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The role of heredity in personality development and character disorder has been studied by a variety of means. These include investigation of twins and/or families, using clinical ratings, personality scales, or psychological tests; observation of neonates and infants; and longitudinal description of discordant pairs of twins. Attention to the interaction of heredity and environment provides new strategies for prevention and treatment.
For the past nine years my colleagues and I have been working on a theory of adult psychosocial development in men (Levinson et al., 1974, 1977; Levinson, 1977). We have started some research on women (Stewart, 1977), but it is too early yet to report definitive theory or findings. Our aim is to encompass the many components of a man's life-all of his relationships with individuals, groups, and institutions that have significance for him. The components of life include his occupation and its evolution over the years, his love relationships, marriage, and family life, his various other roles and careers in numerous social contexts. This psychosocial approach includes the man's personality and the ways in which it influences and is influenced by the evolution of his careers in occupation, family, and other systems. The resulting theory is not a theory of personality development, nor of occupational development, nor of development in any single aspect of living. It deals, rather, with the development of the individual life in the broadest sense, encompassing all of these segments. This theory provides a context within which we can study in more detail the development of personality and of particular careers. I shall briefly describe the developmental periods we discovered in early and middle adulthood, giving major emphasis to one period, the Mid-life Transition. Like childhood and adolescence, these periods are found in the lives of all men. Of ourse, men traverse them in myriad ways, as a result of differences in class, ethnicity, personality, and other factors. My primary aim is to present some of our major concepts, hypotheses, findings, and ways of thinking about adult development. None of them have been fully validated. Together, they comprise a framework for the analysis of adult development. No doubt the theory will be modified an extended as a result of further investigation.
This paper examines whether relationships can be demonstrated between specific infantile comfort habits and later personality development. Indications of aspects of personality at 11 and 16 yr were derived from structured, but open-ended, interviews with the children's mothers. Some reliable statistical associations are shown, and these are maintained even when allowance is made for sex, social class and family size differences in the two samples. They suggest that children with a persistent oral habit at 4 yr may later be less 'well-adjusted' emotionally and more difficult for their parents to influence and control than other children. Possible interpretations are discussed.
In a longitudinal study, internationally adopted children (N = 146) placed before 6 months of age were followed from infancy to age 7. Results showed that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament was associated with higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Higher quality of child-mother relationships, in terms of attachment security and maternal sensitivity, uniquely predicted better social and cognitive development. The combination of attachment disorganization and difficult temperament predicted less optimal ego-control and lower levels of cognitive development. It is concluded that even in adopted children, who are not biologically related to their adoptive parents, early mother-infant interactions and attachment relationships predict later socioemotional and cognitive development, beyond infant temperament and gender.
Personality traits and most anxiety disorders are strongly related. In this article, we review existing evidence for ways in which personality traits may relate to anxiety disorders: 1) as predisposing factors, 2) as consequences, 3) as results of common etiologies, and 4) as pathoplastic factors. Based on current information, we conclude the following: 1) Personality traits such as high neuroticism, low extraversion, and personality disorder traits (particularly those from Cluster C) are at least markers of risk for certain anxiety disorders; 2) Remission from panic disorder is generally associated with partial "normalization" of personality traits; 3) Anxiety disorders in early life may influence personality development; 4) Anxiety disorders and personality traits are usefully thought of as spectra of common genetic etiologies; and 5) Extremes of personality traits indicate greater dysfunction in patients with anxiety disorders.
