Current Status and Challenges in the Assessment of the Personality Trait Spectrum in Youth

Abstract

Developments in the assessment of general and maladaptive personality traits in children and adolescents have been reviewed in the present paper, with an emphasis on instruments based on the Five-Factor Model (FFM), such as the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC; Mervielde & De Fruyt, 1999), which describes general traits, and the Dimensional Personality Symptom Item Pool (DIPSI; De Clercq, De Fruyt, Van Leeuwen, & Mervielde, 2006), which accounts for maladaptive traits. We have additionally discussed measures available in Japanese, to assess traits in children, adolescents, and adults, and pertaining issues in cross-cultural personality research, especially with respect to Western and Asian differences. Finally, a number of key implementation areas for personality assessment have been identified, together with some challenges for this promising field of research.View full abstract