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ABSTRACT: The broader autism phenotype (BAP) is a set of subclinical traits qualitatively similar to those observed in autism spectrum disorders. The current study sought to elucidate the association between self- and informant-reports of the BAP and friendships, in a non-clinical sample of college student dyads. Self-informant agreement of the BAP and friendship similarity was evaluated, and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to test how both friends' BAP characteristics jointly and uniquely contribute to the experiences of friendships. Results suggest self-informant agreement about the BAP, friendship closeness, quality, and conflict. Actor effects were observed for the BAP and friendship values, quality, conflict, and loneliness. Findings suggest that the BAP relates in meaningful ways to self-perceptions of friendship variables in the general population.
Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 02/2013; · 3.06 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Among cluster analytic studies of the personality profiles associated with bulimia nervosa, a group of individuals characterized by emotional lability and behavioral dysregulation (i.e., a dysregulated cluster) has emerged most consistently. However, previous studies have all been cross-sectional and mostly used clinical samples. This study aimed to replicate associations between the dysregulated personality cluster and bulimic symptoms and related characteristics using a longitudinal, population-based sample. Participants were females assessed at ages 17 and 25 from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, clustered based on their personality traits. The Dysregulated cluster was successfully identified at both time points and was more stable across time than either the Resilient or Sensation Seeking clusters. Rates of bulimic symptoms and related behaviors (e.g., alcohol use problems) were also highest in the dysregulated group. Findings suggest that the dysregulated cluster is a relatively stable and robust profile that is associated with bulimic symptoms.
Journal of personality disorders 02/2013; · 3.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Profile correlations are sometimes used to quantify personality trait similarity between relationship partners. These coefficients are then used to test whether similar couples are happier couples. The current paper describes several different methods of calculating profile correlations and outlines procedures for testing whether these coefficients are related to marital adjustment in a sample of 1,643 couples. There was little evidence that profile correlations were related to marital adjustment after accounting for normativeness (i.e., the degree to which individual's matched the typical personality profile) and when accounting for each individual's personality attributes. Results suggest that researchers using profile correlations should be cautious given that the interpretation and psychological meaning of results often depend on how the coefficients are calculated.
Journal of Research in Personality 02/2013; 47(1):97-106. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In this research, we evaluated how well overall levels of positive engagement in adolescents' families of origin, as well as adolescents' unique expressions of positive engagement in observed family interactions, statistically predicted marital outcomes approximately 20 years later. The sample consisted of 288 focal individuals and their spouses, drawn from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP). Data for focal individuals' family-of-origin positive engagement were taken from IYFP assessments from 1989 to 1991. Data for outcomes of interest, including focal individuals' and spouses' marital behavior, were drawn from the IYFP between 2007 and 2008. Individuals' unique expressions of positive engagement in their families of origin were linked to the degree of positive engagement these adolescents later exhibited toward their spouses. A positive family climate during adolescence for one marital partner was also associated with positive marital outcomes for both partners. Overall, our results suggest that the climate in one's family of origin may have long-term significance for one's interpersonal relationships.
Psychological Science 01/2013; · 4.43 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The present research used a latent variable trait-state model to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of self-esteem during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analyses were based on ten administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) spanning the ages of approximately 13 to 32 for a sample of 451 participants. Results indicated that a completely stable trait factor and an autoregressive trait factor accounted for the majority of the variance in latent self-esteem assessments, whereas state factors accounted for about 16% of the variance in repeated assessments of latent self-esteem. The stability of individual differences in self-esteem increased with age consistent with the cumulative continuity principle of personality development.
