title: Relationships: commentary. Personality, relationships, and behavior problems: it's hard to be disagreeable.
abstract: Low agreeableness is defined and discussed. Disagreeable youth are antagonistic, disputatious, and uncooperative. The low agreeable share two common problems: behavior troubles and interpersonal troubles. A cascade model is suggested whereby initial modest difficulties follow a progressively accelerating trajectory. The cascade begins with temperamental difficultness, manifest in uncooperativeness and poor self-control. These traits elicit negativity, giving rise to relationship troubles that interfere with socialization and isolate these children from good-tempered peers. Behavior problems and coercive interaction strategies combine to exacerbate disagreeable inclinations that tend to worsen adjustment and interpersonal difficulties.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laursen
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richmond
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010551:Personality; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior