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…

In order to enhance our understanding of person-environment transactions, the present longitudinal cohort study examined the dynamic interactions between career role development and personality development over a time interval of 15 years. A sample of college alumni (N = 260) provided self-reports on Big five traits three months prior to…

This research details the changing ways in which young people of different ages differently warrant the conviction that, notwithstanding evidence of good and bad behaviours, selves can be understood as unified across the various roles and contexts that they occupy. Canadian adolescents and young adults were asked to explain the apparent disunity…

Data for this study of 108 young adults from the New York Longitudinal Study include measures of temperament derived from two sources: interviews conducted with subjects' mothers when the children were 3 and 4 years of age and measures of Type A behavior derived from interviews with the subjects during young adulthood. (Author/NH)

While there is a general consensus that temperament forms the enduring, biologically based foundation of personality and that this biological basis should imply some continuity within the individual across time, there is a limited literature exploring linkages between these areas. The purpose of this article was to provide an initial assessment of…

Administered three personality scales, designed to measure similar dimensions in different age ranges, to pre-adolescent, adolescent, and young adult samples. Results indicated considerable stability in the personality correlates of self-esteem at these ages. Anxiety and extraversion appeared consistently as significant correlates. (Author/JAC)

Based on research which has followed the behavioral development of 133 subjects from infancy to early adulthood, discusses incidence of behavior disorders, defines the concept of temperament, and briefly discusses findings. Remarks on the usefulness of the "goodness of fit" concept for tracing developmental sequences. (GC)

This study drew on two approaches to identity formation, each postulating differing but complementary exploration components, in an effort to better understand the identity exploration process. Overall patterns of results revealed by hierarchical regression analyses were consistent with a process model of exploration and with the view that…

This paper reports the results of an ongoing study of individuals' ego control and ego resiliency. The study began with 130 subjects in 1969 when the subjects were in nursery school. At the most recent assessment, 104 participants still remained. Ego control is defined as the degree and kind of control individuals exert over their impulses, and…

This longitudinal study examined consistency and change in human personality. Rather than studying the consistency of individual differences over time, an approach which considers only the stability of a variable at the group level and ignores differences in stability at an individual level, this study used a person-centered approach to study…