Research about personality differences and development is one of the longest and probably the most contentious argument in intellectual history. Behavioral research, particularly on the relative influence of environment and early childhood experience on the nurture and nature of personality development, has had significant progress over the last few decades. Remarkably, various personality studies in the past generation have led to conclusions that may result in a closure on the debate in favor of the strong perception that genes and environment are the only influencers of personality development. However, a controversy around new findings from recent studies shows that research on the subject matter cannot be retired yet. This paper reviews literature on a hypothetical study on the influence of environment and childhood experience in personality development. The paper will also outline a research design for the hypothetical study.
Literature review
An assessment of the developmental path connecting childhood temperament with adolescence substance abuse and antisocial behavior was conducted by Buil, van Lier, Brendgen, Koot and Vitaro (2017). The researchers’ explored three peer setting moderated developmental pathways that could describe how specific childhood dispositions can be seen later through substance use and felonious demeanor during adolescence. Four hundred and eleven Canadian children (52 percent boys and 49 percent girls) from six to fifteen years were sampled and assessed annually with permission from the children's guardians. The first path examined the presence of temperamental traits, traumatic experiences, attention-seeking, and negative reactions between the ages of six to seven years. The second trail assessed substance use, covert, and overt antisocial behavior between fourteen and fifteen years. The last path explored peer group affiliations, antisocial behavior, poor social preference, and exaggerated social self-perception tested through eight and eight to thirteen years.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The study outcomes indicated that negative reactivity had an indirect association with substance abuse and explicit antisocial behavior explained by poor social preference. Precisely, early childhood negative reactivity contributed to poor social preferences in adolescence and late childhood. The poor social feel among peers influenced more overt antisocial demeanour traits but with reduced use of substance during adolescence. Besides, poor social preference and adverse reactivity predicted an increase in all three adolescence outcomes. Further, the study indicated that peer group affiliations and self-social perceptions did not mediate childhood temperamental dispositions and experiences to adolescent outcomes under study. Over and above, the study did not report gender variances in developmental trails from childhood disposition to consequences during adolescence (Buil et al., 2017). The study recommended the recognition of the roles played by peer environmental factors, particularly poor social preference among peers. This would create a better understanding of personality developmental connecting childhood experiences and later outcomes.
Implications of adverse early age experiences, including childhood exposure to family dysfunction, maltreatment, and other traumatic ordeals on adolescents and young adults, have been extensively documented. However, vulnerability index markers for impulsive behavior among young victims of hostile childhood experiences are rarely researched. Based on this background, Shin et al., (2018) conducted a study to investigate how various forms of adverse early age experiences influenced risky behavior among young adults. The study used data collected from three hundred and thirty-six individuals between eighteen and twenty-five years who were randomly selected from the community and having read the introduction letter from the researchers detailing information confidentiality and the purpose of the study. Thirteen types of childhood adverse experiences were identified and categorized into four distinct classes using latent group analysis. The classes included low adverse experiences class, community violence, and family dysfunction, adverse emotional experiences, and multiple/high-class adverse experiences. Fifty-six percent of the respondents reported having experienced low-class adverse experiences, fourteen percent reported community violence, and family dysfunction, another fourteen percent for the emotional class of adverse experiences, and sixteen percent had experienced high-class types of early age adverse experiences.
Results of this study established that young adults who had experienced high class and adverse emotional experiences during childhood reported high negative urge tendencies and were highly impulsive relative to those who experienced low-class childhood adversities. The study held that early age exposure to multiple, high class, and adverse emotional experiences directly relates to impulsive behavior during early adult life (Shin et al., 2018).
Hart, Atkins and Matsuba (2008) steered research about the association between neighborhood economic disadvantage and children's change of undesired personality traits. The study's main objective was to examine the correlation between economic deprivation of neighborhood and early age change of undesired personality traits by analyzing a sample of national longitudinal youth survey. Study participants were divided into three categories. Time 1 included children between three and four years, Time 2 comprised kids between five and six years, and Time three represented children who remained in the study area during Time 1 and Time 2 assessments. The results of this study indicated that there was a relationship between neighborhood economic disadvantage and change of undesirable personality. Family level factors such as family economic status, cognitive support, maternal education, and emotional care for children in the family environment did not mediate the link between economic deprivation of neighbourhood and undesired personality alteration (Hart et al., 2008).
Tuvblad et al., (2017) investigated the effects of genetics and shared environment on personal traits Swedish twins aged 5 years. The overall objective of the study was to determine the influence of genetic and environmental aspects on behavioral issues, cognition, and emotional regulation. Questionnaires were emailed to kindergarten teachers, and guardians of the twins and non-respondents were issued with reminders at least three times. Available and complete father or mother responses were eight hundred and seventy-nine, resulting in a sample size of 1758 individual kids. 6this project obtained approval from the committee of ethics at Karolinska Institute.
