Childhood Personality Foreshadows Adult Personality and Life Outcomes Two Decades Later

In a normative sample of 205 children ages 8–12, tracked into adulthood, we examined the predictive links between four childhood personality traits—Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgency, and Agreeableness—and adult personality and adaptation 20 years later. Personality demonstrate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality 2003-12, Vol.71 (6), p.1145-1170
Main Authors: Shiner, Rebecca L., Masten, Ann S., Roberts, Jennifer M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Adaptive behaviour
Adult
Adulthood
Anti-social behaviour
Behavioural psychology
Child
Childhood
Developmental psychology
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Interpersonal relations
Life satisfaction
Male
Motivation
Personality
Personality Development
Personality Inventory
Personality traits
Predictors
Psychology
Psychology, Child
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In a normative sample of 205 children ages 8–12, tracked into adulthood, we examined the predictive links between four childhood personality traits—Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgency, and Agreeableness—and adult personality and adaptation 20 years later. Personality demonstrated modest to moderate continuity over those two decades and showed significant predictive validity for success in adult life, including academic attainment, work competence, rule‐abiding versus antisocial conduct, and romantic and friend relationships. Results indicated that personality shows coherent patterns over time in terms of both stability and linkages to adaptive behavior. Explicating the processes underlying such patterns is the next frontier for a truly developmental science of personality.
ISSN:0022-3506
1467-6494
DOI:10.1111/1467-6494.7106010