Lo studio della personalità in una prospettiva longitudinale: Misura e relazioni con intelligenza, profitto scolastico e indicatori di buono/cattivo adattamento

This study evaluates the relationship between the dimensions of personality, intelligence and indicators of adjustment. The research is part of a longitudinal study devoted to the identification of risk factors and protective factors for the wellbeing of adolescents. In particular, the work is divided into three different studies. First is dedicated to the validation of two alternative forms of Big Five Questionnaire for Children, in particular a reduced form of 30 items and an application of the technique of Peer Nomination to the Five Factor Model. Second study evaluated the development of personality traits during the age considered, using the methodology of Growth Curve Analysis. Finally, the third part deals with the predictive value of intelligence and personality variables in relation to indicators of adaptation and with the relationships among the variables. Were considered for personality the Big Five dimensions and self-efficacy beliefs, rather to measure the adaptation were used academic achievement and test scores of Achenbach’s Youth Self-Report. In general results confirm the validity of the new scales, which can be particularly useful in the study of children and adolescents due to their characteristics of brevity and capacity to capture aspects that more objective scales can’t take.Development paths of the big five agree with scientific research although sometimes our subjects have anticipated changes expected. Correlations and regressions analysis also provide the expected results, but also bring some interesting information

Lo scopo di questo lavoro è investigare la struttura e l’andamento dei tratti di personalità dei ragazzi nella delicata fase preadolescenziale e le loro relazioni con altre variabili importanti per la previsione di fenomeni quali il profitto scolastico e l’insorgenza di problemi di comportamento. I tre studi presentati riguardano la validazione di due versioni alternative del Big Five Questionnaire for Children, BFQ-C (Barbaranelli, Caprara e Rabasca, 1998), una ridotta ed una di eterovalutazione, l’analisi dell’andamento dei tratti di personalità nel periodo tra gli 11 ed i 15 anni e la valutazione dell’impatto della personalità, dell’intelligenza e di alcune misure dell’autoefficacia su domini comportamentali rilevanti quali la performance scolastica e la presenza di comportamenti esternalizzanti ed internalizzanti nei ragazzi