e., attitudes and responses to such behaviors in hypothetical peers) of empathic and low-empathic children. Participants were 136 children in kindergarten and grade one. Parents completed ratings of child empathy, shyness, aggression, and prosocial tendencies. Children were presented with vignettes depicting prosocial, aggressive, or shy peers, and asked questions concerning their understanding and responses towards these behaviors. Results indicated that as compared to low-empathic peers, more empathic children were reported to exhibit greater prosocial behavior and less aggression and social-withdrawal. In addition, empathic children demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding of shyness and aggression as compared to less empathic peers. These results suggest that empathic children are more socially sensitive, both in terms of their social understanding of others as well as their own social behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study examined general and romantic attachment and parenting students received in their families of origin among 401 college students who resided with an alcohol-abusing parent prior to age 16 years as compared to those who did not reside with alcohol-abusing parents. Participants completed the Children''s Report of Parent Behavior Instrument [Schludermann, E. & Schludermann, S. (1970). Children''s Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). Canada: University of Manitoba], Experiences in Close Relationships—Revised [Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. G. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350–365], Relationship Scale Questionnaire [Griffin, D. W. & Bartholomew, K. (1994). Models of the self and other: Fundamental dimensions underlying measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 430–445], and the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test [Jones, J. W. (1983). The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test: Test manual. Chicago: Camelot]. Young adults who met criteria for ACOAs reported more anxious and avoidant behavior in romantic relationships and a more fearful style of general adult attachment. Parenting behavior in one''s family of origin predicted anxious behavior in romantic relationships and a fearful overall style of attachment, whereas being an ACOA and parenting in one''s family of origin predicted avoidant behavior in romantic relationships. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study examined the reliability and validity of the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-C), a recently developed self-report measure for assessing the basic personality dimensions of energy/extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional instability, and intellect/openness in youths (Barbaranelli, Caprara, Rabasca, & Pastorelli, 2003). A sample of adolescents (N =222) completed the BFQ-C, the Junior version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results showed that the BFQ-C had a clear-cut factor structure, good internal consistency, and sufficient validity as evidenced through its associations with the JEPQ and the measure of strengths and difficulties. An additional finding was that there was little overlap between children’s and parents’ Big Five personality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Personality disorders occur in a social context: individuals with these disorders face more adversities and receive less social support, frequently since childhood. This contribution reviews what factors in general determine the experiences that children have, the ways in which these experiences may have an impact on development and some of the pitfalls in interpreting research in this area, before considering current knowledge on the childhoods of adults with personality disorder. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This is a preliminary report on the characteristics, experiences, and behavior of 88 adolescent, primarily African-American, children of incarcerated urban addict mothers that examines the association of age, gender, and risk factor profiles with the children''s adjustment status defined in terms of self-reported questionnaire information and selected personality/behavioral assessment inventories. In spite of the existence of adverse circumstances in their lives, including the incarceration of their substance-abusing mothers, results revealed that the majority of these children were neither especially deviant nor maladjusted, all but a small percentage having successfully avoided substance abuse and the adoption of a deviant lifestyle at this point in their development. In most cases, mother surrogates (usually a grandmother or other family member) had for many years functioned as primary caregivers of the children prior to the incarceration of their birth mothers, which may have attenuated the negative impact ordinarily associated with a mother''s absence from the home. However, there was a general indication of problematic school behavior and vulnerability to deviant peer influences that should be addressed in efforts aimed at preventing the escalation of deviant activity in such children. Also, in almost all cases, there was a readily observable need for the provision of caseworker support services to the current caregivers of the children. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Accumulating research evidence suggests that perfectionism is a multidimensional personality characteristic with both adaptive and maladaptive dimensions. Despite the bulk of research on linking maladaptive perfectionism with obsessive–compulsive symptoms among adults, such research among children has been limited, as well as research on the adaptive part of perfectionism. Therefore, the present study examines in 193 adolescents (66.5% girls; 11–19 years old) the relation between child rated obsessive–compulsive symptoms and both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism dimensions, measured from a traditional perspective (Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; child rated), as well as a Five-Factor Model personality perspective (Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children and Dimensional Personality Symptom Item Pool; mother rated). The results show that specific childhood obsessive–compulsive symptoms are more related to perfectionism compared to others. Further, obsessive–compulsive symptoms are related to perfectionism, especially the maladaptive dimensions. Implications for including (maladaptive) personality measures in the assessment of perfectionism and obsessive–compulsive symptoms will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]