Journal of Research in Personality 12/2012; 46(6):634-645. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Reports an error in "Positive-engagement behaviors in observed family interactions: A social relations perspective" by Robert A. Ackerman, Deborah A. Kashy, M. Brent Donnellan and Rand D. Conger (Journal of Family Psychology, 2011[Oct], Vol 25[5], 719-730). This article contained several errors. When specifying the over-time social relations model depicted in Figure 2, three sets of equality constraints were inadvertently imposed on the model: (a) the occasion-specific variances for the older-child partner effects in 1989, the older-child actor effects in 1990, and the older-child actor effects in 1991 were constrained to the same value; (b) the occasion-specific variances for the mother partner effects in 1989, 1990, and 1991 were constrained to the same value; and (c) the occasion-specific variances for the younger-child partner effects in 1989, 1990, and 1991 were constrained to the same value. These equality constraints are not necessary and removing them improved model fit to values that are provided in the erratum. A corrected Table 4 is also provided in the erratum. Corrected path diagrams and Mplus script are available from the first author. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-19413-001.) The present study investigates the nature of positive engagement (an interpersonal style characterized by attentiveness, warmth, cooperation, and clear communication) in family interactions involving at least one adolescent. Approximately 400 families (mothers, fathers, and two siblings) were videotaped during brief conflict-resolution discussions that occurred on a yearly basis for 3 years. Coders rated the degree to which each family member was positively engaged with every other family member during the interactions. The social relations model was used to partition variation in positive-engagement behavior into family-level, individual-level, and dyad-level effects. Results demonstrated the importance of family norms and individual factors in determining the expression of positive-engagement behaviors in dyadic family relationships. Moreover, longitudinal analyses indicated that these effects are stable over a 3-year period. Finally, results highlighted the relative distinctiveness of the marital and sibling relationships, as well as the existence of reciprocity within these dyads. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Family Psychology 12/2012; 26(6):936. · 1.66 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Although controversy surrounds the definition and measurement of narcissism, the claim that pathological grandiosity is central to the construct generates little disagreement. Yet representations of pathological grandiosity vary across measures of narcissism, leading to conceptual confusion in the literature. The validity of a DSM-based measure of pathological narcissism, the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 Narcissistic Personality Disorder scale (PDQ-4 NPD), was evaluated in 1 clinical and 3 nonclinical samples (total N = 2,391) for its ability to measure pathological grandiosity. Findings were generally supportive: average scores were higher in the clinical than nonclinical samples and the PDQ-4 NPD scale correlated most strongly with (a) other measures of NPD; (b) other DSM Cluster B personality disorders; (c) traits involving antagonism, hostility, and assertiveness; and (d) interpersonal distress and disaffiliative dominance. However, the low internal consistency of the PDQ-4 NPD scale and unexpected associations with Cluster A and obsessive-compulsive features point to potential psychometric weaknesses with this instrument. These findings are useful for evaluating the PDQ-4 NPD scale and for informing ongoing debates regarding how to define and assess pathological narcissism.
Journal of Personality Assessment 10/2012; · 1.29 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: To compare the 10-year retest stability of normal traits, pathological traits, and personality disorder dimensions in a clinical sample. METHOD: Ten-year rank order stability estimates for the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality, and Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders were evaluated before and after correcting for test-retest dependability and internal consistency in a clinical sample (N = 266). RESULTS: Dependability corrected stability estimates were generally in the range of.60-.90 for traits and.25-.65 for personality disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The relatively lower stability of personality disorder symptoms may indicate important differences between pathological behaviors and relatively more stable self-attributed traits and imply that a full understanding of personality and personality pathology needs to take both traits and symptoms into account. The Five-Factor Theory distinction between basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations provides a theoretical framework for the separation of traits and disorders in terms of stability in which traits reflect basic tendencies that are stable and pervasive across situations, whereas personality disorder symptoms reflect characteristic maladaptations that are a function of both basic tendencies and environmental dynamics.
Journal of Personality 07/2012; · 2.44 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of Australians were used to evaluate mean-level differences and rank-order stability in personality traits assessed twice over a 4-year time span (n = 13,134). Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness declined over the life span, whereas Agreeableness increased among young cohorts, was stable among middle-aged cohorts, and declined among the oldest old. Cross-sectional analyses suggested an increase in Conscientiousness throughout the life span, though longitudinal analyses suggested a slight decline in late life. There was an inverted U-shaped pattern for rank-order stability, with peak stability occurring in middle age. For three of the Big Five domains (Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness), age-related differences appeared to be somewhat more pronounced before age 30 than after age 30. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Psychology and Aging 07/2012; · 2.73 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study examined the association between romantic relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. Using a large, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample, results from negative binomial regressions showed a positive association between romantic involvement and delinquency in adolescence. Further, the cumulative number of romantic relationships from adolescence to young adulthood was positively related to delinquency in young adulthood even controlling for earlier delinquency in adolescence. These analyses also controlled for the effects of participant gender, age at initial assessment, puberty, race/ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics (e.g., family structure and parents' education). Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of romantic relationships in the development of young people and for stimulating future research questions.
