Academic Scientific JournalsDo stimulation and support in the early childhood home environment and best friendship quality in adolescence predict adult personality?
Keywords:
childhood experiences, home environment, friendship in adolescence, adult personality, longitudinal studyAbstract
Background
The aim of this study was to determine whether stimulation and support in early childhood and best friendship quality in adolescence predict adult personality.
Participants and procedure
We used data from 123 individuals from an ongoing longitudinal study, with multiple assessment phases and modalities (observation, parental rating, self-report) to investigate prospective associations between stimulation and support in the home in early childhood (age 1-2), best friendship quality in adolescence (age 15), and the Big Five personality traits in adulthood (age 29) controlling for temperament, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender.
Results
After controlling for temperament, SES, and gender, we found that early childhood stimulation and support was related to adult openness to experiences, but not the other four traits, and that best friendship quality in adolescence was related to adult extraversion and agreeableness, but not conscientiousness, neuroticism, or openness to experiences.
Conclusions
The study contributes to research indicating that while personalities are relatively stable, they are not fixed at an early age and may be related to experiences and salient relationships throughout development. There is a dearth of research investigating such associations and the available findings are inconsistent. Conclusions about the relations between experiences such as stimulation and support in the home in early childhood or best friendship quality in adolescence and adult personality should thus be viewed skeptically until replicated.
Downloads
References
Asendorpf, J. B., & Wilpers, S. (1998). Personality effects on social relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1531–1544. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1531.
Belsky, J. (2005). Differential susceptibility to rearing influence. In B. J. Ellis & D. F. Bjorklund (Eds.), Origins of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and child development (pp. 139–163). Guilford Press.
Bleidorn, W., Klimstra, T. A., Denissen, J. J., Rentfrow, P. J., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2013). Personality maturation around the world: a crosscultural examination of social-investment theory. Psychological Science, 24, 2530–2540. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613.
Bleidorn, W., Hopwood, C. J., & Lucas, R. E. (2016). Life events and personality traits change. Journal of Personality, 86, 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12286.
Bouchard, T. J., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. Journal of Neurobiology, 54, 4–45. https://doi.org/10.1002/neu.10160.
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371–399. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Caldwell, B. M. (1970). Instruction manual: HOME inventory for infants [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Campbell, J. J., Lamb, M. E., & Hwang, C. P. (2000). Early child-care experiences and children’s social competence between 11/2 and 15 years of age. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 166–176. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532480XADS0403_5.
Caspi, A., Roberts, B., & Shiner, R. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–484. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141913.
Clark, D. A., Durbin, C. E., Heitzeg, M. M., Iacono, W. G., McGue, M., & Hicks, B. M. (2022). Personality and peer groups in adolescence: Reciprocal associations and shared genetic and environmental influences. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12741.
de Haan, A. D., Deković, M., den Akker, A. L., Stoltz, S. E., & Prinzie, P. (2013). Developmental personality types from childhood to adolescence: Associations with parenting and adjustment. Child Development, 84, 2015–2030. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12092.
Deventer, J., Wagner, J., Lüdtke, O., & Trautwein, U. (2019). Are personality traits and relationship characteristics reciprocally related? Longitudinal analyses of codevelopment in the transition out of high school and beyond. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 331–347. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000191.
DeYoung, C. (2015). Cybernetic Big Five theory. Journal of Research in Personality, 56, 33–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.07.004.
Ellis, B. J., & Boyce, W. T. (2008). Biological sensitivity to context. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 183–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 8721.2008.00571.x.
Frodi, A. M., Lamb, M. E., Frodi, M., Hwang, C. P., Forsström, B., & Corry, T. (1982). Stability and change in parental attitudes following an infant’s birth into traditional and nontraditional Swedish families. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 23, 53–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.1982.tb00413.x.
Galler, J. R., Bryce, C. P., Waber, D. P., Zichlin, M. L., Fitzmaurice, G. M., & Costa, P. T. (2013). Maternal depressive symptoms in childhood and openness to experience in adulthood. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 33, 151–163. https://doi.org/10.2190/IC.33.1-2.e.
Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458–489. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.3.458.
John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 114–158). Guilford Press.
