Denis Bratko

Perceptions of Aging across 26 Cultures and their Culture-Level Associates

College students (N=3,435) in 26 cultures reported their perceptions of age-related changes in physical, cognitive, and socioemotional areas of functioning and rated societal views of aging within their culture. There was widespread cross-cultural consensus regarding the expected direction of aging trajectories with (a) perceived declines in societal views of aging, physical attractiveness, the ability to perform everyday tasks, and new learning; (b) perceived increases in wisdom, knowledge, and received respect; and (c) perceived stability in family authority and life satisfaction. Cross-cultural variations in aging perceptions were associated with culture-level indicators of population aging, education levels, values, and national character stereotypes. These associations were stronger for societal views on aging and perceptions of socioemotional changes than for perceptions of physical and cognitive changes. A consideration of culture-level variables also suggested that previously reported differences in aging perceptions between Asian and Western countries may be related to differences in population structure.

The Five-Factor Personality Inventory: Cross-Cultural Generalizability across 13 Countries

In the present study, we investigated the structural invariance of the Five‐Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) across a variety of cultures. Self‐report data sets from ten European and three non‐European countries were available, representing the Germanic (Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands, USA), Romance (Italy, Spain), and Slavic branches (Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia) of the Indo‐European languages, as well as the Semito‐Hamitic (Israel) and Altaic (Hungary, Japan) language families. Each data set was subjected to principal component analysis, followed by varimax rotation and orthogonal Procrustes rotation to optimal agreement with (i) the Dutch normative structure and (ii) an American large‐sample structure. Three criteria (scree test, internal consistency reliabilities of the varimax‐rotated components, and parallel analysis) were used to establish the number of factors to be retained for rotation. Clear five‐factor structures were found in all samples except in the smallest one (USA, N = 97). Internal consistency reliabilities of the five components were generally good and high congruence was found between each sample structure and both reference structures. More than 80% of the items were equally stable within each country. Based on the results, an international FFPI reference structure is proposed. This reference structure can facilitate standardized communications about Big Five scores across research programmes. Copyright

Pet Ownership, Type of Pet and Socio-Emotional Development of School Children

The current study was designed to compare the socio-emotional characteristics of school children pet owners and children without pets and to examine whether the type of pet is a variable which can differentiate the socio-emotional development of their owners. The subjects, 425 girls and 401 boys, were students of fourth (n=265), sixth (n=295) and eighth (n=266) grade of elementary schools from the metropolitan area of Zagreb, Croatia. Socio-emotional variables assessed in the study were: child attachment to pet, child prosocial orientation, empathy, loneliness, perception of family climate and social anxiety. The data showed that 54.4% of children in the sample were pet owners (26.2% of children in the study had a dog, 9.2% had a cat, and 19.0% had some other pet). In order to answer the main research question, several analyses of variance (gender by grade by pet ownership) were computed for each criterion of socio-emotional development. Significant main effects were obtained for empathy, prosocial orientation and pet attachment, with dog owners being more empathic and prosocially oriented than non-owners, and dog owners and cat owners being more attached to their pets than owners of other kinds of pets. Additional analyses of variance were computed in order to examine the role of attachment in the socio-emotional functioning of the children. Subjects were divided in three sub-groups: non-owners, lower then average attached owners, and higher than average attached owners. Children who scored higher than average on the attachment to pets scale showed significantly higher scores on the empathy and prosocial orientation scales than non-owners and children who scored lower than average on the attachment to pets scale. It was also found that children with higher levels of attachment to pets rated their family climate significantly better than children who had lower attachment to pets.

Heritability of Personality : A Meta-Analysis of Behavior Genetic Studies

The aim of this meta-analysis was to systematize available findings in the field of personality heritability and test for possible moderator effects of study design, type of personality model, and gender on heritability estimates. Study eligibility criteria were: personality model, behavior genetic study design, self-reported data, essential statistical indicators, and independent samples. A total of 134 primary studies with 190 potentially independent effect sizes were identified. After exclusion of studies that did not meet inclusion criteria and/or met 1 of the exclusion criteria, the final sample included 62 independent effect sizes, representing more than 100,000 participants of both genders and all ages. Data analyses were performed using the random-effects model, software program R package metafor. The average effect size was .40, indicating that 40% of individual differences in personality were due to genetic, while 60% are due to environmental influences. After correction for possible publication bias the conclusion was unaltered. Additional analyses showed that personality model and gender were not significant moderators of personality heritability estimate, while study design was a significant moderator with twin studies showing higher estimates, .47, compared to family and adoption studies, .22. Personality model also was not a significant moderator of heritability estimates for neuroticism or extraversion, 2 personality traits contained in most personality trait theories and/or models. This study is the first to empirically test and confirm moderator effect of study design on heritability estimates in the field of personality. Limitations of the study, as well as suggestion for future studies, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Trait Emotional Intelligence

Numerous models of emotional intelligence (EI) have proposed the existence of hitherto undiscovered mental abilities, competencies, and skills. The theory of trait emotional intelligence suggests that the content domains of these models invariably contain permutations of personality traits. The two studies in this article examine the heritability of trait EI scores with a view to demonstrating empirically that the construct has a similar level of genetic influence as other personality traits. Study 1 was a family design of 133 high-school students and their parents. Regressions of offspring on midparent scores suggested median upper-limit heritability estimates of .18 at facet level, .25 at factor level, and .32 at the global trait EI level. Study 2 was a twin design (213 pairs of monozygotic [MZ] twins and 103 pairs of dizygotic [DZ] twins). It yielded median heritabilities of .42 for the facets, .44 for the factors, and .42 for global trait EI. Overall, our findings are in accordance with studies of the major personality dimensions and provide further empirical support for the conceptualization of EI as a personality trait.

