Self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems in adolescence

Achieving a clear self-view is a lifelong task that is particularly salient during adolescence. Theory and research suggest that close others' perceptions of individuals' personality may influence the formation and maintenance of coherent self-views. The degree to which adolescents develop a stable and coherent self-view, in turn, may have perennial influences on their mental health and well-being. This 1-year longitudinal study investigated the associations between the agreement of self- and other-rated Big Five personality traits and internalizing problems in adolescence.

Participants were 570 Dutch adolescents (51% girls), their mothers, friends, and siblings. We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems using polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses.

Results indicated strong main effects of self- and other-rated personality traits on internalizing problems but provided little evidence for longitudinal associations between self-other personality agreement and internalizing problems.

Our results cast doubt on the generalizability of the beneficial effects of self-other agreement documented in the adult literature to adolescents but highlight the importance of self- and other-rated personality in youth's mental health development. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications and recommendations for future investigations of self-other agreement.