The Relations between Narrative Identity and Personality Pathology among Clinical Adolescents: Findings from a Multi-Ethnic Asian Sample.

Adolescence is a period where personality difficulties can start emerging. At the same time, a great deal of development in narrative identity takes place. Given that identity impairments are a key feature in personality pathology, it is useful to understand how pathological traits and narrative identity features are related. The current study addressed this by linking pathological personality trait domains to narrative identity features in clinically-referred Singaporean adolescents. Participants (n = 118, Mage = 16.82) wrote narratives about a turning point in their lives. These narratives were coded for themes of agency, communion, self-event connection, redemption, and coherence. Communion was significantly and substantially associated with pathological trait domains of negative affectivity, detachment, disinhibition, and psychoticism, although the effect sizes were modest. Whether a lack of communion themes contribute to the development of personality pathology or whether the former is an expression of the latter is an open question for future research.

A person-centered approach to resilience and vulnerability in emerging adulthood: Predictions from parenting and personality in adolescence.

In this person-centered study, we identified different profiles of resilience and vulnerability in emerging adulthood in response to previously experienced stressful life events. Additionally, we examined whether mothers' and fathers' parenting and participants' personality traits in adolescence predicted these profiles. Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development (N = 346 families) were used. At T1 (2004; Mage = 11 years), T2 (2007), and T3 (2009), mothers and fathers reported on their parenting and their child's personality. At T4 (2018; Mage = 25 years), emerging adults retrospectively self-reported the occurrence and impact of 22 stressful life events and rated current behavior problems and subjective well-being. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: Competent (71%; low stress, low behavior problems, high subjective well-being), Vulnerable (21%; average stress, high behavior problems, low subjective well-being), and Resilient (9%; high stress, average behavior problems, average subjective well-being). Emerging adults in the Resilient profile had experienced higher levels of maternal positive parenting and were less emotionally stable and conscientious than those in the Competent profile. Furthermore, emerging adults in the Vulnerable profile were less emotionally stable than their peers in the Competent profile. These findings reveal new insights into the heterogeneous patterns of emerging adults' adaptation following stressful life events.

An agenda for establishing the DSM-5 alternative model of personality disorder (AMPD) trait model in adolescence: Comment on Clark and Watson (2022).

In the years since the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), considerable progress has been made in understanding the structure of the traits included in the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) in adulthood. In the next phase of research, the structure of the pathological trait model needs to be established more firmly in adolescence as well. There is promising evidence from studies of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5; Krueger et al., 2012) that the structure of pathological traits in adolescents shows considerable overlap with the structure in adult samples, but it is premature to conclude that the structure is entirely the same. To make additional progress in assessing personality pathology in youth, measures should be developed in multiple formats and for multiple informants; normal-range personality trait constructs should be included in measures for research and clinical use in young people; and research should incorporate Clark and Watson's (2022) recommendations to add new facets and the domain of Anankastia to adolescent measures of personality pathology. Adolescents stand to benefit from a trait taxonomy in the AMPD that more explicitly includes them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Narrating life in the military: Links between veterans' narrative processing of service experiences and their posttraumatic stress symptoms and well-being.

Military veterans frequently experience traumatic, highly stressful events; thus, it is especially important for them to find positive ways of making meaning from these experiences. The present study used the methods of narrative personality psychology to investigate the associations between veterans' narrative processing of highly stressful and significant events from their military service and postdischarge functioning, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). United States military veterans (N = 154; M age = 64.28 years, 86.4% men, 57.8% deployed) completed an online survey in which they wrote narratives about one "highly stressful" and one "key scene" military service memory and completed questionnaires to assess PTSS, symptoms of depression and anxiety, functional impairment, and well-being. Narratives were coded for personal growth from the experience, themes of agency and interpersonal communion, affective tone, and coherence. In the highly stressful narratives, small-to-moderate negative associations emerged between both growth and agency and PTSS, depression and anxiety, and functional impairment; growth was also modestly positively associated with well-being. In contrast, affective tone and communion were each only associated modestly with one outcome, and coherence with none, and narrative processing of the key scene narrative was not linked with any mental health outcomes. These findings suggest that (1) the theory and methods of narrative identity research are relevant for studying trauma narratives, and (2) veterans who narrate themselves as growing from and exerting control over their most stressful service experiences may achieve better mental health and day-to-day functioning.

The development of narrative identity and the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence.

Narrative identity is likely to be important in the development of personality disorder (PD) in adolescence. Adolescents' life narratives provide rich material that is near to their lived experiences and reveal individual differences in self and relatedness and in ways of constructing meaning. Narrative identity is linked with well-being and psychopathology and shapes coping with adversity. Preliminary research suggests that adolescents and adults with PD narrate their lives in ways that are more negative and express lower agency; narratives may also contain content reflecting PD symptoms. Youth's narrative identities may express personality disturbances in self and relationship processes and may affect the consolidation of or recovery from emerging PD in the transition to adulthood - all possibilities worthy of future investigation.

