TY - JOUR
T1 - The emergence of sex differences in personality traits in early adolescence
T2 - A cross-sectional, cross-cultural study
AU - De Bolle, Marleen
AU - De Fruyt, Filip
AU - McCrae, Robert R.
AU - Löckenhoff, Corinna E.
AU - Costa, Paul T.
AU - Aguilar-Vafaie, Maria E.
AU - Ahn, Chang Kyu
AU - Ahn, Hyun Nie
AU - Alcalay, Lidia
AU - Simonetti, Franco
AU - Allik, Jüri
AU - Avdeyeva, Tatyana V.
AU - Bratko, Denis
AU - Brunner-Sciarra, Marina
AU - Cain, Thomas R.
AU - Chan, Wayne
AU - Chittcharat, Niyada
AU - Vanno, Vitanya
AU - Crawford, Jarret T.
AU - Fehr, Ryan
AU - Ficková, Emília
AU - Gelfand, Michele J.
AU - Graf, Sylvie
AU - Hřebíčková, Martina
AU - Gülgöz, Sami
AU - Jussim, Lee
AU - Klinkosz, Waldemar
AU - Sekowski, Andrzej
AU - Knežević, Goran
AU - Purić, Danka
AU - De Figueroa, Nora Leibovich
AU - Schmidt, Vanina
AU - Lima, Margarida P.
AU - Martin, Thomas A.
AU - Marušić, Iris
AU - Mastor, Khairul Anwar
AU - Nakazato, Katsuharu
AU - Nansubuga, Florence
AU - Porrata, Jose
AU - Realo, Anu
AU - Reátegui, Norma
AU - Rolland, Jean Pierre
AU - Shakespeare-Finch, Jane
AU - Shimonaka, Yoshiko
AU - Siuta, Jerzy
AU - Szmigielska, Barbara
AU - Wang, Lei
AU - Yik, Michelle
AU - Terracciano, Antonio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed.
AB - Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Cross-cultural
KW - Personality
KW - Sex differences
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U2 - 10.1037/a0038497
DO - 10.1037/a0038497
M3 - Article
C2 - 25603371
AN - SCOPUS:84925408202
VL - 108
SP - 171
EP - 185
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
SN - 0022-3514
IS - 1
ER -