Abstract
Recent research has illustrated the utility and accuracy of a thin-slice (TS) approach to child personality assessment, whereby unacquainted observers provide personality ratings of children after exposure to brief behavioral episodes. The current study sought to expand on this approach by exploring formal multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) models for child TS data comprising ratings from a comprehensive set of TS situations. Results using data from a sample of 326 community children 9-10 years of age indicated that a correlated traits, correlated methods (CTCM) model can be used to represent individual differences in children's behavior as manifest across different situations. Indicator variables derived from a CTCM differentially correlated with traditional parental ratings of behavior, moreover, and provide predictive and incremental validity regarding child competencies and behavior. Results illustrate the utility of a TS approach in the assessment of childhood personality and inform understanding of issues encountered in applying different MTMM models to these types of empirical data.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 545-556 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Psychological assessment |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2019 |
Funding
Support for this research was provided by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to Jennifer L. Tackett.
Keywords
- Child personality
- Multiple informants
- Multitrait-multimethod matrix
- Thin slice
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Clinical Psychology