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NOTE: FOR BETTER LAYOUT OPTIONS, SEE THE PREREGISTRATION TEMPLATE FOR SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS ATTACHED Personality researchers describe the self as a multi-layered construct with two interconnected layers. The having side of personality includes dispositional personality traits, the doing side of personality, the surface layer, refers to individuals´ actions to construct a unique identity by making motivated choices, planning their lives, and striving for certain goals (Cantor, 1990; Luyckx et al., 2014; McAdams et al., 2015). Identity has been conceptualized by Luyckx et al. (2014) in a dimensional model which consists of identity commitment and exploration. Commitment is captured by (1) commitment making; the degree to which individuals adhere to a set of choices, and 2) identification with commitment, the extent to which these commitments become integrated in the sense of self. Exploration is distinguished by 3) exploration in breadth: the extent to which individuals explore various alternatives before committing to one option, 4) exploration in depth; the evaluation of the current commitments and 5) ruminative exploration; delaying identity development as individuals are not able to commit among the limitless number of opportunities (Klimstra, 2013; Luyckx et al., 2014). Identity impairment - an unsuccessful mastery of commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth and exploration in depth - is put forward as a central criterion in clinical populations leading to personality disorders (Bogaerts et al., 2021; Tackett et al., 2009). But also in non-clinical populations, identity explorations are a salient feature (Arnett, 2014). Specifically, emerging adulthood, the life period between 18 and 29 years, marks an important time for the formation of one´s identity as many developmental challenges need to be mastered (Arnett et al., 2014). However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have focused on the reciprocal relations between identity and personality pathology in community samples of emerging adults (Vizgaitis & Lenzenweger, 2022). Personality pathology is described as “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment” in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 645). We capture personality pathology with the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD), a dimensional approach to personality disorders, that takes into account several of the critics on the classical categorical approach. The AMPD captures the following five maladaptive extremes of the Big Five personality traits: 1) Negative Affectivity; the tendency to experience negative emotions, 2) Detachment; introversion, social isolation, and anhedonia, 3) Antagonism; the tendency for aggression, dominance, and grandiosity, 4) Disinhibition; impulsivity and sensation seeking and 5) Psychoticism; a disconnection from reality and a tendency for illogical thought patterns (Pollock et al., 2016; Widiger & McCabe, 2020). By using a cross-lagged design, the present study aims to investigate the bidirectional longitudinal relations between personality pathology dimensions and identity dimensions during emerging adulthood covering a period of 7 years. A cross-lagged design allows to study the stability of identity dimensions and personality pathology dimensions as well as cross-paths between identity and personality pathology. Second, we will investigate the strength of effect of both cross-lagged pathways (identity  personality pathology or personality pathology  identity). As there is not enough research on the magnitude of identity and personality pathology on each other, this research question will be explorative.

NOTE: FOR BETTER LAYOUT OPTIONS, SEE THE PREREGISTRATION TEMPLATE FOR SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS ATTACHED For emerging adults, social media plays a crucial role in their daily life. Contemporary literature emphasizes the link between higher use of social media and an increased prevalence of maladaptive mental health outcomes. The growing body of research on predicting social media use is characterized by mixed results and inconclusive debates. Currently, interest emerges about whether personality pathology can predict social media use. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the associations between pathological personality domains of the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5), measured in 2015, and social media self-control failure as well as social media use, measured three years later.

We aim to investigate the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve hot or cold executive functions (EFs) in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI), and to test whether intervention characteristics (focus on hot or cold EFs, number of sessions, parent participation), participant characteristics (age, TBI or ABI), time of assessment and quality of the study moderate the effectiveness of interventions.

Early Life Stress and Child Behavior Problems: Do Child Temperament and Executive Functioning Promote Resilience?

This longitudinal study has two aims: (1) Investigate the impact of COVID-19 on behavior problems of children with ASD as compared to children from the general population. (2) Examine to what extent parental mental health and social connectedness are related to resilience of children with ASD during COVID-19.

The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and cognitive dysregulation, associated with severe psychopathology, and poor adjustment. While originally developed with the Child Behavior Checklist, more recently the DP has also been defined on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), mostly with a 5-item, but also a 15-item, SDQ-DP measure. This study evaluated the SDQ-DP by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity. Different SDQ-DP operationalizations were compared. In a United States longitudinal community sample (N = 768), a bifactor model consisting of a general Dysregulation factor and three specific factors of Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, and Hyperactivity-Inattention fitted best, across three different developmental periods (early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence) and across three different reporters (parents, teachers, and youth). Measurement invariance across reporter, gender, and developmental period was demonstrated. These findings indicate that the SDQ-DP, like the CBCL-DP, reflects a broad syndrome of dysregulation that exists in addition to specific syndromes of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity-inattention. SDQ-DP bifactor scores were strongly related with scores on the 5- and 15-item SDQ-DP measures and similarly concurrently associated with two markers of self-regulation, ego-resiliency and effortful control, and longitudinally with antisocial behavior and disciplinary measures. As reliability, validity, and stability was weaker for the SDQ-DP 5-item measure, use of all 15 items is recommended. Advantages of using a bifactor approach are discussed as well as the potential of the SDQ-DP as an easy screening measure of children at risk for developing serious psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record