BACKGROUND: Persons with chronic kidney disease who need kidney replacement therapy to sustain life have health insurance. We examined whether young adults, women, blacks, less-educated persons, the poor, and persons residing in less populated areas receive treatment when health insurance is no longer a barrier. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study nested in the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Mortality Study. Cases were persons treated with kidney replacement therapy determined by linkage to the end-stage renal disease treatment registry. Controls were untreated persons with kidney disease who died not appearing in the registry. RESULTS: During 12 to 16 years, 44 persons developed treated disease, and 145 persons, untreated disease. After adjustment for sex, age, education, population of residential area, and comorbid conditions in logistic regression analysis, younger versus older age and living in a highly populated versus less populated area were both independently associated with treatment (relative odds of treatment, 5.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.72 to 18.0; and 4.33; 95% confidence interval, 2.09 to 8.97, respectively). Race, sex, education, and poverty were not associated with less treatment. CONCLUSION: We found no disparity in life-saving chronic kidney disease treatment with regard to race or socioeconomic status in this population-based study. Less receipt of treatment by older adults may reflect greater comorbid disease or choices made by persons or their providers. Strategies to render treatment in less populated areas, including incentives to deliver care to such areas, should be encouraged.
Between 1919 and 1956, psychologists at the University of Toronto built a research program in developmental psychology on a functionalist, holistic, and ecological basis. They conducted longitudinal studies on mental health in growing children in educational settings instead of in laboratories and formed strong alliances with the local educational system in order to do so. They initially defined mental health as adjustment and considered conditions within schools to be conducive to its attainment. After developing a psychological theory of personality development, they came to view educational conditions as discouraging the development of mental health. The alliance between the educational system and psychology consequently unraveled, and the program declined.
Very few methods have been shown to change prescribing behaviour. Queensland Rural Medical Support Agency's Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Program aims to engage rural general practitioners (GPs) in the development of strategies to improve health outcomes in relation to the quality use of medicines. The present paper describes the development of a tool to audit the management of heart failure in rural general practice and to encourage rural GPs to undertake such an audit as a method of continuing medical education. A self-administered retrospective clinical audit of heart failure patients was undertaken by rural and remote GPs. Fourteen doctors undertook the audit, providing data on 270 patient cases. Patient data collected include 30% not receiving adequate angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor doses, 45% of patients who may benefit from a beta-blocker and 14% of patients taking a drug known to aggravate heart failure. The majority of participants would review a patient following the audit and 93% confirmed that the audit assisted them in identifying patients whose heart failure management could be enhanced. The clinical audit provided results and a commentary to allow GPs reflective educational opportunities through the dissemination of results and engagement with appropriate educational organisations (e.g. Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine) to inform the development of educational standards for personal development programs in QUM. Audits must be relevant and practical to meet the learning needs of GPs.
This paper demonstrates how collaboration among student development educators and university instructors can utilize the content of academic courses to facilitate personal development in adolescent college students. Through an application of Chickering's (1969) seven vectors of human development (which occur during adolescence and early adulthood), this objective was accomplished in a course entitled Drinking and Driving: Legal and Social Aspects. Essay exams were analyzed for self-reported anecdotal behavioral examples of developmental growth attributable to participation in this course. Analysis of the results indicated that the class content had a definite developmental impact on the students, in addition to intellectual growth. By helping academic educators recognize that within their course content and structure they can and do affect adolescents on many developmental dimensions, the end result can be a richer, holistic educational experience for students.
Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality--ways of approaching and responding to the world--across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life--temporal and situational--to which personality research should attend.
A longitudinal study of elderly persons found evidence of personality development even in advanced old age. Five traits, similar to traits found in younger persons, were identified. Although considerable continuity was found, change also was apparent. An increase in agreeableness was observed for the old-old, bringing their scores up to the level maintained by the oldest-old. Two traits were stable: satisfaction (65% did not change reliably) and intellect (63% did not change reliably). A decline in extraversion occurred in both age groups. Energetic, in which 40% declined, may be more affected than the other traits by external, environmental circumstances. The study confirms the findings of longitudinal studies of children and younger adults and extends them into the final stages of life.