Linking narrative identity with schizotypal personality disorder features in adolescents.

Adolescents with schizotypal personality disorder (STPD) features such as odd thinking and bizarre fantasies may have difficulty developing effective life narratives. Their autobiographical memories likely will include aberrant, stressful experiences that are difficult to integrate into a cohesive, healthy sense of self. Moreover, these adolescents are likely to face relationship difficulties with both family members and peers who typically play an important role in narrative identity formation. We examined the link between STPD features and narrative identity in adolescence. Dutch community-dwelling adolescents, 125 with high-STPD features and 1,417 with low-STPD features, wrote life narratives about a turning point in their lives. These narratives were coded for a variety of features including the theme of agency, self-event connections, redemption sequences, and Cluster A- and STPD-like symptom descriptions. We found that the turning point narratives of adolescents with high STPD trait levels were significantly less likely to be agentic and redemptive, but more likely to contain Cluster A- and STPD-like symptom descriptions than the narratives of adolescents with low STPD trait levels. However, there were no significant associations of STPD trait levels with self-event connections. All the findings were robust and consistent. The current study demonstrated that early emerging personality disturbances may manifest themselves in aspects of personality other than traits-specifically, in the narratives young people are developing about important experiences in their lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Child personality facets and overreactive parenting as predictors of aggression and rule-breaking trajectories from childhood to adolescence.

This study examined trajectories of aggression and rule breaking during the transition from childhood to adolescence (ages 9-15), and determined whether these trajectories were predicted by lower order personality facets, overreactive parenting, and their interaction. At three time points separated by 2-year intervals, mothers and fathers reported on their children's aggression and rule breaking (N = 290, M age = 8.8 years at Time 1). At Time 1, parents reported on their children's personality traits and their own overreactivity. Growth mixture modeling identified three aggression trajectories (low decreasing, high decreasing, and high increasing) and two rule-breaking trajectories (low and high). Lower optimism and compliance and higher energy predicted trajectories for both aggression and rule breaking, whereas higher expressiveness and irritability and lower orderliness and perseverance were unique risk factors for increasing aggression into adolescence. Lower concentration was a unique risk factor for increasing rule breaking. Parental overreactivity predicted higher trajectories of aggression but not rule breaking. Only two Trait × Overreactivity interactions were found. Our results indicate that personality facets could differentiate children at risk for different developmental trajectories of aggression and rule breaking.

Developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive problems during the transition from childhood to adolescence: personality × parenting interactions.

This study examined separate developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms from childhood to adolescence (9-15 years) in a community-based sample (N = 290). At three measurement points, mothers and fathers reported on their children's anxious and depressive symptoms, and at Time 1 they reported on lower order child personality facets and on their parenting. By means of growth mixture modeling, three developmental trajectories were identified for anxious symptoms: steady low (82%), moderate increasing-decreasing (5.9%), and high declining groups (12.1%). For depressive symptoms, two developmental trajectories were found: steady low (94.1%) and moderate increasing groups (5.9%). Higher shyness, irritability, and altruism predicted membership in more problematic anxious and depressive groups. The personality facets energy, optimism, compliance, and anxiety were unique predictors for class membership for anxious symptoms, and the effects of shyness, irritability, and compliance were moderated by overreactive parenting. Shyness and irritability increased the probability of following the moderate increasing-decreasing anxiety trajectory, but only in the context of high or average levels of overreactive parenting. Compliance increased the probability of following the moderate increasing-decreasing and high decreasing trajectories in the context of high overreactive parenting. Our results indicate that childhood personality facets differentiate trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms in theoretically compelling ways.

Personality types in childhood: relations to latent trajectory classes of problem behavior and overreactive parenting across the transition into adolescence.

This study investigated relations among children's personality types, trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems, and overreactive parenting across 6 years. Latent Class Analysis of the Big 5 personality dimensions (modeled as latent factors, based on mother, father and teacher reports) for 429 children (mean age 8 years at Time 1) replicated the Resilient, Under-, and Overcontroller types. Latent Class Growth Analysis of externalizing and internalizing problems (modeled as latent factors, based on mother and father reports), revealed that Undercontrollers were at greater risk of belonging to a high/decreasing externalizing problem class and a high/stable co-occurring problem class than were Resilients. Overcontrollers were more likely to be in a high/stable internalizing class and less likely to be in the externalizing problem class, but only at low levels of parental overreactivity. Undercontrollers appeared at double risk as they were at risk for high overreactive parenting, which was an independent risk-factor for the elevated problem trajectories. Because childhood personality types were a risk factor for adjustment problems that persisted into adolescence, Under- and Overcontrollers might be considered as a target for early intervention, with a focus on overreactive parenting for Undercontrollers specifically.

