Parental Descriptions of Child Personality

This book reports the first attempt in the child development literature to examine the structure of early personality based on parents' free-descriptions of their children. It is an important piece of research because of its cross-national focus on personality development. The authors present a data set that reveals considerable consistency in the parental descriptions of child personality in both western and nonwestern countries. This consistency supports the cultural universality of the "Big Five" personality factors. The authors' findings lay the foundation for an examination of how these major dimensions of childhood personality structure evolve into adult personality structure.

Gedolph A. Kohnstamm, Charles F. Halverson Jr., Ivan Mervielde, Valerie L. Havill, Charles F. Halverson

Contents: Preface. G.A. Kohnstamm, C.F. Halverson, Jr., I. Mervielde, V.L. Havill, Analyzing Parental Free Descriptions of Child Personality. E. Elphick, C.F. Halverson, Jr., M. Marzal-Wisniewska, Extraversion: Toward a Unifying Description From Infancy to Adulthood. V.L. Havill, E. Besevegis, S. Mouroussaki, Agreeableness as a Diachronic Human Trait. G.A. Kohnstamm, Y. Zhang, A-M. Slotboom, E. Elphick, A Developmental Integration of Conscientiousness From Childhood to Adulthood. A. Angleitner, G.A. Kohnstamm, A-M. Slotboom, E. Besevegis, Emotional Stability: Developmental Perspectives From Childhood to Adulthood. I. Mervielde, F. De Fruyt, S. Jarmuz, Linking Openness and Intellect in Childhood and Adulthood. A-M. Slotboom, V.L. Havill, V. Pavlopoulos, F. De Fruyt, Developmental Changes in Personality Descriptions of Children: A Cross-National Comparison of Parental Descriptions of Children. F. De Fruyt, A. Van Hiel, V. Buyst, Parental Personality Descriptions of Boys and Girls. J.B. Victor, H.E. Dent, B. Carter, C.F. Halverson, Jr., V.L. Havill, How African American Parents Describe Their Children. I. Mervielde, Validity of Results Obtained by Analyzing Free Personality Descriptions. A-M. Slotboom, E. Elphick, Appendix: Composition of the Seven Samples.