The psychosocial development of psychiatrically ill and mentally healthy young adults is being explored in a series of comparative studies based on developmental tasks typical of this age. In a first study a patient group was compared with a control group with the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire as an indicator of patterns of psychosocial adaptation thus far. The patients showed significantly poorer adaptation on 10 dimensions of psychosocial life. In relation to a representative sample of young adults they especially reported disturbances in their own personality development and in family relations, but judged their adaptation to norms for behavior in public as less impaired. The nonpsychotic patients had a significantly less favorable pattern of self-concepts than the psychotic patients. The patients with affective disorders had a relatively healthy profile of psychosocial development compared with the schizophrenic patients. There was no significant difference between patients with schizophrenia of the disorganized type and other schizophrenic patients. There was a close relationship between subjective measures of self-concept and objective measures of psychosocial development, e.g. premorbid adaptation and current psychosocial development, e.g. premorbid adaptation and current psychosocial competence, in the different subgroups. The findings on self-concept seemed to be largely independent of the present severity of psychopathology.
This is a review about the secular acceleration of psychic an somatic development over the last two decades. Based on empirical studies published in this field, the final tendency of this trend in growth and puberty, its continuance in sexual behaviour and mental capacity, as the possible consequences for personality development are discussed. The secular trend is interpreted as an effect of modification limited for genetic and ecological reasons.
The average CFO is 40 years old and has been in his current position for six years. He (CFOs are still overwhelmingly male) earns $56,615 a year and has increasing responsibility for nontraditional finance functions such as loan administration and real estate management. Furthermore, the CFO is assuming responsibility for other areas such as medical records and contract negotiation. In his professional development, the CFO is becoming increasingly interested in strategic planning, cost accounting to determine pricing, management skills, new business development, and government reimbursement policies. In his personal development, the CFO in finding such personal traits as motivation, drive, the ability to achieve tangible benefits, and strong personal values as ingredients of a successful CFO.
In a longitudinal study, the personalities of children from intact families at ages 3, 4, and 7 were reliably assessed by independent sets of raters using Q-items reflecting important psychological characteristics of children. A number of these families subsequently experienced divorce. The behavior of boys was found, as early as 11 years prior to parental separation or formal dissolution of marriage, to be consistently affected by what can be presumed to be predivorce familial stress. The behavior of boys from subsequently divorcing families was characterized by undercontrol of impulse, aggression, and excessive energy prior to parental divorce. The behavior of girls from subsequently divorcing families was found to be notably less affected by the stresses in families prior to parental divorce. The prospective relations afforded by the longitudinal analyses suggest that the behavior of conflicting, inaccessible parents during the preseparation period may have serious consequences for personality development, especially for boys. Hence, some characteristics of children commonly seen to be a consequence of divorce may be present prior to marital dissolution.
The selective review of the enormous literature on student personality development and mental health shows that three sets of variables have been found to influence the personality of the university student. These variables include pre-university factors, contemporary experience in the university and the status of the student as an adolescent or young adult. As very little information is presently available on the psychology of the African university student, there is urgent need for systematic research in this area.
Family rules occur in groups of five and more. Because they are implicit and multi-dimensional, family rules are beyond visualization. These characteristics have unsettling effects on clinicians and researchers. Knowing the rules of a family, however, allows precise intervention, and using rules concepts makes learning family therapy techniques less threatening to students. The concept of homeostasis in the context of rules has been examined and placed in an understandable perspective. Rules provide the connection between family process and individual behavior. They also constitute an integrated theory of families and individual personality development.
Personality development is a dynamic process involving life forces, instinct drives, growth processes, life stresses, reactions to significant persons, both in and out of the family, and reactions to the environment in general, along with the mastery of methods and techniques for coping in solving problems and in providing for the satisfaction of one's needs. The love and fear of flying and the motivation and conflicts in flying involve many personality factors which deserve careful evaluation in selection of pilot and other flight personnel. These personality factors, variations, and traits also require close surveillance of pilot personnel by flight surgeons, aviation medical and operational personnel in predicting and preventing potential breakdown or difficulties and, more importantly, in the interest of maintaining optimum personnel effectiveness, proficiency, and safety in aviation.