Univariate results of the study indicated that genetic factors accounted for fifty-seven, twenty-five, and seventy-four percent of variances in deceitful, unemotional, and impulsive dimensions, respectively. Shared environment explained seventeen, forty-eight, and nine percent variation in deceitful, unemotional, and impulsive dimensions, respectively. The remaining twenty-six, twenty-seven, and seventeen percent variance in the three psychopathic personalities was attributed to the non-shared environment. The study did not report gender differences in environmental and genetic variance personality components. Scrutiny of the results revealed that deceitful, unemotional, and impulsive personality traits were moderately correlated. Shared environment and genetic influences moderated the correlation. In conclusion, Tuvblad et al., (2017) found that both genetic and ecological factors influence personality traits during childhood. Therefore, etiological models used in personality development traits would be more precise if they consider developmental stages during research.
In another study, Waldman, Rhee, Lo Paro and Park (2018), investigated the influences of family environment on personal traits development. The study adopted a descriptive design where one hundred and fifty kids (twenty-six girls and one hundred and four boys) were interviewed with the consent of their parents and that of the clinic management. The children had a mean of thirteen years (+/- 2.4 years). Three personality behaviors (maturity, intellect, and extraversion) were chosen from thirteen behavioral traits. The influences of the family environment, including child upbringing style, parental relationship, paternal and maternal contribution in child-rearing, socioeconomic status, number of siblings, birth order and sibling relationships on the three personality behaviors were assessed through a structural equation model.
The research found a negative relationship between extraversion and maternal contribution in child upbringing. Maturity positively correlated with the paternal contribution in child upbringing, high socioeconomic status, and appropriate upbringing. Further, the results found that intellect was correlated with maternal upbringing and high socioeconomic status. The results established that fourteen percent variation in maturity, eight percent in extraversion, and ten percent in intellect could be attributed to the family environment ( Waldman et al., 2018) .
Reviewed literature showed notable consistencies in pattern factors influencing personality development during adolescence and early adulthood. However, the literature brings out two perspectives on personality development. One argues that personality development is tied to childhood experiences, be they adverse or positive experiences. The other perspective holds family environment and intrinsic biological processes inspire adult personality traits. The reviewed studies have demonstrated consistency in terms of methods, samples, and results across ages. Researchers have demonstrated a strong sense of research ethics by seeking consent from parents and learning institutions before involving children in research. Research participants in the reviewed papers were reassured of confidentiality of information. Tuvblad et al., (2017), sought research approvals from the Karolinska Institute. The literature has scanty information on the stability of personality traits influenced by childhood experiences and environmental factors.
The research design of the present study
The present study will investigate the childhood experiences and environmental influences on personality development, aiming and determining the stage when the personality traits stabilize. The specific objective of this research will be to extend personality trait development by adding the aspect of maturity and stability of personal behaviors. The study will seek to answer the questions;
How do childhood experiences and environment influence personality traits?
At what stage of transition from childhood to adulthood do the personal traits gain stability?
The study will adopt a descriptive design since the phenomenon will be explained as it is without any manipulation. Appropriate sample size will be purposively selected to include male and female respondents who had a history of adverse childhood experiences. The study will use secondary data from multidimensional personal questionnaires from previous personality development studies. To uphold the aspect of research ethics, the researcher will acquire an approved introduction letter to ease the process of data collection. In addition, the researcher will seek consent to use the primary date from the relevant authorities and acknowledge the source in the study. Stability assessments will be done in three waves, during adolescence, where the mean age is seventeen years, at emerging adulthood with a mean age of twenty-four years and young adulthood where the mean age is twenty-nine.
References
Buil, J. M., Van Lier, P. A., Brendgen, M. R., Koot, H. M., & Vitaro, F. (2017). Developmental pathways linking childhood temperament with antisocial behavior and substance use in adolescence: Explanatory mechanisms in the peer environment. Journal of personality and social psychology , 112 (6), 948.
Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Matsuba, M. K. (2008). The association of neighborhood poverty with personality change in childhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 94 (6), 1048.
Shin, S. H., McDonald, S. E., & Conley, D. (2018). Profiles of adverse childhood experiences and impulsivity. Child abuse & neglect , 85 , 118-126.
Tuvblad , C., Fanti, K. A., Andershed, H., Colins, O. F., & Larsson, H. (2017). Psychopathic personality traits in 5-year-old twins: the importance of genetic and shared environmental influences. European child & adolescent psychiatry , 26 (4), 469-479.
Waldman, I. D., Rhee, S. H., LoParo, D., & Park, Y. (2018). Genetic and environmental influences on psychopathy and antisocial behavior. In Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, 1996, Earlier versions of this chapter were presented at the aforementioned conference and at the meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association in 1997 . The Guilford Press.
