Inhibited and Aggressive Preschool Children at 23 Years of Age: Personality and Social Transitions into Adulthood

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2008-07, Vol.44 (4), p.997-1011
• Main Authors: Asendorpf, Jens B, Denissen, Jaap J. A, van Aken, Marcel A. G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adolescent; Adult; Adult. Elderly; Adulthood; Adults; Aggression; Aggression - psychology; Aggressiveness; At Risk Persons; Behavior Problems; Biological and medical sciences; Career Choice; Case studies; Child; Child Behavior; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Cognitive development; Comparative Analysis; Crime - psychology; Delinquency; Developmental psychology; Emotions; Female; Foreign Countries; Friends - psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender Differences; Germany; Human; Humans; Infancy; Inhibition; Inhibition (Personality); Inhibition (Psychology); Internal-External Control; Interpersonal Relations; Interpersonal Relationships; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Personality; Personality Assessment; Personality Development; Personality Traits; Preschool Children; Profiles; Psychological factors; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychosocial Development; Q-Sort; Self Concept; Shyness; Social Adjustment; Social behaviour; Social Influences; Social Interaction; Social Support; Social values; Socialization; Socioeconomic Influences; Studies; Timidity; Underachievement; Young Adults
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.997

In a 19-year longitudinal study, the 15% most inhibited and the 15% most aggressive children at ages 4-6 years were followed up until age 23 years and were compared with controls who were below average in preschool inhibition or aggressiveness. As adults, inhibited boys and girls were judged as inhibited by their parents and showed a delay in establishing a first stable partnership and finding a first full-time job. However, only the upper 8% in terms of inhibition tended to show internalizing problems, including self-rated inhibition. Aggressive boys showed an externalizing personality profile in the parental and self-judgments, were educational and occupational underachievers, and showed a higher adult delinquency rate than the controls, even after sex and socioeconomic status were controlled. The results suggest delayed social transitions without internalizing problems for most male and female inhibited children and a significant long-term risk of an externalizing profile for aggressive children.