Richard W. Robins

The present study: (1) tested whether a structure of common mental disorders within the hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology was invariant from late childhood to adolescence in a sample of Mexican-origin youth, (2) examined the developmental course of psychopathology at different levels of the hierarchy, and (3) tested the degree to which changes in psychopathology were associated with changes in the Big Five personality domains. Results were consistent with the longitudinal hierarchical invariance of common mental disorders from age 12 to 17 (n = 674). Further, initial levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability were positively associated with lower initial levels of a higher-order factor of psychopathology, and increases in extraversion and decreases in neuroticism were associated with decreases in a higher-order factor of psychopathology, which captured the general tendency for externalizing, internalizing, and attention-hyperactivity-related dimensions of psychopathology to correlate. Results of the present study indicate that a hierarchicial model of common mental disorders extends to Mexican-origin youth and that developmental change in Big Five personality are related to developmental change in psychopathology.

Why do some individuals have more self-control or are more vulnerable to stress than others? Where do these basic personality traits come from? Although a fundamental question in personality, more is known about how traits are related to important life outcomes than their developmental origins. The present research took an intergenerational life span approach to address whether a significant aspect of the childhood environment-parental educational attainment-was associated with offspring personality traits in adulthood. We tested the association between parents' educational levels and adult offspring personality traits in 7 samples (overall age range 14-95) and meta-analytically combined the results (total N > 60,000). Parents with more years of education had children who were more open, extraverted, and emotionally stable as adults. These associations were small but consistent, of similar modest magnitude to the association between life events and change in personality in adulthood, and were also supported by longitudinal analyses. Contrary to expectations, parental educational attainment was unrelated to offspring Conscientiousness, except for a surprisingly negative association in the younger cohorts. The results were similar in a subsample of participants who were adopted, which suggested that environmental mechanisms were as relevant as shared genetic variants. Participant levels of education were associated with greater conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, and openness and partially mediated the relation between parent education and personality. Child IQ and family income were also partial mediators. The results of this research suggest that parental educational attainment is 1 intergenerational factor associated with offspring personality development in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record