Implications of parental self-esteem for the subsequent personality qualities and self-esteem of the developing child were explored in this investigation. The sample consisted of 65 mothers and 44 fathers who completed a self Q-sort and an ideal-self Q-sort when their children were 12 years of age. At the ages of 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, and 14 years, 54…

Convergent validity, temporal stability, and age-related patterning of measures of infant temperament were examined in a longitudinal study of 46 infants at three, six, and nine months of age. Infant Behavior Questionnaire and home observations showed convergent validity. Composite measures of positive and negative reactivity and overall…

Multimethod assessments of temperament were obtained from 89 twins at 18 and 24 months of age. Ratings of subject reaction to restraint and parent ratings of temperament plus coordination of these temperament dimensions with analogous dimensions obtained at 12 months provided evidence of stability of temperament across six-month intervals during…

Examined relations among adrenocortical stress reactivity, infant emotional or proneness-to-distress temperament, and quality of attachment in 66 infants tested at 9 and 13 months. Adrenocortical activity was not associated with attachment classifications. Significant only at 9 months, elevations in cortisol were small. (RH)

Research on trait descriptions of interpersonal behavior tends to converge on a two-dimensional representation in which descriptive variables are arrayed in a circular fashion around the major axes of affiliation and dominance. Wiggins' self-report adjective checklist (1979) reflects this theoretical ordering. To explore the utility of Wiggins'…

Administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to 91 male alcoholics after detoxification. Results indicated that the Psychopathic Deviant and Paranoia scales declined with age, while the Responsibility scale increased with age. (JAC)

Integrating theory, research, and practical applications, this book provides a comprehensive examination of defense mechanisms and their role in both normal development and psychopathology. The author describes how children and adults mobilize specific kinds of defenses to maintain their psychological equilibrium and preserve self-esteem,…

Assesses the information used by 5- to 13-year-olds to make dispositional attributions. Children were shown a boy interacting with others harmfully. Results of trait adjective ratings and predictions of causal responsibility for subsequent property damage revealed that the use of frequency and covariation information differed with age. (Author/CB)

The kindergarten adjustment of 217 Caucasian children was measured in relation to their temperament and communicative competence. Both communicative competence and various dimensions of temperament accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in kindergarten adjustment among the children. (Author/BB)

While most lifespan developmental theories of personality predict age-related changes in coping, little direct evidence exists for determining whether age differences in coping style are due to intrinsic developmental processes or to age differences in the kinds of stresses encountered. To evaluate age differences in coping strategies and whether…

Addresses limitations of previous research by testing second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children on three measures: an open-ended interview, a story-recognition task, and a questionnaire about the importance of different characteristics to friendships and acquaintanceships. Friendship expectations based on dispositional characteristics increased…

Rigidity, as it relates to aging, refers to motor/cognitive, personality/perceptual, and psychomotor functioning. To investigate the relationship of rigidity to intelligence and educational level in younger and older adults, and of rigidity to age and sex, 48 young adults (25 male, 23 female), with a mean age of 23, and 45 older adults (21 male,…

Using a path analysis on simplex pattern models of adolescent drug use, Potvin and Lee (1980) studied the personality and perceived environmental variables associated with drug use. To evaluate the appropriateness of the drug use models derived by Potvin and Lee, a structural modeling methodology using LISREL VI was applied to the data from their…

Discusses results of a study of computer programers which assessed the emotional and social needs met by their interaction with computers, programers, and nonprogrammers. Since a significant portion of respondents expressed preference for computer interaction, an examination of needs fulfilled by computer interaction is presented, and societal…

Type and quality of nonfamilial child care were found to have no significant effect on peer social skills, sociability with strange adults, and child personality. The major determinants of personality maturity were background variables. Prior social skills and age were the best predictors of peer social skills. (PCB)