Ecological theories emphasize associations between children and elements within their family system, such as the marital relationship. Within a developmental perspective, we longitudinally examined (a) dynamic associations between marital stress and children's externalizing behavior, (b) mediation of these associations by parental sense of competence, and (c) the extent to which associations are similar for mothers and fathers. The sample consisted of 369 two-parent families (46.1% boys; Mage at Time 1 = 7.70 years; 368 mothers, 355 fathers). Marital stress related to having a child, children's externalizing behavior, and perceived parental competence were assessed three times across 8 years. Multigroup analyses were used to examine models for both parents simultaneously and test for similarity in associations across spouses. A bivariate latent growth model indicated positive associated change between marital stress and externalizing behavior, supporting the idea of codevelopment. The cross-lagged panel model revealed a reciprocal relation between marital stress and perceived parental competence across a time interval of 6 years. Additionally, two elicitation effects appeared during adolescence, showing that parents who reported higher externalizing problems in early adolescence reported more marital stress and a lower sense of competence two years later. Similar associations were found for mothers and fathers. Overall, this study indicates that marital stress and externalizing behavior codevelop over time and supports literature on developmental differences regarding interrelations between subsystems and individuals within the family system. (PsycINFO Database Record

The general factor of psychopathology (GP, or p factor) and the Dysregulation Profile (DP) are two conceptually similar, but independently developed approaches to understand psychopathology. GP and DP models and their stability, antecedents and outcomes are studied in a longitudinal sample of 1073 children (49.8% female). GP and DP models were estimated at ages 8 and 14 years using the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self Report (YSR). Early childhood antecedents and adolescent outcomes were derived using a multi-method multi-informant approach. Results showed that the general GP and DP had similar key symptoms and were similarly related to early-childhood antecedents (e.g., lower effortful control, higher maternal depression) and adolescent outcomes (e.g., reduced academic functioning, poorer mental health). This study demonstrates that GP and DP are highly similar constructs in middle childhood and adolescence, both describing a general vulnerability for psychopathology with (emotional) dysregulation at its core. Scientific integration of these approaches could lead to a better understanding of the structure, antecedents and outcomes of psychopathology.

Negative thinking is seen as an important mediating factor in the development of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), a syndrome encompassing debilitating symptoms of grief. No measure of specific grief related cognitions is available yet. Based on an adult measure of negative thinking in adults we developed a questionnaire for children, the Grief Cognitions Questionnaire for Children (GCQ-C). This study investigated several psychometric properties of the GCQ-C. Both reliability and validity were investigated in this study, in which hundred fifty-one children and adolescents (aged 8–18 years) participated. Findings showed that items of the GCQ-C represented one underlying dimension. Furthermore, the internal consistency and temporal stability were found to be adequate. Third, the findings supported the concurrent validity (e.g., significant positive correlations with self-report indices of PGD, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder), convergent and divergent validity of the GCQ-C. This study provides further evidence for the importance of negative thinking in PGD in children and adolescents.

This study examined trajectories of aggression and rule breaking during the transition from childhood to adolescence (ages 9–15), and determined whether these trajectories were predicted by lower order personality facets, overreactive parenting, and their interaction. At three time points separated by 2-year intervals, mothers and fathers reported on their children's aggression and rule breaking (N = 290, M age = 8.8 years at Time 1). At Time 1, parents reported on their children's personality traits and their own overreactivity. Growth mixture modeling identified three aggression trajectories (low decreasing, high decreasing, and high increasing) and two rule-breaking trajectories (low and high). Lower optimism and compliance and higher energy predicted trajectories for both aggression and rule breaking, whereas higher expressiveness and irritability and lower orderliness and perseverance were unique risk factors for increasing aggression into adolescence. Lower concentration was a unique risk factor for increasing rule breaking. Parental overreactivity predicted higher trajectories of aggression but not rule breaking. Only two Trait × Overreactivity interactions were found. Our results indicate that personality facets could differentiate children at risk for different developmental trajectories of aggression and rule breaking.

