Introduction to special section on personality development

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Citation:

Diener, E. (2000). Introduction to special section on personality development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences, 78(1), 120-121.

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Abstract:

For years the author has been struck by the oddity of having two separate fields that study personality--one in children and one in adults--with relatively little contact between the two. Those who study adult personality rarely refer to the child disposition literature, for example, and those who study childhood temperament infrequently describe how it unfolds into adult personality. Admittedly, part of the problem is that data that shed a bright light on the transition from childhood to adult personality have been hard to obtain and are scarce. Nonetheless, it is crucial to both developmental psychology and personality psychology for researchers to study transitions and continuities in personality throughout the life course. It is to this end that this special section was created. 

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