Karla Van Leeuwen

Five types of personality continuity in childhood and adolescence.

This study examines 5 types of personality continuity--structural, mean-level, individual-level, differential, and ipsative--in a representative population (N=498) and a twin and sibling sample (N=548) of children and adolescents. Parents described their children on 2 successive occasions with a 36-month interval using the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (I. Mervielde & F. De Fruyt, 1999). There was evidence for structural continuity in the 2 samples, and personality was shown to be largely differentially stable. A large percentage had a stable trait profile indicative of ipsative stability, and mean-level personality changes were generally small in magnitude. Continuity findings were explained mainly by genetic and nonshared environmental factors.

The Structure of Maladaptive Personality Traits in Childhood: A Step Toward an Integrative Developmental Perspective for DSM-V

The present study describes the construction of a taxonomy of trait-related symptoms in childhood, the Dimensional Personality Symptom Item Pool (DIPSI), and examines the replicability of the taxonomys higher order structure across maternal ratings of referred (N = 205) and nonreferred (N = 242) children and self-ratings of adolescents (N = 453). The DIPSIs 4 higher order factors--that is, Emotional Instability, Disagreeableness, Introversion, and Compulsivity--showed clear correspondence with the dimensions of personality pathology found in adulthood (Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire; W. J. Livesley, 1990; Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality; L. A. Clark, 1993). These 4 factors can be further organized into 2 superfactors, representing Internalizing and Externalizing Traits, demonstrating empirical and conceptual relationships with psychopathology models in childhood and adulthood. The implications for the assessment and conceptualization of early trait pathology are discussed in the context of an integrative developmental perspective on the construction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition.

Child Personality and Parental Behavior as Moderators of Problem Behavior: Variable- and Person-Centered Approaches

Parenting x Child Personality interactions in predicting child externalizing and internalizing behavior were investigated in a variable-centered study and a person-centered study. The variable-centered study used data from a 3-year longitudinal study of 600 children 7 to 15 years old at Time 1 and 512 children 10 to 18 years old at Time 2. Parents rated child personality (five factor model), negative control, positive parenting, and child problem behavior, whereas children rated parental behavior. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses showed significant Parenting x Child Personality (benevolence and conscientiousness) interactions, principally for externalizing behavior. The interactions were largely replicable across informants and across time. The person-centered study, which classified participants into 3 types, showed that negative parental control was more related to externalizing behavior for undercontrollers than for resilients. Negative parental control enhanced internalizing behavior for overcontrollers.

Assessing and Interpreting Personality Change and Continuity in Patients Treated for Major Depression.

Structural, mean- and individual-level, differential, and ipsative personality continuity were examined in 599 patients treated for major depression assigned to 1 of 6 forms of a 6-month pharmaco-psychotherapy program. Covariation among traits from the Five Factor model remained invariant across treatment, and patients described themselves as slightly more extraverted, open to experience, agreeable and conscientious, and substantially more emotional stable after treatment. Trait changes were only to a small extent explained by changes in depression severity. There was evidence for differential, individual-level, and ipsative stability, with stable personality profiles in terms of shape and to a lesser extent in terms of scatter and elevation. Traits remain relatively stable, except for emotional stability, despite the depressive state and the psychopharmacological interventions.

Some psychometric properties of the Ghent Parental Behavior Scale

Summary: The theoretical basis of the Ghent Parental Behavior Questionnaire (GPBS) originates from social-learning theories. Parents rate the frequency of their behavior toward a target child between 8 and 14 years old, and children rate the behavior of their parents. Confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for a solid factor structure in different samples. Nine scales are distinguished: Positive parenting, Monitoring, Rules, Discipline, Inconsistent discipline, Harsh punishment, Ignoring, Material rewarding, and Autonomy. It is also feasible to distinguish two second-order factors: Support and Negative control. The internal consistency is acceptable to good. Correlations between ratings of parents and children are positive and significant. We also find evidence for the assumption that positive parenting is negatively associated with problem behavior and stress in parenting, and, in addition, that inadequate parenting is positively related to problem behavior and stress in parenting.

