Based on over 50,000 parental descriptors of children gathered in eight different countries, we used a combination of focus group sorting of descriptors in each country and factor analyses of instruments developed in four of the countries (United States, China, Greece, and the Netherlands) to describe children ages 3 to 12 years to select items for an instrument that would work well across countries to access personality. Through many factor analyses of indigenous items in each country, a core set of 141 items was used in three of the countries, with over 3000 parents responding to our instruments in China, Greece, and the United States. Much cross-comparative research analysis has resulted in 15 robust midlevel scales that describe the structures of parental descriptors that are common to the three countries. The data on the English (U.S.) sample are presented in detail. Links to temperament and behavior problems are presented and discussed.

Childhood personality is a rapidly growing area of investigation within individual differences research. One understudied topic is the universality of the hierarchical structure of childhood personality. In the present investigation, parents rated the personality characteristics of 3,751 children from 5 countries and 4 age groups. The hierarchical structure of childhood personality was examined for 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-factor models across country (Canada, China, Greece, Russia, and the United States) and age group (3-5, 6-8, 9-11, and 12-14 years of age). Many similarities were noted across both country and age. The Five-Factor Model was salient beginning in early childhood (ages 3-5). Deviations across groups and from adult findings are noted, including the prominent role of antagonism in childhood personality and the high covariation between Conscientiousness and intellect. Future directions, including the need for more explicit attempts to merge temperament and personality models, are discussed.

Because of the impressive replicability of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) in adult personality psychology, developmental psychologists have recently begun a search for the antecedents of these five adult dimensions in childhood. The FFM originates in rating scales applied to 'personality words ', notably adjectives, selected from dictionaries. To test the explanatory power of the FFM as a model for individual differences in childhood, we used a different source for the lexicon of personality. Parents of children aged 3,6,9, and 12 years were asked simply 'to describe your child'. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed literally and then coded using an elaborate coding scheme. W e here describe data from three of the countries involved in this crosscultural project (Holland, Belgium, and Greece). The data are the results of coding free descriptions for a total of I86 3-year-olh and 229 9-year-olh. These data represent the first phase of a four-phase project that includes researchers from The Netherlands, , the U S A , and China. Results from this first phase were very similar over the participating countries although there were some interesting culture-specijk differences. In the second phase, questionnaire items based on the free descriptors in each category of the coding scheme will be written by the research teams. G. A . Kohnstamm et al. Such items will be rated by new samples ofparents. Factor analyses will reduce the item pool to about one hundred items. These will then be given to new samples of parents of children of the ages indicated above.In the last phase, the factor structures will be compared across cultures and be analysed for their resemblance to the FFM, as well as other models of the structure of temperament and personality in childhood.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the dimensions of career indecision among a sample of Greek high school students ( N = 848) and to classify the students of the sample in regard to their career decision status. A second objective is the investigation of the relationship between career decision status groups and generalized self-efficacy, coping strategies, and vocational interests. The results suggest that four factors contribute to career indecision: absence of structure, need for career guidance, diffusion of interests, and personal conflict. The clustering procedure indicates that the students of the sample could be classified in three career indecision cluster groups: decided, exploring possibilities, and undecided. These cluster groups differ in all four career indecision factors, generalized self-efficacy, coping strategies, and vocational interests. Results are discussed in terms of a career counseling framework.

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