Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the developmental origins of dispositional optimism are unknown. Understanding the pathways that lead to greater optimism during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood may be important given that this stage of the life course involves the…

The current study focused on three aspects of identity development relevant to the adolescent years: being an authentic person, perceiving control over and consistency in one's environment, and having consistent expectations from close others. In a two-wave study of adolescents (n = 750), we examined how these aspects change over the course of a…

This study examined whether changes in children's self-reported Big Five dimensions are represented by (developmental) personality types, using a cohort-sequential design with three measurement occasions across 5 years (four cohorts, 9-12 years at T1; N = 523). Correlates of, and gender differences in, type membership were examined. Latent…

Compassion may be directed at a broad range of targets. The present study investigated interrelations among other-directed compassion, self-compassion, and environmental compassion in early adolescence (age = 12-14; n = 256) and examined how the different manifestations of compassion related to age and sex during this age period. Dispositional…

The present cross-sectional study investigated age and gender differences in motivational manifestations of the Big Five in a large German-speaking Internet sample (N = 19,022). Participants ranging in age from 16 to 60 years completed the Five Individual Reaction Norms Inventory (FIRNI; Denissen & Penke, 2008a), and two traditional Big Five…

The aims of this article are to review the multiple relations between creativity and personality, exploring the measurement instruments that have been used to identify them. Specific personality characteristics and traits found in highly creative individuals and the interaction of these traits with the creative process are described. In addition,…

This article extends the relevance of multicultural development to the Strengths-Based School Counseling (SBSC; Galassi & Akos, 2007) perspective. A relatively new construct for school counselors, the "multicultural personality" (MP), is introduced and defined. The MP is conceptualized as a cluster of narrow personality traits that…

Reviewers of the physical attractiveness literature have concluded that there is a strong general link between attractiveness and personality with most "good-looking" people having positive personalities and their less well-endowed compatriots possessing relative negative qualities. The attractiveness-personality covariation is often explained,…

The author examined relations among demographic risk (income, maternal education, single-parent status), growth in temperament (fear, irritability, effortful control), and parenting (rejection, inconsistent discipline) across 3 years and the prediction of children's adjustment problems in a community sample (N=190; ages 8-12 years at Time 1).…