Personal Relationships 06/2012; 19(2):354-366. · 0.74 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Although aging is associated with declines in many life domains, overall life satisfaction does not appear to decline sharply
with age. One explanation for this paradoxical finding is that several life domains improve with age such that increases in
certain domains balance the decreases in others. Because different issues are problematic at different life stages, it is
likely that specific domains display different life trajectories compared to overall life satisfaction. The observed pattern
for overall life satisfaction is likely due to a bottom-up approach. Life and domain satisfaction data from 8years of the
British Household Panel Study were analyzed to evaluate this hypothesis. Results indicated that satisfaction with some life
domains increased after middle age (e.g. social life), whereas satisfaction with other life domains decreased (e.g. health).
Additionally, results illustrated that although domain satisfaction scores demonstrate distinct trajectories, the aggregate
of these distinct domains resembled the overall life satisfaction trajectory. These findings have implications for top-down
and bottom-up models of life satisfaction.
KeywordsLife satisfaction–Domain satisfaction–Bottom-up models
Social Indicators Research 05/2012; · 1.13 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study evaluated a developmental model of intergenerational continuity in religiosity and its association with observed competency in romantic and parent-child relationships across 2 generations. Using multi-informant data from the Family Transitions Project, a 20-year longitudinal study of families that began during early adolescence (N = 451), we found that parental religiosity assessed during youths' adolescence was positively related to youths' own religiosity during adolescence, which, in turn, predicted their religiosity after the transition to adulthood. The findings also supported the theoretical model guiding the study, which proposes that religiosity acts as a personal resource that will be uniquely and positively associated with the quality of family relationships. Especially important, the findings demonstrate support for the role of religiosity in a developmental process that promotes positive family functioning after addressing earlier methodological limitations in this area of study, such as cross-sectional research designs, single informant measurement, retrospective reports, and the failure to control for other individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Developmental Psychology 04/2012; · 3.21 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We investigated the degree to which parent positive personality characteristics in terms of conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability predict similar adolescent personality traits over time as well as the role played by positive parenting in this process. Mothers and fathers of 451 White adolescents (52% female, mean age = 13.59 years) were assessed on three occasions, with 2-year lags between each assessment. Parent personality and observed positive parenting both predicted 12(th) graders personality. Additionally, we found evidence for an indirect link between parent personality and later adolescent personality through positive parenting. The results suggest that parents may play a significant role in the development of adolescent personality traits that promote competence and personal well-being across the life course.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 04/2012; 58(2):255-283. · 1.26 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This research uses item response theory methods to evaluate the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988). Analyses using the 2-parameter logistic model were conducted on the total score and the Corry, Merritt, Mrug, and Pamp (2008) and Ackerman et al. (2011) subscales for the NPI. In addition to offering precise information about the psychometric properties of the NPI item pool, these analyses generated insights that can be used to develop new measures of the personality constructs embedded within this frequently used inventory.
Journal of Personality Assessment 03/2012; 94(2):141-55. · 1.29 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In this study, the authors evaluated aspects of criterion validity and clinical utility of the grandiosity and vulnerability components of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) using two undergraduate samples (N = 299 and 500). Criterion validity was assessed by evaluating the correlations of narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability with established indices of normal personality traits, psychopathology and clinical concerns, and pathological personality traits. Overall, the pattern of correlations supported the convergent and discriminant validity of grandiose and vulnerable conceptualizations of pathological narcissism as measured by the PNI. Clinical utility was assessed by evaluating the extent to which clinicians without specific training in pathological narcissism as well as clinicians with expertise in pathological narcissism could accurately predict the correlates of PNI grandiosity and vulnerability with normal and pathological personality traits and psychopathology. The r(contrast-cv) coefficient provided a global index of accuracy in clinicians' predictions that was more fully elaborated by examining systematic discrepancies across groups. Overall, novice and expert clinicians were generally able to predict criterion correlations, with some exceptions (e.g., counter to predictions, pathological narcissism was negatively associated with treatment resistance). These results provide further evidence regarding the validity and utility of the narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability constructs as measured by the PNI.
