The articles appearing in this special section discuss the role that conscientiousness may play in healthy aging. Growing evidence suggests that conscientious individuals live longer and healthier lives. However, the question remains whether this personality trait can be leveraged to improve long-term health outcomes. We argue that even though it…

There are various programmes currently advocated for ways in which children might encounter philosophy as an explicit part of their education. An analysis of these reveals the ways in which they are predicated on views of what constitutes philosophy. In the sense in which they are inquiry based, purport to encourage the pursuit of puzzlement and…

Retaining mathematical knowledge is difficult for many students, especially for those who learn facts and procedures without understanding the meanings underlying the symbols and operations. Repeated practice may be necessary for developing skills but is unlikely to make conceptual ideas stick. An idea is more likely to stick if students are…

Skill sets have been identified as the abilities needed by an individual to perform a job or task. In this mixed methods study, an online survey was developed to collect data identifying those skill sets and the barriers to effective inclusion in rural schools in the Black Belt region of Alabama and Mississippi. For rural administrators, this…

This paper analyzes the history, current practice, and dangers associated with Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). With roots in American progressive education and particularly in the movements for Outcome-Based Education and Self-Esteem, SEL is now pushed onto state and local education systems by the federal government and even international…

This causal-comparative study examined reported practices by principals when hiring assistant principals. Two hypotheses were under investigation. The first hypothesis was "Principals will hire assistant principals with similar characteristics rather than hire assistant principals with dissimilar characteristics," and the second…

Although many studies of personality and aggression focus on multidimensional traits and higher order personality disorders (e.g., psychopathy), lower order, unidimensional traits may provide more precision in identifying specific aspects of personality that relate to aggression. The current study includes a comprehensive measurement of lower…

Despite increasing demand for workers in fields that are grounded in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), retention rates are low among relevant college majors. Using Web-based survey data from 290 STEM majors, the authors investigated links among personality, coping strategies, and STEM major commitment. Proactive personality was…

Coping strategies and identity processes are hypothesized to influence one another over time. This three-wave longitudinal study ("N" = 458; 84.9% women) examined, for the first time, how and to what extent identity processes (i.e., commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative…

A university student sample was used to compare school-specific (i.e., personality at school) and general personality (i.e., personality across all life domains) over eight weeks. School-specific and general personality incrementally predicted change in school-specific criteria (i.e., school satisfaction and school citizenship behaviors). Less…

Narcissism--a strong need to be admired for a grandiose self--is a problematic personality trait for children as well as adults. This study of 236 preadolescents (M age = 11.3 years; 129 girls, 107 boys) evaluated 2 intrapersonal (cognitive) pathways by which narcissism might contribute to maladjustment. The first was that narcissism combines with…

The objective of the present study was to provide validity evidence for the scores from the Romantic Relationship Perfectionism Scale. Results indicate a two-factor structure, adequate reliability, and overall good convergent, concurrent, discriminant, and incremental validity evidence. The strengths and limitations of this measure are discussed.…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the role that personal resources (person-environment [PE] congruence and personality types associated with resilience) and work-family conflict (WFC) play in the sense of well-being (as reflected by burnout and life-satisfaction) of mothers of young children. A sample of 146 mothers holding demanding…

The "DSM-5" proposal indicates that personality disorders (PDs) be defined as collections of maladaptive traits but does not provide a specific diagnostic method. However, researchers have previously suggested that PD constructs can be assessed by comparing individuals' trait profiles with those prototypic of PDs and evidence from the…

The authors evaluated the extent to which the short-term effect of late life widowhood on parent-child relationships is moderated by 5 personality traits--Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience--and how these interactive effects differ by gender. Data were from the Changing Lives of Older…