This study examined separate developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms from childhood to adolescence (9–15 years) in a community-based sample (N= 290). At three measurement points, mothers and fathers reported on their children's anxious and depressive symptoms, and at Time 1 they reported on lower order child personality facets and on their parenting. By means of growth mixture modeling, three developmental trajectories were identified for anxious symptoms: steady low (82%), moderate increasing–decreasing (5.9%), and high declining groups (12.1%). For depressive symptoms, two developmental trajectories were found: steady low (94.1%) and moderate increasing groups (5.9%). Higher shyness, irritability, and altruism predicted membership in more problematic anxious and depressive groups. The personality facets energy, optimism, compliance, and anxiety were unique predictors for class membership for anxious symptoms, and the effects of shyness, irritability, and compliance were moderated by overreactive parenting. Shyness and irritability increased the probability of following the moderate increasing–decreasing anxiety trajectory, but only in the context of high or average levels of overreactive parenting. Compliance increased the probability of following the moderate increasing–decreasing and high decreasing trajectories in the context of high overreactive parenting. Our results indicate that childhood personality facets differentiate trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms in theoretically compelling ways.

Objective The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of Big Five personality traits in short and long term effectiveness of MultiSystemic Therapy (MST) for serious and persistent juvenile delinquents. Method Data of a randomized controlled trial ( N = 256) were used to examine the research question. Results Extraversion, Emotional Stability and Openness did not moderate short term effectiveness of MST, but Conscientiousness and Agreeableness did: MST was most effective for highly conscientious and highly agreeable juvenile delinquents. Personality did not moderate the effectiveness of MST on aggression or the long-term effectiveness of MST. Conclusion This study shows the importance of personality traits for short-term treatment outcomes, effectiveness of MST differs for high/low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness.

This study examined the prospective relationship between childhood Big Five personality characteristics and perceived parenting in adolescence. In addition, we investigated whether this relationship was mediated by parental sense of competence, and whether associations were different for mothers and fathers. For 274 children, teachers reported on children’s Big Five personality characteristics at Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their sense of competence at Time 2, and the children (who had now become adolescents) rated their parents’ warmth, overreactivity and psychological control at Time 3. Mediation analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. No differences in associations were found for perceived parenting of mothers and fathers. This study demonstrates that child personality in late childhood is significantly related to perceived parental warmth, overreactivity and psychological control in adolescence. In addition, parental sense of competence mediates the relationship between child conscientiousness and perceived parental warmth, overreactivity and psychological control.

Recently, a phenotype of severe dysregulation, the Dysregulation Profile (DP), has been identified. DP consists of elevated scores on the Anxious/Depressed (AD), Aggressive Behavior (AGG) and Attention Problems (AP) scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF), or Youth Self Report (YSR). A drawback in current research is that DP has been conceptualized and operationalized in different manners and research on the factor structure of DP is lacking. Therefore, we examined the factor structure of DP across multiple reporters, measurement invariance across gender, parents, and time, as well as links between DP and self-harm and suicidal ideation. Data from a large community sample were used (N = 697), covering middle childhood (Mage = 7.90, (SD = 1.16) and adolescence (Mage = 13.93, SD = 1.14). Mothers, fathers, teachers, and youth themselves reported on children’s emotional and behavioral problems using the CBCL, TRF, and YSR. Results indicated that in middle childhood and in adolescence, a bifactor model with a general factor of Dysregulation alongside three specific factors of AD, AGG, and AP fitted best, compared to a second-order or one-factor model. The model showed good fit for mother, father, teacher, and youth reports and showed invariance across gender, parents and time. Youth, mother, and father reported Dysregulation was uniquely and positively related to adolescent-reported self-harm and suicidal ideation. The DP is best conceptualized as a broad dysregulation syndrome, which exists over and above anxiety/depression, aggression, and attention problems as specific problems. The bifactor model of DP explains the uniqueness and interrelatedness of these behavioral problems and can help explaining shared and non-shared etiology factors. The exclusive link between the general dysregulation factor and adolescents’ self-harm and suicidal ideation further established the clinical relevance of the bifactor model.

The aim of this study was to determine whether two risk factors that are frequently selected as targets for prevention and intervention purposes—involvement with deviant peers and parent–adolescent relationship quality—are associated with delinquent behavior in the same way in a juvenile general population sample ( n = 88) as in a juvenile offender sample ( n = 85). Information on delinquency and the quality of parent–adolescent relationship was obtained from adolescents and parents. The results of path analyses showed that relations between poor parent–adolescent relationship quality, involvement with deviant peers, and delinquency depended on whose point of view is used (adolescent or parent) and which sample is used (general population or delinquent sample). These findings indicate that caution is warranted when theories based on research with community samples are used for development of intervention programs for juvenile delinquents.