Resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled personality prototypes in childhood: replicability, predictive power, and the trait-type issue.
In a longitudinal study, Q-sort patterns of German preschool children were analyzed for personality prototypes and related to developmental outcomes up to age 12. Q-factor analyses confirmed 3 prototypic patterns that showed a high continuity and cross-judge consistency; were similar to those found for North American, Dutch, and Icelandic children; and can be interpreted as resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled. Relations reported by R. W. Robins, O. P. John, A. Caspi, T. E. Moffitt, & M. Stouthamer-Loeber (1996) between these 3 patterns and the Big Five were fully replicated. Growth curve analyses showed that the 3 patterns predicted important developmental outcomes in both the social and the cognitive domains. Evidence was found for both traits and types: A continuous dimension of resiliency bifurcates in its lower part into two relatively discrete personality types, overcontrollers and undercontrollers.
Asendorpf
J B
JB
Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. asen@rz.hu-berlin.de
van Aken
M A
MA
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010553:Personality Development; D002666:Psychology, Child; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires