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Cross-situational variability in childhood personality states
Whitney R Ringwald1, Allison N Shields2, Shauna C Kushner
1Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|May 30, 2024
Summary
Children show significant personality variability across situations. This trait, while present in youth, has small associations with external factors and requires further psychometric validation.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Individual Differences
Background:
- Cross-situational personality variability is a key construct in adult psychology.
- Little is understood about personality variability in childhood.
- Socioemotional functioning is linked to personality variability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cross-situational personality variability in children.
- To determine if personality variability is a meaningful individual difference in youth.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a "thin slice" observational approach with 324 children (mean age 9.92).
- Research assistants rated children's Big Five personality states across 15 standardized tasks.
- Calculated within-person standard deviations to estimate personality state variability.
Main Results:
- Substantial variability in children's personality states was observed.
- Children exhibiting variability in one personality domain tended to show variability in others.
- Higher variability was associated with lower parent-rated competence, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and higher neuroticism, though effect sizes were small.
Conclusions:
- Individual differences in cross-situational personality variability exist in childhood.
- This variability may have consequential, though currently small, associations with external criteria.
- Further research is needed to establish the psychometric properties of personality variability measures in youth.
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