The consistency of personality type classification across samples and five‐factor measures

Caspi (1998), Asendorpf and Van Aken (1999), and Asendorpf et al. (2001) described three personality types derived from Q‐factor analysis of Q‐sorts or cluster analysis of multiple trait ratings. The types were labelled as resilients, undercontrollers, and overcontrollers and they were described in terms of averaged Five‐Factor Model (FFM) scores. The present study aimed to investigate the consistency and replicability of these prototypes across different FFM measures (i.e. HiPIC and NEO PI‐R) and ages (children and adolescents). In addition, the stability of prototype classification across a 3 year interval was examined. The types described by Caspi and Asendorpf and colleagues were only partially replicable and consistent across ages starting from HiPIC ratings, but not for NEO‐PI‐R ratings. Prototype classification was not stable across a 3 year interval. It is concluded that cluster replicability, consistency, and stability depend on sample characteristics and the multiple trait measures, although these difficulties do not necessarily limit the usefulness of the types for applied purposes. Copyright

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a Community Sample of Young Children in Flanders

This study investigates some psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a brief measure for screening behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents. In two independent Flemish community samples of young children, parents (Sample 1: N = 532; Sample 2: N = 1086) and teachers (Sample 1: N = 512; Sample 2: N = 1049) of children aged 4-8 completed all items of the SDQ. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for both a three- and a five-factor solution. Internal consistency and interrater reliability of the different SDQ scales were found to be satisfactory, except for the Conduct problems and the Peer problems scales. A good construct validity with the subscales of the well-established Child Behavior Checklist was found. A 2 (gender) × 2 (age groups: 4-5 and 6-7 years) ANOVA indicated that more hyperactivity/inattention problems and more internalizing behavior was reported for the oldest age group. ...

A Longitudinal Study of the Utility of the Resilient, Overcontrolled, and Undercontrolled Personality Types as Predictors of Children's and Adolescents' Problem Behaviour.

This study addresses the utility of the resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled personality prototypes for predicting children’s and adolescents’ problem behaviour in a longitudinal general population sample (N 1/4 491). Both parents and one child participated in the study at two measurement occasions separated by a 3-year interval. The major objective was to examine whether the prototypes predict different clinical patterns, as reflected by mean-level differences on the internalising and the externalising dimensions of the CBCL and the YSR. Prototype membership was derived from cluster analysing parental ratings of personality and adolescent self-rated personality. All three types could only be recovered from the adolescent self-ratings of personality. Although the prototypes showed clear differential relationships with measures of internalising and externalising problem behaviour, hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that personality types do not predict adolescent problem behaviour beyond what is predicted by personality dimensions.

Maladaptive Personality Traits and Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence: The Moderating Effect of Parenting

This study examines child and adolescent psychopathology from a maladaptive trait perspective, incorporating both parental and child ratings of parenting as a moderator of the personality-psychopathology association. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were conducted on a combined sample of referred and nonreferred children and adolescents (N=862, parental ratings of parenting and N=396, child ratings of parenting). The results indicated positive main effects of maladaptive traits on externalizing and internalizing problems, and positive main effects of parental negative control on externalizing problems. Significant interactions were found for Disagreeableness and Emotional Instability with parental Negative Control and for Disagreeableness x Positive Parenting in explaining externalizing problems. The discussion focuses on the contribution of these findings to a better understanding of the trait-psychopathology relationship at young age.

Extending the spectrum idea: Child personality, parenting and psychopathology

The spectrum hypothesis, postulating that differences between referred and non‐referred samples are confined to mean level differences, is elaborated by exploring whether the covariation between child problem behaviour and its predictors—child personality and parenting, rated by mothers—is similar in referred (Nu2009=u2009205) and non‐referred (Nu2009=u2009596) children and whether personality by parenting interactions can be generalized across samples. Results showed significant mean level differences for all the variables. Both personality and parenting explained problem behaviour, with some differences in strength of the effects across samples. Parenting by personality interactions mainly predicted externalizing behaviour, with benevolence and conscientiousness as the most prominent moderators. Results confirmed that moderators of problem behaviour operate similarly in the two samples, thus corroborating the spectrum hypothesis. Copyright