Emergence and Construct Validation of the Big Five Factors in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Analysis of Their Ontogeny in Sweden

Abstract

Researchers have shown that the five major dimensions of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) and two additional factors (irritability and positive activity) are evident from adolescence. This study attempted to replicate and extend these results in a longitudinal study of 102 Swedish children, followed from 2.3 to 15.2 years of age. Item analyses revealed consistently reliable irritability, conscientiousness, and positive activity factors, whereas the internal reliability of the extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience factors increased over time. Irritability and positive activity were not independent of the other factors. Scores on most of the personality factors were fairly stable over time. Over time, children became less extraverted, more agreeable, and more conscientious. Neuroticism and openness to experience increased in Phase III, although openness then decreased in Phase V. Validity of the original factors was demonstrated by correlations with independent assessments of the children's cognitive performance and adjustment to school.

Individual differences in preschool children: temperament or personality?

“…Clearly, the 18-item set currently comprising the Openness scale lacks coherence and homogeneity. Low internal consistency for the Openness factor has also been reported by other researchers using different methods of measuring the Big 5 (Caspi & Shiner, 2006;Lamb, Chuang, Wessels, Broberg, & Hwang, 1996). On a conceptual level, most people would accept the proposition that young children do exhibit variation in a trait parallel to Openness in adults; for example, curiosity and exploratory behaviour are well-researched patterns in this age group.…”

The developmental psychometrics of big five self-reports: Acquiescence, factor structure, coherence, and differentiation from ages 10 to 20.

“…On the one hand, some researchers have moved toward accepting the Big Five as a representation of basic personality trait dimensions in childhood and adolescence (e.g., Digman, 1994;Goldberg, 2001;Halverson et al, 2003;Kohnstamm, Halverson, Mervielde, & Havill, 1998). On the other hand, several findings are not easily reconciled with the canonical Big Five structure (e.g., Hampson & Goldberg, 2006;John, Caspi, Robins, Moffitt, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1994;Lamb, Chuang, Wessels, Broberg, & Hwang, 2002;van Lieshout & Haselager, 1994), and further research is needed before the issue can be considered settled.…”

Temperament, Personality and Developmental Psychopathology: A Review Based on the Conceptual Dimensions Underlying Childhood Traits

“…To date, several independent research groups traced five-factor-like dimensions in adolescents and children by adopting a variety of strategies, informants, and methods of assessment [for an overview; 6] and demonstrated that these variables are meaningfully linked to the five dimensions established in adults [54]. Recent studies have retrieved these five personality factors from adult ratings of children as young as age 2 [55], age 3-4 [e.g., 56,57], and even from self-reports of children aged 5 [58].…”