Childhood personality as a harbinger of competence and resilience in adulthood.

This study examined the significance of childhood Big Five personality traits for competence and resilience in early adulthood. Resilience was defined in terms of adaptive success in age-salient developmental tasks despite significant adversity throughout childhood/adolescence. The Project Competence Longitudinal Study tracked 205 young people from childhood (around age 10) to emerging adulthood (EA, age 20) and young adulthood (YA, age 30; 90% retention). Multimethod composites were created for personality traits, adversity exposure, and adult outcomes of academic achievement, work, rule-abiding conduct, friendship, and romantic relationships. Regressions showed significant main effects of childhood personality predicting adult outcomes, controlling for adversity, with few interaction effects. In person-focused analyses, the resilient group in EA and YA (high competence, high adversity) showed higher childhood conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness and lower neuroticism than the maladaptive group (low competence, high adversity). The competent (high competence, low adversity) and resilient groups showed similar childhood traits. Turnaround cases, who changed from the maladaptive group in EA to the resilient group in YA, exhibited higher childhood conscientiousness than persistently maladaptive peers. Findings suggest that children on pathways to success in adulthood, whether facing low or high adversity, have capacities for emotion regulation, empathy and connection, dedication to schoolwork, and mastery and exploration.

The development of personality disorders: perspectives from normal personality development in childhood and adolescence.

The developmental pathways leading to personality disorders are poorly understood, but clues to these pathways come from recent research on personality disorders and normal personality development in childhood and adolescence. The first section of this paper reviews recent work on personality disorders in childhood and adolescence, and concludes that personality disorders in adolescence are already prevalent, moderately stable, and impairing. The second section draws on McAdams and Pals' personality model to offer a taxonomy of personality differences that can account for the known patterns of emerging personality pathology. This taxonomy includes youths' temperament and personality traits, mental representations (including attachment), coping strategies, and narrative identities. Individual differences in all of these domains may play critical roles in the development, manifestation, and course of personality disorders. Existing knowledge of normal and abnormal personality development can inform future research on the developmental pathways leading to personality pathology, the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders, and the development of validated treatments for personality disorders in the first two decades of life.

A developmental perspective on personality disorders: lessons from research on normal personality development in childhood and adolescence.

Recent work on normal personality development in children and adolescents points to several conclusions that are relevant for understanding personality pathology. First, child temperament and adult personality traits share many features in common. Second, youths' individual differences can be described in terms of the Big Five personality traits observed in adults; an integrative taxonomy of individual differences in childhood and adolescence is articulated in this article. Third, personality is already moderately stable by the preschool years, but considerable personality change occurs well into the adult years. Taken together, these findings suggest that childhood personality functioning can and should be integrated into developmental research and applied work on personality disorders.

Personality development: stability and change.

In this review, we evaluate four topics in the study of personality development where discernible progress has been made since 1995 (the last time the area of personality development was reviewed in this series). We (a) evaluate research about the structure of personality in childhood and in adulthood, with special attention to possible developmental changes in the lower-order components of broad traits; (b) summarize new directions in behavioral genetic studies of personality; (c) synthesize evidence from longitudinal studies to pinpoint where and when in the life course personality change is most likely to occur; and (d) document which personality traits influence social relationships, status attainment, and health, and the mechanisms by which these personality effects come about. In each of these four areas, we note gaps and identify priorities for further research.

Childhood personality foreshadows adult personality and life outcomes two decades later.

In a normative sample of 205 children ages 8-12, tracked into adulthood, we examined the predictive links between four childhood personality traits--Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgency, and Agreeableness--and adult personality and adaptation 20 years later. Personality demonstrated modest to moderate continuity over those two decades and showed significant predictive validity for success in adult life, including academic attainment, work competence, rule-abiding versus antisocial conduct, and romantic and friend relationships. Results indicated that personality shows coherent patterns over time in terms of both stability and linkages to adaptive behavior. Explicating the processes underlying such patterns is the next frontier for a truly developmental science of personality.

A developmental perspective on personality in emerging adulthood: childhood antecedents and concurrent adaptation.

Personality and competence were examined in a community sample of 205 children ages 8-12 who were followed up 10 years later in emerging adulthood (ages 17-23). Adult Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON) were presaged by childhood personality. PEM was associated with current success in social and romantic relationships. Low CON was associated with childhood and current antisocial conduct. NEM was broadly linked to childhood and current maladaptation, consistent with the possibility that failure in major developmental tasks increases NEM. Findings highlight the pervasive linkage of NEM to maladaptation and suggest that adult personality may develop from processes embedded in childhood adaptation as well as childhood personality.