There has been little attention to personality in research on school refusal (SR). This study examined personality traits among 41 adolescents receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) during participation in a School Refusal Program in the Netherlands. Traits were examined via clinical scales and 2-point code types derived from the Minnesota…

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits predict behavioral problems in adolescence. But little is known about early modulatory factors. Behavioral Inhibition (BI) in particular has been suggested to protect against the development of CU-traits. This temperamental predisposition is characterized by heightened environmental sensitivity. The current…

Feeling inhibited and socially not at ease is reflected in the trait social inhibition (SI). SI is associated with psychopathology that arises in young adulthood, such as anxiety. We aim for a better insight into the genetic and environmental contributions to SI across the life span, and as such examine their contributions to SI stability and…

This paper demonstrates that the Big five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) measured at age 14 can be linked to field of study choice in university at around age 19. While personality matters less than cognitive skills, such as math ability and verbal ability, for…

This study examined adolescent personality and problem behaviours as predictors of two types of social status: social preference and popularity. Academic track (college preparatory and vocational) and gender were expected to moderate these associations. The sample included 693 students (49.0% female; M = 15.46 years) attending classrooms in two…

People often displace their aggression against innocent targets. Notwithstanding the merits of previous research on displaced aggression, critical gaps remain. First, it is unclear whether and how situational and dispositional factors interact to influence displaced aggression. Moreover, it is unclear whether engaging in direct aggression…

This study examined the behavioral, personality, and communicative predictors of acceptance and popularity in 608 early adolescents. Data were collected with sociometric methods and ratings in 30 sixth-grade classrooms. Hierarchical regressions were run to predict acceptance and popularity from prosocial, antisocial, and withdrawn behavior,…

The present study first examined the links between reactive temperament (negative affectivity), regulative temperament (effortful control [EC]) and internalizing problems in adolescents (12-18 years) with anxiety disorders (ANX; N = 39) and without anxiety disorders (nANX; N = 35). Links differed between ANX and nANX participants. Negative…

This study examined the effect of parental divorce on the time it took adolescents to initiate their first romantic relationships. Individual differences in temperament and pubertal development and the age of the adolescent at the time of divorce were also taken into account. Hypotheses were tested using event history analysis with a sample of…

The present study examined whether a sample of 214 (52.8% male, M age = 15.76, SD = 1.29) institutionalized adolescents could be classified into subgroups based on psychopathic traits. Confirmatory Factor Analyses revealed a relationship between the subscales of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) and the three latent constructs of the…

Since parental personality traits are assumed to play a role in parenting behaviors, the current study examined the relation between parental personality and parenting style among 688 Dutch parents of adolescents in the SMILE study. The study assessed Big Five personality traits and derived parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian,…

To provide an extended assessment of the affective features of psychopathy, Frick developed the Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits (ICU), which is a multi-informant questionnaire. Previous studies have provided initial support for the self-report version. The aim of the present study is to investigate the validity of self- as well as…

According to J. Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting, both adolescents' and parents' personality should exert a significant impact on the quality of their mutual relationship. Using multi-informant, symmetric data on the Big Five personality traits and the relationship quality of mothers, fathers, and two adolescent children, the current…

This study examined the associations between adolescents' daily Internet use and low well-being (i.e., loneliness, low self-esteem, and depressive moods). We hypothesized that (a) linkages between high levels of daily Internet use and low well-being would be mediated by compulsive Internet use (CIU), and (b) that adolescents with low levels of…

The authors analyzed delinquent development from age 12 to 32 in 270 male offenders who underwent residential treatment for problematic behavior and delinquency in a Dutch juvenile justice institution. Stable personality and background characteristics were measured on admission. The development of offending was examined on the basis of conviction…