Kandler, C. (2012). Nature and nurture in personality development: The case of neuroticism and extraversion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 290–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412452557.
Lamb, M. E. (2015). Processes that underlie social, emotional, and personality development: a preliminary survey of the terrain. In M. E. Lamb & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.), Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 1–10). Wiley.
Lamb, M. E., Hwang, C. P., Bookstein, F. L., Broberg, A., Hult, G., & Frodi, M. (1988a). Determinants of social competence in Swedish preschoolers. Developmental Psychology, 24, 58–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.58.
Lamb, M. E., Hwang, C. P., Broberg, A. G., & Bookstein, F. L. (1988b). The effects of out-of-home care on the development of social competence in Sweden: a longitudinal study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 3, 379–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/0885-2006(88)90036-1.
Magnusson, D., & Stattin, H. (2006). The person in context: a holistic-interactionistic approach. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 400–464). Wiley.
McAdams, D. P., & Pals, J. L. (2006). A new Big Five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality. American Psychologist, 61, 204–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.3.204.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. Jr. (2008). The five-factor theory of personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 159–181). Guilford Press.
Ozer, D. J., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401–421. https:// doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190127.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Developmental Psychology, 29, 611–621. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.4.611.
Pomerantz, E. M., & Thompson, R. A. (2008). Parents’ role in children’s personality development. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 351–374). Guilford Press.
Reitz, A. K., Zimmermann, J., Hutteman, R., Specht, J., & Neyer, F. J. (2014). How peers make a difference: The role of peer groups and peer relationships in personality development. European Journal of Personality, 28, 279–288. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1965.
Roberts, B. W., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Work experiences and personality development in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 582–593. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.582.
Roberts, B. W., & DelVecchio, W. F. (2000). The rankorder consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.3.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 313–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00047.x.
Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1.
Rothbart, M. K. (1981). Measurement of temperament in infancy. Child Development, 52, 569–578. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1981.tb03082.x.
Scollon, C. N., & Diener, E. (2006). Love, work, and changes in extraversion and neuroticism over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 1152–1165. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.6. 1152.
Shiner, R. L., & Caspi, A. (2003). Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development, and consequences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 2–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00101.
Shiner, R. L., & DeYoung, C. G. (2013). The structure of temperament and personality traits: a developmental perspective. In P. D. Zelazo (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of developmental psychology, Vol. 2: Self and other (pp. 113–141). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199958474.013.0006.
Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2011). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 330–348. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021717.
Syed, M., Eriksson, P. L., Frisén, A., Hwang, C. P., & Lamb, M. E. (2020). Personality development from age 2 to 33: Stability and change in ego resiliency and ego control and associations with adult adaptation. Developmental Psychology, 56, 815–832. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000895.
Van den Akker, A. L., Deković, M., Asscher, J., & Prinzie, P. (2014). Mean-level personality development across childhood and adolescence: a temporary defiance of the maturity principle and bidirectional associations with parenting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 736–750. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037248.
Wilson, S., Schalet, B. D., Hicks, B. M., & Zucker, R. A. (2013). Identifying early childhood personality dimensions using the California Child Q-Set and prospective associations with behavioral and psychosocial development. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 339–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.02.010.
Wood, D., & Denissen, J. J. (2015). A functional perspective on personality trait development. In K. J. Reynolds & N. R. Branscombe (Eds.), Psychology of change. Life contexts, experiences, and identities (pp. 97–115). Psychology Press.
Wrzus, C., & Neyer, F. J. (2016). Co-development of personality and friendships across the lifespan: an empirical review on selection and socialization. European Psychologist, 21, 254–273. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000277.
Wängqvist, M., Lamb, M. E., Frisén, A., & Hwang, C. P. (2015). Child and adolescent predictors of personality in early adulthood. Child Development, 86, 1253–1261. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12362.
Yu, R., Branje, S., Keijsers, L., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2014). Personality effects on romantic relationship quality through friendship quality: a ten-year longitudinal study in youths. PLoS One, 9, e102078. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102078.
Zakrisson, I. (2010). Big Five Inventory (BFI): Utprövning för svenska förhållanden [Big Five Inventory (BFI): a testing for Swedish conditions]. Social Science Reports from Mid Sweden University, 3, 1–28.
