A developmental typology of personality

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to examine whether Block's personality types (i.e. Resilients, Undercontrollers and Overcontrollers) are replicable as developmental trajectories. We applied a Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) framework to five‐ annual‐wave data on a sample of early to middle adolescents (n = 923). Our results showed that Block's Resilients, Undercontrollers and Overcontrollers are indeed replicable as developmental trajectories across adolescence. These developmental types were related to problem behaviour in a similar way as types found in studies using cross‐sectional data. As such, Resilients reflected low levels of problem behaviour, Undercontrollers had high levels of delinquency and Overcontrollers had high levels of depression. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.