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Personality structure in early and middle adolescence as (self-) perceived by adolescents, their classmates, and mothers
Helena Smrtnik Vitulić & Maja Zupančič
Full text (pdf) | Views: 26 | Written in Slovene. | Published: May 4, 2009
Abstract: The study investigated the personality structure of adolescents in early and middle adolescence periods. The research was conducted longitudinally and was based on a multiple-informant approach. Target adolescents, their classmates and mothers (self)assessed the adolescents' personality characteristics separately by using the Inventory of Child Individual Differences (ICID). At the first measurement, the target group were 219 adolescents (M = 14;7 years) attending the eighth-grades of elementary schools in different regions of Slovenia. The second measurement was performed two years later, when most of the respondents attended the second grade of secondary schools (the attrition of the sample by 14 %). Following the inspection of the results of component analyses conducted by the 15 ICID scales a four component solution was retained across the three groups of informants. With regard to adolescent self-report and mothers' report, four components were suggested at both times of measurement: extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional instability and disagreeableness, whereas the four components by ratings of peers yielded a combined extraversion – emotional stability, conscientiousness, amiability and disagreeableness. At both measurements the intellect/openness, presumably capturing the intelligence and open to experience marker scales, was not identified as an independent component. In self- and peer reports the intelligence scale loaded for the conscientiousness component, whereas according to mothers' assessments it correlated negatively with the emotional instability component. The open to experience scale loaded for the extraversion component (self-report and report by mothers) and to the extraversion – emotional stability component (peer assessments), respectively.
Keywords: adolescence, multiple informants, personality traits, personality structure, five factor personality model
