The dynamics of personality and identity in adolescence

Abstract

Portions of this chapter will be published as: Klimstra, T. A., Hale, W. W., Raaijmakers, Q. A. W., Branje, S. J. T., & Meeus, W. H. J. (in press). Personality assessment and maturation. In R. J. R. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adolescence. Heidelberg, Germany: SpringerVerlag. General Introduction 12 Chapter 1. General introductionWhen persons describe themselves, they are typically referring to certain characteristics, such as "outgoing", "nervous", "messy", "friendly" and "creative". Exactly these kinds of characteristics define one's personality. In personality psychology, which focuses on individual differences in the just-mentioned characteristics, there has been a longstanding debate on what would be the most appropriate set of characteristics to describe people by. In the last twenty years, there has been a growing consensus on this issue, as a majority of researchers now agree that personality characteristics can be subsumed in five broad traits: the Big Five (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). These five broad factors are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience (McCrae & Costa, 1987).Extraversion (as opposed to introversion) refers to being dominant, outgoing and energetic in interpersonal situations. Extraverted individuals tend to enjoy social attention and experience frequent positive moods. Agreeableness encompasses a wide range of characteristics that are all indicative of an individual's competence and willingness to maintain positive and reciprocal relationships with others; in other words, pro-social behavioral tendencies. Conscientiousness refers to personal characteristics indicative of behavioral and cognitive control. Conscientious individuals are neat, orderly, and responsible persons, who have little trouble with dividing their attention in an optimal way. Emotional Stability (as opposed to Neuroticism) is indicative of a person's ability to deal with negative emotions in an effective manner. A person with low levels of Emotional Stability is often insecure, has a tendency to experience negative moods, gets frustrated easily, and is commonly anxious. Openness to Experience refers to a person's style of dealing with new information and opportunities. It comprises aspects such as creativity, imagination, originality, and curiosity.Another aspect of the self that becomes more salient in adolescence is identity (Erikson, 1950(Erikson, , 1968. Identity has been conceptualized as "self-sameness and continuity to… the style of one's individuality, and that this style coincides with the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for significant others in the immediate community" (Erikson, 1968, p. 50).Although Erikson's (1950Erikson's ( , 1968 initial work on identity sparked an interest in research on the topic, it could not be directly translated into an empirically testable construct. To overcome this problem, Marcia (1966) elaborated on Erikson's work and developed the identity status paradigm. In this paradigm, the focus is on two key pro...

The Effect of Determining Pair Programming Groups According to Various Individual Difference Variables on Group Compatibility, Flow, and Coding Performance

“…The conscientiousness component of personality traits, addressed in this study, includes features such as hard-working, task-based behavior, motivation, caution, determination, and self-discipline. Individuals with high conscientiousness are punctual, orderly, patient, purposeful, and planned (Klimstra, 2012).…”

The validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of Quick Big Five Personality Test

“…But the Big-Five Personality Theory, which suggests personality traits can be assessed under the five-factor, has begun to come to the fore (1,2). Many researchers (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) agree about focus of personality can be grouped under five dimensions.…”

“…Openness to experience which another of the five factors includes traits such as creativity, curiosity, and openness to new ideas. People high in openness to experience are imaginative and sensitive (1,2,(8)(9)(10). Studies (1,(11)(12)(13) examined relations between depression, anxiety, aggression, loneliness, and self-esteem indicated that five personality factors negatively related to psychological problems, and positively related to psychological variables.…”

The Future of Identity Development Research: Reflections, Tensions, and Challenges

“…Finally, Lilgendahl's (this volume) chapter takes on a perennial question: what is the relation between identity and personality? There have been numerous empirical studies over the years examining the relations between identity status classifications and personality traits (e.g., extraversion, openness; see Klimstra, 2012). These studies, however, have not led to a very sophisticated understanding of the similarities and differences between these two constructs.…”