Stereotypes of Age Differences in Personality Traits: Universal and Accurate?

Age trajectories for personality traits are known to be similar across cultures. To address whether stereotypes of age groups reflect these age-related changes in personality, we asked participants in 26 countries (N = 3,323) to rate typical adolescents, adults, and old persons in their own country. Raters across nations tended to share similar beliefs about different age groups; adolescents were seen as impulsive, rebellious, undisciplined, preferring excitement and novelty, whereas old people were consistently considered lower on impulsivity, activity, antagonism, and Openness. These consensual age group stereotypes correlated strongly with published age differences on the five major dimensions of personality and most of 30 specific traits, using as criteria of accuracy both self-reports and observer ratings, different survey methodologies, and data from up to 50 nations. However, personal stereotypes were considerably less accurate, and consensual stereotypes tended to exaggerate differences across age groups.

Relations of Masculinity and Femininity with Personality Dimensions of the Five-Factor Model

The aim of this study was to examine therelations of masculinity and femininity with five-factorpersonality dimensions in Croatian adolescents. Sampleconsisted of 464 high school graduates, all of them Caucasian, and approximately 90% Croatian.Results were analyzed by multiple regression procedureusing masculinity, femininity, gender, and theirinteractions as independent variables. All three maineffects were found to be statistically significant,with no significant interactions. Masculinitycontributes positively to extraversion andconscientiousness, and negatively to neuroticism andagreeableness, while femininity shows strong positive relationshipwith agreeableness, and weak positive relationships withthe other four dimensions. Results are discussed interms of four proposed models of the relation between gender role orientation and psychologicalhealth.

Gender Stereotypes of Personality: Universal and Accurate?

Numerous studies have documented subtle but consistent sex differences in self-reports and observer-ratings of five-factor personality traits, and such effects were found to show well-defined developmental trajectories and remarkable similarity across nations. In contrast, very little is known about perceived gender differences in five-factor traits in spite of their potential implications for gender biases at the interpersonal and societal level. In particular, it is not clear how perceived gender differences in five-factor personality vary across age groups and national contexts and to what extent they accurately reflect assessed sex differences in personality. To address these questions, we analyzed responses from 3,323 individuals across 26 nations (mean age = 22.3 years, 31% male) who were asked to rate the five-factor personality traits of typical men or women in three age groups (adolescent, adult, and older adult) in their respective nations. Raters perceived women as slightly higher in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness as well as some aspects of extraversion and neuroticism. Perceived gender differences were fairly consistent across nations and target age groups and mapped closely onto assessed sex differences in self- and observer-rated personality. Associations between the average size of perceived gender differences and national variations in sociodemographic characteristics, value systems, or gender equality did not reach statistical significance. Findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of gender stereotypes of personality and suggest that perceptions of actual sex differences may play a more important role than culturally based gender roles and socialization processes.

Twin study of verbal and spatial abilities

Abstract Verbal and spatial abilities are recognized as highly heritable specific cognitive abilities. The purpose of this study was to perform the first behavioral genetic analysis of these abilities in a Croatian sample. A total of 160 same-sex twin pairs took part in the investigation. Their ages ranged from 15 to 19 years. Pairs with doubtful zygosity were excluded from the analysis, so the final analysis was carried out on 71 monozygotic (35 male and 36 female) and 78 dizygotic (43 male and 35 female) twin pairs. The twins were tested in small groups with four tests designed to measure two factors of verbal abilities (vocabulary and word fluency) and two factors of spatial abilities (spatial visualization and spatial orientation). For each of the tests substantial heritable variation was found. Respectively, intraclass correlations for monozygotic and dizygotic twins were 0.75 and 0.44 for visualization, 0.58 and 0.33 for spatial orientation, 0.67 and 0.41 for word fluency, and 0.74 and 0.41 for vocabulary. In addition, data were compared with several univariate LISREL models. Univariate model fitting resulted in heritability estimates of 63, 49, 52 and 61% for visualization, spatial orientation, word fluency and vocabulary, respectively.

The inaccuracy of national character stereotypes

Consensual stereotypes of some groups are relatively accurate, whereas others are not. Previous work suggesting that national character stereotypes are inaccurate has been criticized on several grounds. In this article we (a) provide arguments for the validity of assessed national mean trait levels as criteria for evaluating stereotype accuracy; and (b) report new data on national character in 26 cultures from descriptions (N=3,323) of the typical male or female adolescent, adult, or old person in each. The average ratings were internally consistent and converged with independent stereotypes of the typical culture member, but were weakly related to objective assessments of personality. We argue that this conclusion is consistent with the broader literature on the inaccuracy of national character stereotypes.