Assessment 02/2012; 19(2):135-45. · 2.01 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Life satisfaction is often assessed using single-item measures. However, estimating the reliability of these measures can be difficult because internal consistency coefficients cannot be calculated. Existing approaches use longitudinal data to isolate occasion-specific variance from variance that is either completely stable or variance that changes systematically over time. In these approaches, reliable occasion-specific variance is typically treated as measurement error, which would negatively bias reliability estimates. In the current studies, panel data and multivariate latent state-trait models are used to isolate reliable occasion-specific variance from random error and to estimate reliability for scores from single-item life satisfaction measures. Across four nationally representative panel studies with a combined sample size of over 68,000, reliability estimates increased by an average of 16% when the multivariate model was used instead of the more standard univariate longitudinal model.
Social Indicators Research 02/2012; 105(3):323-331. · 1.13 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Boundary goals specify the minimum performance level that an individual must attain to subjectively experience success. The present research integrates boundary goals into the hierarchical model of achievement motivation (A. J. Elliot, 2006) by positing that boundary goals are a subgoal in the goal hierarchy. The authors predicted that performance approach goals would be associated with higher boundary goals, whereas performance avoidance goals would be associated with lower boundary goals. The authors further predicted that boundary goals would mediate the association between achievement goals and performance, independent of other target goals (i.e., levels of aspiration). The authors also evaluated whether boundary goals served a similar role in explaining associations between mastery goals and performance. These predictions were tested by tracking the performance of 347 college students across the semester. As predicted, performance approach goals were positively associated with boundary goals (β = .32), whereas performance avoidance goals were negatively associated with boundary goals (β = −.11). Furthermore the authors found that mastery approach goals had positive associations with boundary goals (β = .29), whereas the opposite pattern occurred for mastery avoidance goals (β = −.25). Boundary goals were positively linked to exam scores (β = .32) and mediated the associations between performance approach, mastery approach, and mastery avoidance goals and grades. These statistical effects were independent of the effects of level of aspiration. In short, boundary goals seem to play an important role in the achievement motivation process and may therefore serve as a potentially useful focus for interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Educational Psychology 01/2012; 104(1):138-149. · 3.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We evaluated whether the Big Five-based hierarchical model for the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) reported by Rushton and Irwing (2009) would replicate in a second sample of 733 participants. We were unable to confirm their hierarchical model and detected problems with the reporting of the original results. Exploratory factor analytic investigations generally supported the canonical three factor solution for the MPQ described in the existing literature. This was the case for both the present dataset and for the correlation matrix analyzed by Rushton and Irwing.
Personality and Individual Differences 12/2011; 52:285-289. · 1.88 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Although the research literature has established that Conscientiousness predicts task performance across a variety of achievement contexts (e.g., ; ), comparatively less is known about the processes that underlie these relations. To the latter end, the current research examines effortful strategies and achievement goals as mediating factors that might explain why people with higher levels of Conscientiousness are predicted to reach higher levels of academic performance. In a longitudinal study, 347 college students completed measures of personality and achievement goals at the beginning of the class, followed by measures of effortful strategies multiple times throughout the semester. Results support the hypothesis that effortful strategies mediate the association between Conscientiousness and academic performance. Moreover, the statistical effects of Conscientiousness were generally independent of achievement goals, but a small portion of the effect was mediated through approach, not avoidance, achievement goals. These results highlight the importance of examining mediating processes between personality and outcomes, and in the case of Conscientiousness, our results suggest that effortful strategies might serve as a useful target for performance-enhancing interventions.
Journal of Personality 11/2011; 80(4):995-1028. · 2.44 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A general factor of personality (GFP) has been proposed as the apex of a personality trait hierarchy that explains covariance among the lower-order factors measured by various personality inventories. In this study we evaluated the GFP hypothesis across several personality inventories, unlike most previous research in which the GFP has been derived from individual instruments in isolation. Exploratory analy-ses did not produce substantial evidence for the existence of a single cross-instrument higher-order fac-tor of factors and efforts to specify a range of GFP-inspired models in a confirmatory framework led to significant estimation difficulties and poor fit to the data. Overall these results fail to support a common GFP that is positioned at the top of a personality trait hierarchy.
Journal of Research in Personality 10/2011; 45:468-478. · 2.00 Impact Factor
